Valedictory Address 2007

Graduation is the end for some but for me it is a new beginning for a more challenging life. Seeing you from up here wearing your toga makes me smile. It makes me realize how fast time goes by. I can't imagine that it has been already four years since I made my very first step in Pasay City West High School. And today, we have fulfilled our long time dream that one day, each one of us, graduates, will receive our diploma which I believe is not only our dream but our parents' dream for all of us.

I feel very excited today but a little scared as I deliver this much coveted address. Excited because I know that this is not the end but also a start of something new in my life. I'm a little scared because I don't know if I can really face the new challenges that will come my way but I know with all the knowledge I learned and all the values and virtues that my family, my teachers, my fellow students and special friend imparted in me, I will be able to make all my dreams come true.

My four years in high school is not that easy. Like all of you, I experienced hardships and trials that I almost give up, like sleepless nights, coming to school early, cramming to submit projects and requirements on time. Those bundles of work given by our teachers were truly a challenge for all of us. In fact, many times we were caught unaware by our teachers not ready with our assignments, projects and other requirements. But through the motivation of my family and friends and those people special to me. I was able to get through those trials.

Yet, high school is not just about books, notebooks and blackboards. It's about life --- our first true peers, our first loves and our first heart breaks. It is true that high school is the happiest moment in the life of every teenager. It is where many experiences are being shared especially the laughter and the tears. I cannot but bear in my mind that high school is a molding institution of the youth.

Here I am today, picking the fruit of my hard labor. However, what I am able to accomplish is not a one man work. Without them --- my inspiration and those people who believed and guided me, I wouldn't be here in front of you. At this point, I would like to take the opportunity to extend my gratitude to my parents. Mama and Papa, you've always been my reason to strive. I may not have been the perfect son, yet for you I am and will always be. I always remember when my mom asked me, that if I would be given a chance to choose another parent who and why. Now I want you to know that my answer is... still you Ma and Pa. In spite of the misunderstandings and all the troubles I caused you, you've always been there for me, loving me unconditionally. Your love and care have made me stronger to fight trials and for that I can say, this honor belongs to you. 

To our unsung heroes, our dear teachers. I know that the job you have performed is not only a profession but more of a vocation. On behalf of my fellow students, I am heartily expressing our gratitude to our mentors for making us what we are today. Dear teachers, thank you for empowering us with the knowledge and skills we need in facing lives' many challenges. Thank you for developing in us the values that make us better persons. And thank you for patiently bearing the pains we have caused you for years. We will never forget you, you will be forever in our hearts. We will always pray that the good Lord will continue to bless you with good health for you to be able to empower more young people like us with the things needed in life's tests.

I bet each one of you fellow graduates has your own special teacher who served as your second parent. In my four years in high school there, there were teachers that taught me more than just what is written in the textbooks. There was this very special teacher who ignited my feelings and desire to be on top. She once said and I quote, "Gusto kong marinig sayo ang valedictory address." Your words greatly challenge me and here I am Ma'am Aslarona, I have lived up to your words. I would also like to extend my never-ending thanks to Ma'am Atienza, Sir Cannon, Ma'am Lara, Ma'am Sipalay, Sir Del Rosario, Sir Sandajan, Sir Ention, Ma'am Abella and all the other teachers from 1st-4th year who have made me for what I am now, especially to Ma'am Monzon and Mr. Quizon who developed my skills in Mathematics, Mr. Manaog and Ma'am Andalencio who helped me excel in science. Mr. De Vera and Mr. Macaspag who served as my second Dad. And most especially to my adviser for two years, Mrs. Gloria Castillo who, in her own ways contributed to my success and excellence. Thank you our loving principal, Dr. Myrna M. Sarmiento, for your continous support to us students. Now, I am fully convinced that teachers are not ordinary people in the society, they are the molders and architects of tomorrow's leaders! 

