Page 8 - Quo Vadis

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TABLE OF CONTENT
Valedictory Speech
RIZ MYLES M. P. DE LEON
To our honorable founder, Dr. Preciosa S. Soliven; OBMC Junior and Senior High School faculty and staff; distinguished guests, our dear parents, fellow graduates, friends, ladies and gentlemen, a pleasant afternoon to all of you. It is a great honor and privilege to be standing in front of you on behalf of the graduating class of 2019.
Today is officially our last day at OB Angeles. I can’t help but recall the story my mom used to tell me about my first day at OB. I was all dressed-up with my Junior Casa uniform and materials for my first day in school. I was so excited because my brother, who also attended OB, told me I will be meeting new friends. But when mom was about to leave me, alone - with a sad face
and almost crying, I held on to her leg, not allowing
her to leave. With the help of Mrs. Mendoza, she finally convinced me to let go, and, that was the beginning of a great journey. When I was in grade school, being one of the bigger boys then, I joined the Junior Police facilitated by Mr. Santos. This inspired me to lead and become an officer of the Corps of Cadets in Junior High School. All throughout high school, I remember many activities
that I will always cherish. One of them is having the opportunity to lead and facilitate different events with students from other campuses. I also want to thank Mr. Layug for supporting and believing in us for the different basketball tournaments we participated in. Credit is
also due to Ms. Dy, Ms. Allenegui, and Mr. Alegrid for facilitating the Cosmic Journal Editorial Team where we had the chance to report significant activities in school. I also remember and am thankful for the different seminars and activities I was able to be a part of during weekends at different universities in Manila. I thank Mrs. Galang
and Mr. Lumboy for guiding us during the two years I’ve participated in the Industrial Engineering Conference held in UP Diliman. I also appreciate Ms. Elayda’s effort
for reviewing and helping us prepare for the Philippine Biology Olympiad held at ADMU. Last but not the least,
I want to thank Mr. Manlangit for guiding us during our 3rd place victory during the National Youth Congress held at UP Diliman. As a class, I also remember activities and events that made our batch different from others like the competitiveness in sports of different students during intramurals and the determination of everyone during Joint Camp-Out. I am also thankful for the different clubs and activities that I was a part of. I may not be able to mention all my teachers or classmates, but please know that I am grateful, for we have been blessed to have affected and influenced each other’s lives during our high school years.
Now that we have reached our goal of obtaining our diploma, we can now have a collective sigh of relief. This, after all, is the fruit of our hard work, sacrifices
and, indeed, a badge of honor. As the second batch of Senior High graduates, we will be blazing the path for many others to follow. I am sure that all of us will be able to answer the challenges of each of our chosen course as OBMC prepared us well. I am also certain that many among us here will come back as successful lawyers, doctors, engineers, or entrepreneurs in the near future. Congratulations to us all, give yourselves a big round of applause.
At this point I would like to thank again all our teachers who have molded us to be who we are today. We owe you so much, you taught us the value of hard work. That, if we want to accomplish our goals, we
must be prepared to invest our time, effort and energy
in it. It was and it is a great lesson learned, for all of
us are a living evidence of its truthfulness. I would
also like to thank all my coaches, the staff and security personnel. Thank you for making our stay here at OB Angeles pleasant and safe. I also thank my friends for supporting and having each other’s backs throughout our high school years. To my fellow graduates, today is a bittersweet affair. We have been more than classmates, the time we spent together doing research and projects have cemented our bonds of friendships which will live on even after graduation. To my family, specially my mom and dad, I will be forever grateful for all your sacrifices in order for me to be standing before all of you today. Thank you for your unconditional love and the many life lessons you taught me. Finally, I thank God for all his blessings. I know that all things come from You, Lord, I give back all the glory to You. Congratulations and thank you all very much.