130 THE GLOW MARCH 1993 RECOGNITION DAY SPEECH Dr. Purity Pueyo - Bilbao (This is an excerpt of the inspirational message delivered to the honorees by Dr. Purita Pueyo - Bilbao during the Recognition Program of CNCHS on March 25. Ed.) Every high school student like you, look forward to an occassion when honors and recognition are given at the end of every school year. Yes, indeed, for ahigh school life should be a memorable one. It is in high school where one experiences some of the life's firsts: the first weekly allowance; the first acquaintance party, the first Christmas carolling; the first cheering contest; the first beauty pageant; the first dance; the first crush or even the first Love for the early maturers. It is in high school where one starts to dream of the future. What should I be? a doctor? a nurse? spriest? an engineer? apilot? a farmer? a sailor? or a teacher? Would I be a nobody or a somebody? Will I be like my parents? or like my idol? But before we continue to dream, let us reflect first on the meaning and significance of this occassion. Recognition day is a day of acknowledgement, a day of reckoning. It is day of accounting not only of the many things we have done, but also of things we failed to do. Foranumberof studentswho put their best effort and performance, for those students who think that good is not good enough, for those who never settle for the better but for the best, they deserve to be honored. These are the students who have invested a lot of their time and effort; used to the fullest their capacities and led a well disciplined high school life. They burned more candles, spent more sleepless nights, read more books, asked more questions, practiced more often, and searched for more answers. They have a lot more patience and perseverance, hence they excelled. But honor students, let us remember despite your success, you have to be humble, for humility is one of the greatest virtues. Use every honor and success that you achieve as an expression of your being. In this regard, may I call to mind one of my favorite qoutations: "Be good to people on your way up for you will meet them on your way down. - For every success and failure of a man, there is always a man or a woman behind. Ladies and gentlemen, let us acknowledge the unequalled and indispensable support that our proud parents have given to these outstanding students. They have unconditionally given their support, nurtured their children, invested a lot of their time and effort and money. They have given a lot of inspiration and guidance to their children so that they will perform much better than the others. To you dear parents, equal honor is also given. We would also give the same recognition and thanks to our unsung living heroes, our role models, who despite many personal, social, and economic difficulties and within the meager educational resources have faithfully sacrificed coming to school everyday to provide, learning situations conducive to the fullest development of our students. They have moulded and turned many so-so kids to A-1 students; encouraged late bloomers to become over achievers; motivated shy, withdrawn students to assertive self-confident individuals. Without your teachers, today's affair will never be complete. May I call on them to be recognized - your mentors par excellence! May I also give cognizance to all other students of this school. You should not feel less honored and defeated. Look back to the past years and ask yourself if you have done your best. If your answer is yes, then you deserved to be congratulated. Let us not fret or blame ifmanyofus cannot receive the medals. You have to realize that one cannot do everything at once, but youhave to be steadfast in your ideals. You must not stop trying to achieve them. Be patient. Who knows next year will be yourturn to be honored. Persevere and have more dedication in yourwork. Never falter to achieve the best education. Make waves, don't just float. For most of us, knowledge is acquired through education in schools. We regard education as apreparation for life or life itself. For one who has achieved a good education, the more knowledge he acquires. Expectedly, the more economic gains he generates. Being wealthy means having power, influence and social prestige. The supreme ambitionofevery Filipino family like yours and mine is to send every child to school regardless ofthe sacrifices it might entail on the part of the family. If the family cannot afford, at least one ofthe children should get a degree. The oldest child then takes care of the younger ones. We 'view .education as a process of human capital formation. To many of us, education is an investment. How shall we go about this investment so after 2 or 4 years, there will be a return of investment in terms of human, economic, social and political development? There is only one way to retrieve back that investment and that is to succeed. What is that secret success formula? A Gallup surveyed more than 1500 prominent people from Who's Who in America and all indicators point to the following traits or characteristics: KNOW ONE' FIELD Know what you are doing or what you are involved with. If you are in sports, learn about it, read about it. Observe. If you indulge in cooking, know more about it. Make a difference. Be a specialist, an expert. If you area farmer, a teacher, a factory worker, a student, be the best. One teacher made a very interesting difference between a generalist and a specialist. She said that a generalist knows less ofmore andmore while aspecialist knows more of less and less. Industries, technology and even the medical field are focusing into specific expertise. SELF RELIANCE Top achievers rely primarily on their own resources and abilities. They have the will power. They are tough minded optimists. They have definite goals. They have guts. They are selfmotivated. The just do not react; they initiate. A poster caught my attention one day in the room of my son. It reads this way. "They can, because they think they can." It was a picture of three boys climbing a steep mountain. Yes, you can!!! GENERAL INTELLIGENCE All of us have some levels of intelligence or what we term as IQ. Studies have shown that generally speaking, those with higher IQ's succeed more than those with lower IQ'. Added to it, the person must have three more elements: extensive vocabulary, good reading and writing skills. However, there are exceptions to the rule. Intelligence alone if not used to the fullest is inutile. Wisdom is more functional than knowledge. To be wise, is to use intelligence to an advantage. ABILITY TO GET THINGS DONE Plan your work and work your plans. The ability to organize, good work habits, and diligence. There are good planners but can never put their plan to action, because they, have poor work habits. They have the delaying tactics or procastination-and sheer laziness?