I would also like to give thanks to my former classmates especially to Mary Jane Castro. Mary Jane even though you're not with us today ( she died from an accident ), I know that the memories and the lessons you have shared with us will always be in our hearts. I want to thank you for the important lesson you have thought us. You helped us realize that there's nothing permanent in this world. That anything could be happen in just a blink of an eye. And we also learned that everything happens for a reason in God's will, what is hard is knowing that reason... And thank you for those people who believed and stayed by my side in hard times and moments of criticism: Marvin Protacio(geek), Suzanne Elesterio(pards), Agnes Talaña(VP, SSG-true friend), Rogelio Docena(geek - my bestfriend), Stephanie Faisan, Precious Mae Berdiago, Lorainne Poniente and to Ms. Renalyn G. Brown, my success is nothing if not shared with you. And for those people whom I've thought to be on my side, thank you for letting me realize that I can't please everybody. In that way, you made me stronger-- I have gained the strength to pursue and fight for my dreams. Honestly, you served as my inspiration to strive harder. Lastly, I gratefully thank the Lord for providing me peace of mind in times of confusion, for giving me the best gift I've ever had -- my life.

Everything must come to an end but every end is just a start of a new beginning. If you fall and lose something, don't quit! Instead bounce back higer carrying the lessons you've learned. Always remember that the winner never quits and the quitter never wins.

Farewell to you my alma mater. We will never forget the life experiences you have given us. We will always treasure them as we unravel the path for excellence and as we are empowered by you for greater productivity.

Thank you!

Once again PCWHS batch 2006-2007 CONGRATULATIONS!!

MABUHAY TAYONG LAHAT!!!

Finally, I am in love

This is actually God's plan in finding my perfect match...

Lord, I am about to be ready to commit again if ever I fall in love again with someone else... Could I take her anytime I want? I have prayed for her for quite some time now.

But the Lord answered me. "No, not until you are satisfied , fulfilled and content with being loved by me alone. You need to give yourself totally unreserved to me because in me your satisfaction is to be found. And when you learn to commit yourself to me alone, only then is the right time for you to be capable of perfect human relationship that I have planned for you long before you thought of it."

Finding satisfaction with oneself requires a lot of things... it is never easy, as a human being, to be contented with what is life has to offer at the present. Lord, please teach me the language of true contentment so I can understand the true language of True Love.

"You will never be united with another until you are united with me. You will never learn to speak and understand the true language of love until you hear me speak it. You will never learn how it is to love and be loved until you feel the tender touch of my Unconditional LOVE."

With this, I want to thank you Lord for opening my mind and for giving me a teachable heart to learn how to plan for my future...

But the Lord answered, "I want you to stop planning. Stop wishing and allow me to step in and give you the most surprising and exciting plan that you can imagine. You are my child. I want you to have the best. Please allow me to bring it to you. Fix your eyes on me and expect the greatest things as you watch."

I understand my dear Lord, with you I will not be forsaken. Teach me to trust in you with all of my heart and lean not on my own understanding. As a Christian, I Am Nothing without CHRIST. I know you have beautiful plans for my life.

"Keep experiencing the satisfaction that I AM. Learn all the things I tell you and be patient. Just wait. Don't be anxious. Do not worry. Don't look around and feel at the things others may have got. Yours will be different because I LOVE YOU."

"Don't look at things you think you want. They may not be the things I want for you. Look up straight at me because you might miss what I want to show you. And then, when you're ready... I'll surprise you with a lover far more wonderful than what you would ever dream of. But I won't let you have her until you are ready and the one I prepared for you is ready, until you are both satisfied exclusively with me and the LIFE I have prepared for you. :)"

A Turning Point of No Return

Sometimes we find ourselves caught in mid-air thinking about the things happened in the past. It is funny that our mistakes in the past are the reasons of our breath-taking laughs today and our happy moments shared with special people in the past are the reasons why that salty tears of ours roll down our cheeks. Past has something to do with our present. Have you heard someone talking about destiny? Some sort of planned way for you... Well there are lots of people who do believe on such but I don't. The way I see it, this so-called thing destiny is actually just a series of decisions made by all the person involve for universal conspiracy.  I am here because I made a decision in my past and I will be somewhere in the future because I will make a decision today.

I am in my trance state, a feeling of super relaxed state on which I allow my thoughts to fonder some place and another without too much restrictions. I am travelling at this very moment inside the mind of a guy who wants to be the king of the world, in other word, crazy. I'm reflecting whether life is a daily turning point or a point of no return. Can we make short-cuts? Can we go left and right and make a big U-turn if we don't want what we're facing? Or we just have to go on and see life towards its end? Death? Happiness?

