My Most Memorable Graduation Day

My elementary graduation is the most memorable one for me out of two graduation ceremonies I’ve attended and out of three that I should be attending in my entire life as a student.

There are three graduations every student is expected to attend: elementary, high school, and college. You could have five if you have Master’s Degree or Ph. D., but the normal is three and out of three, I attended only two.

For some reasons, I failed to attend my college graduation in time because I graduated in October and my former classmates already graduated two years ago. Since I no longer have classmates who will graduate with me, I opted not to attend it.

For me, elementary days were the most fun and memorable of all the days I had in school. You see, back in those days I had my share of popularity and fame being the Grade School Student Council President. But in as much as I wanted to get the first honor or valedictorian, I was caught up with my extracurricular activities and I don’t pay much attention to my studies.

But every time school was nearing its end, I always cram to study and get good grades. Most of the times, I do good at the beginning, lie-low in the middle term, and then make good again towards the end. But what do you really get when you are not consistent in everything you do?

And since I belong to the second section, only those students belonging to the first/ cream section can get the honors and special awards. I ended up number 2 in our section although I know I can do better than the other students; while being the President of our section and the entire Grade School Student Council.

Come the end of our school year and practices for our graduation ceremony started, I just realized I don’t even have an academic honor or special award, not even a Leadership award. I was sad at that moment and regretted that I became so lazy and procrastinator during those times.

Fortunately, our teacher’s daughter, who was also my batch mate and who was supposed to sing the psalm during our baccalaureate mass suddenly had colds and sore throat a few days before the big day, so her mom had to back her out. They chose me as her replacement and as the commentator for the mass.

I was very happy because it was my first time to do that and I get to stand in front of the whole graduating class every practice and during the big day itself. I’m not happy though that she was sick but because it opened a door for me and an opportunity to do something for our graduation and something to be proud of myself.

I may not be our Class Valedictorian but standing in front of my classmates is already an achievement for me. It also started my service in our parish as member of Lectors and Commentators Ministry up to the present.

I learned eventually in life that when you want something in this world, be it in school, career, or personal life, you have to be consistent. You have to put extra effort, hard work, sacrifice, and focus in everything you do and not just wait for one-time-big-time opportunities.

Although sometimes, those one-time-big-time opportunities may come as a blessing like what happened to me, it still pays to work hard to achieve something to avoid regrets in the end. But then as they say, everything happens for a reason. The confidence it gave me and the opportunity to be proud of myself during that time was something I would never take for granted up to this day.