Goodby Alma matter

Goodby Alma matter

Justin Paolo F. Segovia
IV – Galileo
My Valedictory Speech
“Good bye to you Alma Matter”
Rev. Fr. Ramonclaro G. Mendez, OP, School Director, Mrs. Muñoz, High School Principal, Mrs. Sandra Gratuito, English Teacher, High School Faculty and Non-teaching Staff, distinguished guests, dear parents, fellow graduates, ladies and gentlemen, Good afternoon.
I’ve heard a lot of valedictory addresses and usually, if not all the time they struck me as boring and bent out of formalities. All I pray is that you never get bored as I get this chance in my life to talk in the same pedestal as those boring people (hehe)
      A long time ago, a man once said that it is not the years in a man’s life that matters, but it is the life in his years. My fellow graduates, what does thirteen years of Aquinian education mean to you? Is it just time that has come and gone? Is it the years that have finally come to an end? Or is it more than just that? My brothers and sisters, if that is all what they mean to you, then I am sorry that you have failed to reap the fruits of your labour.
 
      These eleven years are filled with more than just months, weeks and days of experience and learning. The last four years I have spent studying in Aquinas with you, my fellow classmates, makes me truly say that I am better than what others say I could be. In fact, we all are, whether we know it or not. As a class, we may have gone through many difficult trials, events that shattered our unity. There have been many fingers pointed and many backs stabbed for a multitude of reasons, but all this led us to where we are today. People have suffered and left, and there are some who even joined us, but we, as a whole, remained the same entity. We are one body that grows in heart and soul as the days go by.
 
      Four years has done to me what took a lifetime for some. I stand here today speaking to all of you as a monument of what this class has become. I assure you all that we make...