One for the books: At last, a commencement!
Personal Story
“The wedding is an event, love is a practice. The graduation is an event, education is a practice. The heart, mind, and body are endless pursuits. Our greatest mistake is to try to exact each other person’s virtues which he does not possess, and to neglect the cultivation of those which he has.” — Marguerite Yourcenar
Hi friends! I am delighted to write this personal story as my way of sharing to the world that I just graduated!
I have written numerous of thoughts about education and anything concerning my degree [Bachelor of Secondary Education majoring English] since I started establishing this blog site. Few of them were: My Unhurried Thoughts About the Academe; 3 REALIZATIONS That Change My Perceptions About Myths; Book Review: 5 Riveting Non-fics on Shelf
After graduating from Senior High School in the Humanities and Social Sciences track — every time I am asked what I’ll be taking up in college, I’d always say ‘teaching isn’t something alien to me’. Honestly, I have many college programs in mind. I want to study literature full-time; even to the point that sociology becomes a new interest afterwards in high school. Yet, teaching and education in general seemed to align with my life disposition from the start. In shorter terms, taking up education has become a decision of convenience but again, it isn’t unfamiliar to me. I’m cool with seeing myself educating students inside or outside the four-walled classrooms in the future. Little did I know, every thing didn’t end on how I thought it would simply end. Please bear with my narrations, because we’re only kicking off my story.
The challenges were…
I am a secondary education college student, who is into the expertise of swotting the teaching profession and will be into practice later next year. Venturing into this métier requires no facile beginnings, especially that the genesis from my freshman year wasn’t easy at all. The course on how institutions manage the modifications in serving education towards the students is somehow retard and experimental, needless to say, that we all go through in the plight of this pandemic. — My Unhurried Thoughts About the Academe
This was I, two years back!
I started my college journey during the transition period. I’d likely want to term it that way, as it emphasizes the greatest transition my country and our educational system has ever faced — from the plight of the pandemic to the survival of the fittest vogue. I started everything via online classes to slowly losing the expectations about seeing your “supposed-to-be block mates”— daydreaming of having the best college memories ever as freshmen to virtually having a toast for a successful and passed final exams. From being thrilled for having oral recitations to fretting at times because of the flopped internet connection when called for participation online. Things back then just went wildly different!
Until the ‘GRIT’ phase passed…
“…pioneering something called “grit” when everything’s got to turn out okay even if I have to bite, claw, and gnash my way through it.”
I wrote this as part of a long poetry I named ‘Grit’ wherein I deeply wrestled with the hardships of my ongoing pursuit of a degree two years ago. After the tough transition to online classes, my university adapted a hybrid learning set-up; which only means, I’m about to adjust to another transition anew [reasonably, the case for the new normal period]. When this occurred, I was entering my junior year already.
During the commencement ceremony last May 30, 2024 — Thursday, the guest speaker, former Chancellor of the University of the Philippines, Dr. Fidel Nemenzo shared various key-points wherein I couldn’t agree enough and I can’t help but write it here. Here’s what he encouraged to the graduates:
- Acquaint your life to something bigger than yourself.
It has been claimed that egocentrism is the normal neuro-philosophy of humans. Yet, acquainting our lives to something bigger than ourselves is the key to fulfillment more than our self-necessities. It could be a cause, a passion or a mission that you’d wish to involve yourself into. More importantly, that same cause isn’t something we must graduate— it can be something we never outgrow or wish to leave. On the highest extent, something we can proudly say we can die for!
- Meaning over success
The metric of your success isn’t other people’s way of success. You victories aren’t measured by other else’s victories. On the contrary, create meanings instead of success; for meanings tend to flourish longer than success.
- Don’t be dawned over the injustices around you.
Be a witness when injustices rise against you. Be valiant!
- Integrity — The American author and philosopher Aldo Leopold once said “Ethical behavior is doing the right thing when no one else is watching — even when doing the wrong thing is legal.”
“Education isn’t something you can finish.” — Isaac Asimov
Finally, a commencement that’s one for the books!
Reshnee V. Tabañag
Bachelor in Secondary Education major in English
Cum Laude