Each and everyone of us has his/her own goal in life and mostly we can actually sum it up to being successful. This means successful in every endeavor that we do. Success starts with every decision we make. As you can notice, to gain what you want and need in life you need to decide about these things.And most of the times, if our decision making is hard we are gearing towards the right decision. It is easy to decide on wrong things because we barely use our critical mind, we tend to be overwhelmed by our emotions. When we are over flowing with so much excitement and happiness in our hearts, we usually make promises as if they exists just for the sake of making them purely words. While when we are angry, we tend to speak harsh words to someone and we even ask this someone involve to get lost and never show his/her face again as if we really mean it. We must always remember not to base our promises and decisions on our emotions. Emotions fade past... but words will be remembered especially if these words touched a person heart.

There are many reasons to be sad when we talk about success, goal setting, dreams or what so ever that drives us to wake each morning and have high hopes in life. Like for example, often people attempt to live their lives backwards; they try to have more things, or more money, in order to do more of what they want, so they will be happier. The way it actually works is the reverse. You must first be who you really are, then do what you need to do, in order to have what you want. No matter how much money you have in the bank, you can never buy time. Each second counts to spend them with the person you love. We need to realize that more than the money it is time that matters the most. Though if we have money we have more time to spend with our loved ones. Even the wisest man who ever lived, Solomon, told that money is everything as long as we don't sell our souls to the evil. Now what am I trying to point out here? Our goal in life is to actually fulfill our purpose why we live which boils down to happiness, not ours per se, but the happiness of other people around us together with ours. We should not concentrate on building too much material stuffs but rather build people that can make their lives productive.

Life is a turning point of no return... once we took the bend on the first street we can stop and say, "oopps! I should have taken the way on the 2nd street". Once we decided to take this path, it will be the path we will be traveling all thru out our lives! But also we must remember we can take detours or shortcuts for some new experiences but we can never go back... We travel along our life only to find out that we will end up spending our time, for example abroad to earn money, losing the significant times that we should be spending with the person we love... and what's funny is that sometimes we spend too much time doing stuffs that are not necessary with our goals.

Life is a turning point of no return. Make the decision today, act on it, see the results and make some  adjustments moving forward. We have no other choice but to grow because we can never go back... :)

Teacher Teacheran

“It is impossible to claim that all good teachers use similar techniques: some lecture nonstop and others speak very little; some stay close to their material and others loose the imagination; some teach with the carrot and others with the stick. But in every instance, good teachers share one trait: a strong sense of personal identity infuses their work. ‘Dr. A is really there when he teaches.’ ‘Mr. B has such enthusiasm for his subject.’ ‘You can tell that this is really Prof. C’s life.’ ” --Parker Palmer, The Courage to Teach

Learning and teaching is the concern of a student teacher. But these two are complex process. It can however be defined as a change in disposition; a relatively permanent change in behaviour overtime and this is brought about by experience. Learning can occur as a result of newly acquired skill, knowledge, perception, facts, principles, new information at hand etc.

My interaction with my new environment brought me great changes in my behaviour. These changes are also the acquisition of new and more knowledge, skills, and attitudes that enables me as a learner to make better and more adequate reactions, responses and adjustments to new situations and conditions. Learning in the real sense can be measured by how many ideas and experiences have been left in the individual after the teaching or experiencing process has been done.

The first time I stepped on the grounds of Makati High School, stream of thoughts was playing in my mind about growing so much as a future teacher. I was very excited to meet the person, my CT, who will be a big part of my learning and my growth. Now all I can say is that, she didn’t fail me. My growth was beyond compare, I am a better and more determined student soon to be teacher. The learning I had will be forever in my heart.

Faces of the students that I encountered are engraved in my heart. I think I have learned more compared to the things I’ve thought them. It is I who eventually become the teacher in front. It is heart warming to see that they, the students, follow you not because they are afraid but they do respect you a lot. Respect can’t be gain instantly even if you are a teacher; you need to work hard for it to gain it. You need to let the students realize that you are there not to boss around but because you care for them as if they are part of your life. Let them feel you love them for them to be able to love themselves.

The four walls of the faculty served as my home. The whole vicinity of Makati High School served as my sanctuary!!!

Thank YOU!!!

Mark Christopher D. Mellor

Student Teacher, 1^st quarter 2010-2011

My Dream Board

SAVINGS!!

Push-button Umbrella!!

HOUSE AND LOT!!

AUDI!!! :)












Immediate goal - Umbrella :)

THANKS SA BUSINESS! IM GROWING! :)