MARCH 1993 THE GLOW 17 Valedictory Address Mary Christine Gil The immortal poet and playwright William Shakespeare once said: "The world is a stage where every man must play his part in the drama of life." Indeed life is a drama and each one of us is an actor and an actress. As such, time and again, the curtain must fall fora scene in the drama oflife but very soon it will rise again for a new scene. Today, the curtain falls for us graduates signifying the end of our quest for secondary education but very soon it will rise again for us graduates to play another role in the educational drama. Time certainly flies fast. After four years of steering our ships through the turbulent seas ofhigh school life, we have at last landed on the shore of success. The long-awaitedmoment has finally come-the culmination of our search for secondary education. However learning is a continuing process; it does not end with our graduation. Our graduation from high school is the last chapter in our book of high school life but it is also a prelude to a new chapter which promises to be more challenging yet exciting, more difficult yet rewarding. It really pains us to think that we will be leaving the portals ofour beloved Alma Mater that has nurtured and moulded us to what we are today. Our graduation day is indeed a very momentous and happy moment in our life. On the other hand, it is also a sad moment for us graduates because we will part from our beloved Alma Mater and from our teachers whom we have learned to love and to hold in high esteem due to their professional competence. As we make our exit from this prestigious institution of learning, we cannot help but look back to those years when we were still in the fold of our Alma Mater. The cracking of our heads to understand our difficult lessons, the carefree attitude we demonstrated at times, the happy and exciting moments we shared with our classmates and friends such as sharing one assignment with the whole class, revealing one's secrets, teasing one another, experiencing crushes, cracking jokes, and playing brick games during vacant periods - all these have become facets of our high school life. The memories of our high school life, both pleasant and unpleasant, will be treasured by us through the years. Before we step out of the portals ofour beloved Alma Mater, we graduates would like to give due recognition to those people who are behind our success today. We all know that without these people our success today would not have been a reality. I First of all, we graduates express our sincerest thanks and profound gratitude to our ever dearest parents for their moral, spiritual and financial support they extended to us through these years. We acknowledge with grateful appreciation the valuable advices and the painstaking efforts of our parents in facilitating the realization ofour dream. Pardon us, dear parents, if sometimes we had been stubborn and inconsiderate. However, we have realized that you have been our inspiration, the embodiment of our youthful dreams not only for ourselves but also for you to make you happy because you have fulfilled your moral obligation to us. We need nottell you, our dear parents, that we love you more than ever and we appreciate all the things that you have done for us. We hope you will give us another chance to acquire higher education. To the unsung heroes behind our success today - our beloved teachers - we likewise express our thanks and appreciation. Thank you for making us what we are today. This is our debt of gratitude which we shall always remember. Our graduationtoday isthe product of your laudable efforts, your parental solicitude to us, your inspiring advices you shared with us when we were in moments of confusion and mental black-outs. All these we treasure more than the piles of homework, assignments, and projects, more than the historical dates and persons we had to memorize, more than the formulas in Math and Physics that we had to comprehend. Words are inadequate to express our thanks and gratitude to you, our dear teachers, for your patience, forbearance, and understanding you showered in us. We cannot afford to leave the portals of our beloved Alma Mater if we cannot express publicly our thanks and appreciation to the administration of our school for making our four-year stay in this school pleasant, memorable and fruitful. We graduates know fora fact that our school administration has left no stone unturned in providing us an atmosphere in our school conducive to learning. For these, we are indeed thankful and grateful. We will be ungrateful if we graduates do not lift our eyes to heaven in thanksgiving to our Heavenly Father for guiding us andblessing our efforts. In the midst of our hardships and frustrations, we know that our Heavenly Father, being the source ofall wisdom, has enlightened ourminds to enable us to tackle the difficulties in acquiring secondary education. For these, we graduates say - Thank you our Heavenly Father. Please continue guiding us in our search for higher education. To my fellow graduates, I have this to say: We are leaving the portals of our school to soar greater heights and wider intellectual horizons. We will be facing new challenges and greater responsibilities. We should not be fazed as we start as new pursuit in life. Let us continue treading the path that leads to the fulfillment of our dreams. As we do this, let us do everything we can to reap success and honors for our dearest parents and our beloved Alma Mater. Wee must build a better tomorrow for "we are the children of yester­day's dream." In closing, in behalf of Class "93 of Cabatuan National Comprehensive High School, I am reiterating our sincerest thanks and grateful appreciationto ourdearest parents, our beloved teachers, our school administration, to all the people behind our success today, and above all, to our Lord Jesus Christ for His gift of graduation to us. To you all - THANK YOU VERY MUCH AND FAREWELL