LEARNING, LEADING, SERVING FOR LIFE

A Commencement Address delivered by a Tamaraw for his high school alma mater

By: John Paul C. Uminga*

Mr. Rolando Gregore, President, Dr. Marcelina Loqueña-Gregore, Directress-Principal, Ms. Elma Castro, Vice-Principal, faculty members, guests and the stars of this afternoon’s event: members of the MRSCI Class of 2009, their families and friends: A pleasant day to you all!

It has been five years since I graduated from this institution. As I speak to you today, I would be wearing three hats in my head: first, as a proud alumnus. My four years in this school are among the best moments in my life; thus, I feel the joy of homecoming. 2^nd, as a college graduate who would attempt to give you some helpful lessons on what to expect as you enter the university life and maybe some tips on how to survive, some important rules to remember and ultimately, how to enjoy another four to five years in school, and finally, as a proud Filipino who believes that everybody has a role to play in building this nation.

Before I go any further, allow me to thank our school administrators for giving me this opportunity to speak before you. I reckon this chance my second valedictory address. As a cliche goes: it’s always nice to be home.

Now, let me ask you: Does anybody here know why people, or why students for that matter, have to go to school? Why do our parents have to send us to school, pay for our tuition, work hard for it for the most part, until we graduate?

The general theme of my speech would revolve around the mantra of The Outstanding Students of the Philippines Alumni Community: Learning, Leading & Serving for Life.

I would love to reiterate on the theme – Learning, Leading, and Serving for Life – as it will help us answer the question which I posted earlier on. In Filipino terms, Natututo, Namumuno at Naglilingkod, nang Habangbuhay.

It’s April 2008 I graduated from college. Five years back, I was in the very same spot as you are now – well, more than physically, since it also involves the state of mind. I was asking myself then: Where do I go from here? What course will I take? And in what school? What’s in store for me as I enter the university life?

When I graduated high school in 2004, BS Nursing was a course of choice. Not very sure about what to pursue in college, I found myself enrolling for BS Nursing not because I really want to be a nurse someday, but with the thought that my nursing diploma could be my passport to opportunities abroad. And so I enrolled at no less than the Far Eastern University, which is known for its 50-year-old competitive nursing program. A year after, I shifted. Why do I tell you this? I am telling you this as I usher you to the number one rule: Listen & Believe in Yourself. We at times get too much advice from everyone else of what we should do in life. That’s one wise thing to do I know. For some, few advices or maybe none at all. But you know what, at the end of the day, what you really ought to do is to: pause, reflect, and ask yourself: What is it that I want to do? What is it that I want to be?  What will make me happy? Questions which you, yourself know the answers: not your parents, not your teachers, not even your friends or your barkada.

From BS Nursing, I shifted to AB English. I chose to leave the course not because I didn’t like it, but because I realized that there are other things that I want to do aside from the noble work of caring for the sick and the wounded; that I want to be a published writer, that I want to be a journalist, that I want to mentor young people like you and be a teacher instead.

Discovering what you want to do in life may take some time. As in my case, it took me at least a year after high school for me to truly discover where I would want to be. Choosing a course for college is one major decision. My advice? Choose the one course, taking into consideration three things: 1. your line of interests, 2. your strengths, what you are good at, and 3, your career objectives, where you see yourself in the future.

If you’re good in Mathematics, you may want to consider taking up any of the engineering courses, or perhaps BS Math. If you are good at expressing yourself whether written or oral, AB Literature, AB Mass Communication, AB English, AB Development Communication, or Communication Arts is the course for you. If you wish to be in the scientific arena, you may choose, BS Chemistry, BS Physics, BS Molecular Biology, or Biochemistry might be the course for you. For the aspiring entrepreneurs and business professionals, there’s Accountancy, Management, Marketing, Advertising. For the computer savvy, there is IT or Computer Science.

Of course, there are also other courses such as Criminology, Nursing, Fine Arts, Education, HRM, Tourism, Pharmacy, Psychology, Architecture, among others.

It all starts from knowing what you want to do, and pursuing that goal. Successful people they say, know what they want to achieve in life and work hard for it.

My college life so to speak was among the best moments of my life. In college, you take full responsibility of yourself and you learn to be independent. At FEU, I was given the opportunity to be educated by some of the country’s topnotch educators and distinguished field practitioners. Among them was Dr. Ben Medina, my Translation Studies professor and a Palanca Hall of Famer, whose work I first read from the green Filipino book in my second year here at Mystical Rose. One of the pillars of education states that we go to school to know.  Take full advantage of the privilege while you are still in school. Be responsible, be focused, be goal-oriented. In college, not all your teachers, we call them professors this time, would care about you, your issues, your dramas, your existence. They may or may not know your name. Some may not even give a damn whether the class is full, half-full, or handful; lectures would proceed! In college, you would not be called in the Guidance Office for cutting your classes. They would not scold or reprimand you for choosing to play Ragnarok or Dota over attending your subjects. By all means, you are free. But remember, as John F. Kennedy puts it, “Freedom, without learning, is always in danger; learning without freedom is useless”

The second rule that I want you to remember is that: you must learn to set goals and priorities.  When I entered college, I thought that my life would revolve entirely around spending long hours in the library, burning eyebrows for oral recitations and lengthy exams, books and lectures, and all those things that you can associate with the word ‘student’. I entered college armed with the goal to graduate Summa Cum Laude. But later on, I realized that there are more to academic achievements, that such a goal is more often than not, self-centered.

