my high school VALEDICTORY speech

        It’s such a great honor and privilege to be here standing in front of you as the Special Science Class valedictorian. But I stand here not as a valedictorian but as a person, as a part of the graduating class of 2012.

         The last four years of our lives in high school were life-changing and will be forever in our memory. We come in as children, wondering what high school will be like. We were excited and childish; we would still run around at that time playing tagging games or what we call “abal2x” *it's the Visiyan term- our language*. I still remember the first day that on every subject we would be asked to introduce ourselves and write an expectation on our subject teacher. It was tiring and I know that some of us were still shy at that time. But that first day was the start of an awesome journey.

       The days we have shared in high school as we all know, were not all happy times. We would have conflicts with our friends, backstabbing that would turn into fights. Our face would fell when we failed on a test or cannot finish a hard project. There were sleepless nights and cramming before an exam. We would have heart breaks and break-ups. But these are all parts of what we should go through.

         And now, after four years, here we are, wearing our togas and will finally be called graduates. La Libertad Technical-Vocational School (LLTVS) had given us knowledge that we need to survive and live fully in this world. It has not only given us academic lessons but also life lessons that we must learn like IQ must be balanced with EQ. In our second year values class, we learned about IQ or intelligence quotient and EQ or emotional quotient. They must in equilibrium to be called a mature person. We must remember that the lessons we learned in LLTVS go beyond the four walls of the classroom. Our teachers had always told us that numbers or our grades would not measure who we are. And this is what I want to stress now. What will you do to your grade of 95 in English if what you always say are words of hatred, envy and discouragements?  Or maybe you could solve problems in math with just the blink of an eye. This is really helpful when you put up your own business but it’s useless when you can’t even face a costumer and indeed you don’t have good interpersonal relationships.

         Recently, we had experienced a 6.9-magnitude earthquake that had scared us to death. It was such an experience that arose a lot of questions in our minds like, “is it the end of the world?” We have told ourselves that, “ganahan pa kong mu.college” *i still want to go college* or “ganahan pa kong mu.trabaho *i still want to have a job*.” One of my classmates even said this, “ganahan pa kong mag.ka-anak” *i still want to have children*. It may seem funny to us but beyond this, there’s a possibility that we won’t be able to experience all those stuffs. It taught us how life can be very short so we must LIVE LIKE WERE DYING. Let’s stop vandalizing or smoking cigarettes or drinking liquor or experimenting on what will happen to us if we do this or that. Let’s stop acting as what Mr. Blanco *our school principal* would say, wild and ignorant animals and start being productive citizens.  Live like it’s our last day on earth and live life to the fullest.

       Fellow graduates, some of us are very happy that high school is over while some are very sad about it but high school must end. What is important now is what will happen to us after this chapter of our lives. To us honor students, let’s put in mind that when we go anywhere, we will not be wearing the medals that we are wearing now and show off to the world that we have graduated in high school with honors. No, that would be stupid and an immature thing to do. So, how will they know? It would be through our actions. And this is not just for the honors, but for all of us here. How will the society and community know that we are graduates of LLTVS? Again, it would be through our actions. Atong ipakita ang atong abilidad sa bisag unsa natong buhaton kay mao nay mas importante kaysa sa mga awards *let's make others see our abilities in everything that we do because this is much important than medals and wards*.

         It’s very unfortunate that the truth is, not all of us will be able to continue on college. Maybe some will find a job to help their family or maybe build a family of their own. Whatever you do, it’s up to you. But as high school graduates of LLTVS, we have the knowledge and skill to make us successful. Let’s use this knowledge to help us in nation building and avoid us in becoming burdens of the society. We would always be thankful to the LLTVS teachers, its faculty and staff for equipping and preparing us for our brighter future.

            This is the time to show our gratitude to the people who help us to be here first, of course, to God and to our family especially our parents. Let’s thank them for everything they have done for us, for all their hard work and sacrifices just to send us to school. They are the reasons why we are here.

            As I end this speech, I would like to say in behalf of the batch 2012, A MILLION THANKS TO THE LLTVS FAMILY, TO MR. HENRICK BLANCO, TO OUR INSPIRING TEACHERS, TO OUR PARENTS, TO OUR FRIENDS AND TO EVERYONE.

            Fellow graduates, we are the future of this country and let’s make sure that will be a good one. I wish you all best of luck in life and God Bless! Thank you for listening and enjoy this momentous day!