To our dear Graduating Batch 2020:
This time would have been your graduation. Oh, how we would have loved to see all your excited faces, you donned in your colorful togas, then finally marching to receive your well-earned diploma. How wonderful it would have been to meet your families, to see their beaming faces. You are a testament to their hard work and sacrifice, and also their greatest achievement. It is equally their special day as much as it is yours.
Don’t forget to sneak a look at your teachers who I am sure are shedding a tear or two. They have been your second-parents on campus, and they, too, are celebrating your successes.
Your batchmates are grinning from ear to ear — probably reminiscing those crazy nights of preparing for performance tasks, cramming for exams together, and going on those field trips. You hear your other friends clapping at the back, giving thumbs up signs, cheering you on. You remember the fun times with your organization, the hilarious days at the booth during Founder’s month, and the College Week. Our Manong guards and our Ates, the Nenengs, our service crew who have become fond of you — we are sure are just as ecstatic you are finally graduating as well.
We are sad that you will not be able to have this special day at Silliman Church, your spiritual home, for your Baccalaureate. How we would have wanted to see you at the Gym — triumphant, full of promise, ready to conquer the world.
Unfortunately, our world is sick. The virus does not discriminate, and has claimed a lot of lives. It endangers us all. As your family here in Dumaguete, we cannot allow you to be placed in a more vulnerable situation than you already are. Inasmuch as we do not want you to leave campus this soon and in this way, we have to for your sake.
You may not have had photos to show of yourselves finally receiving that diploma, and videos of you and your batchmates tossing in the air your graduation caps with color-coded tassels.
But what you do have is a living memory of survival. You are witnesses to how ‘staying home’ was truly a huge contribution in our efforts to help contain the spread of the coronavirus; how our online world became our reality, and how some of our leaders may have failed to rise up to the challenge.
You saw first-hand how people from all walks of life came together to help others — to give food and other essentials, to provide protective suits, to cook for the frontliners, and make sure they had what they needed, and to even adopt those who have been stranded in campus.
You were at the front seat of how we rediscovered the local, and how we realized we are indeed interconnected whether we liked to or not. You finally got to know your next door neighbours, and felt with pride that the Bayanihan spirit in this City and in this country is alive and well.
We hope we have prepared you enough for the world, and that you will continue to learn as you go along. We hope you take the cause of healing this land and this world not only from disease but also from fear. We hope you help create resilient communities, and that your passion brings people together to find the cure to our global problems.
Passion is contagious. Be that kind of a virus. And remember, you cannot reach minds if you haven’t touched hearts.
Each one of you has a purpose. We are excited at the change-making you are going to do. Live your lives of service for the last, the least, and the lost.
The world can be scary at times. But be brave, Batch 2020! You are stronger than you may have realized. Trust in yourself, and trust in Him who will always be with you. Remember verse 1, Timothy 4:12 “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.”
Congratulations, Batch 2020. We are very proud of you.
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Author’s email: [email protected]