Thanks to the student organizations that I was part of, for making me realize that there are actually ways to channel my love for learning; for letting me know that aside from the ‘learning to know’ I mentioned a while ago as one of the four pillars of education, there are also: the learning to do and the learning to be. I learned to apply the raw knowledge into practical use, I learned to conquer and be the leader of my own self.

During my freshman year, I joined student organizations with the goal to develop my present self. My involvement in student organizations extended the walls of my classroom into one spacious place where I learned things that are not traditionally taught inside the classroom. I was able to identify not only my strengths but also my weaknesses, because I know that for me to truly develop as a person, I must be able to, first identify what I can do and second, identify what I CANNOT do, and do something about it. Being the third Editor-in-Chief of the Rosean Chronicle, I already had an idea that writing is something that I can use as one of my guns as I battle life. In 2006, I founded the official publication of the 72-year-old FEU Institute of Arts & Sciences, which I called The Paragon (or model of excellence in its literal sense), owing to the trust, the training & the support I received as a beginning writer and leader from my high school mentors and well-loved advisers, Mrs. Yolanda ‘Yoggie” Salcedo, Mrs. Lysel P. Matiling together with all my other high school teachers including Maam Marci who once handled our Values Education class.

My most favorite student organization in college is FEU Tamaraw Volunteers (or FEU TAMVOL).  It is one of the reasons why I love this country so much, and is one of the venues where I learned how to transform love of the country perse into concrete positive actions. In a nation where the word nationalism remains to be abstract, devoid of meaning, and seemingly incomprehensible, I was taught that ‘nationalism’ can be as simple as throwing our trash, no matter how small it is, in its rightful place. Indeed, small things do matter. I spent my free time doing volunteer works for the environment and the underprivileged. I was made to believe that there is something that I can do to effect positive change to our problematic country. Eventually, I learned the fourth and final pillar of education: Learning to Live Together. And living together means being sensitive not only to your personal needs but to the needs of those people around you. That learning to live together means you doing, giving and acting your share for the benefit of the humanity.

Together with my friends at FEU Tamaraw Volunteers, we channel our idealism and our energy to worthwhile activities. We built homes for the homeless through Gawad Kalinga. We conducted livelihood trainings for the women of FEU Gawad Kalinga Village in Project 8, Quezon City, and for some mothers in Silang, Cavite. Our Sundays were spent teaching the streetchildren of Malate and Ermita Manila the ABC and 123, proper hygiene, and good moral values. We reached the Dumagats in the mountains in Rizal to teach them their basic rights and their potentials as human beings. We organized advocacy campaigns against breast cancer, HIV-AIDS, and global warming and created venues where other students like us can learn how to be positive and active contributors to the Filipino society.

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As I end my speech, I would love to take this opportunity to thank my mom for teaching me, in her examples, to value hardwork, perseverance and above all for instilling in us deep faith in the Almighty God. Graduates, do not let this day end without thanking your parents for all their sacrifices. And of course, to all the teachers and our dear administrators, for lighting our way, for a better tomorrow.

And finally, the Class of 2009: may you all learn, live, and serve for life. Continue dreaming, and as you dream, dream big – big enough, to include others in your dreams. Remember that your education is your contribution to the future – to your future, to your family’s future, to the future of your community, and to the future of the nation large. Graduation is a process that goes until the last day of your life. If you can understand that, you will make a difference”. Congratulations once again! I wish you all good luck and best wishes!

Thank you.

*John Paul C. Uminga finished AB English Language from the Far Eastern University Manila, Magna Cum Laude. He was awarded as one of the 2008 Ten Outstanding Students National Capital Region and among the thirty national finalists in the 2008 Ten Outstanding Students of the Philippines. As much as he is proud as a Tamaraw, he is also proud to be a product of the Mystical Rose School of Caloocan, Inc. where he graduated as Class 2004 Valedictorian. He is a youth empowerment advocate, environmentalist, freelance writer, and volunteer.

This work, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Philippines License.

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December 2nd, 2009 by aproudtam is a proud FEU alumnus (ABEL 2008). He is a freelance writer, environmentalist, youth development advocate, volunteer, and head-high Pinoy.