2016 Remarks from the Graduates: Patricia Garcia

<p><img src="images/articles/2017/patricia.jpg" alt="" width="270" height="400" align="left" hspace="10" />To our guest speaker, Mr. Pastrana; Dean Kathleen Obille; College secretary Benedict Olgado; faculty, alumni, friends, families, and graduates of 2016, hello.</p>

<p>Kudos to all of us, persistent graduates. Sa wakas.</p>

<p>It is truly an honor to deliver a speech in front of you when all I knew back then was, hindi talaga ako makakapag-UP. I failed the UPCAT when I was in 4th year high. I enrolled in UE to only get cyber-bullied after two years. It is my parents suggestion that maybe I should try to transfer to Diliman and choose a different course. I was really indecisive. My dad was the one who suggested LIS when I wasnt even sure what the course is for and what the field does. It was really a risk I had to take. I got in, thank you for believing in me sir Igor and sir Dan. Everything went well I suppose. I planned on going to law school afterwards; I already bought stuff for law school and read books.. Yun nga lang, I failed UP LAE and I thought I really failed my dad. </p>

<p>Tama nga si Roy na no matter what The Secret or the stories in Chicken Soup for the Soul tell you, you are NOT entitled to succeed. We are not entitled to succeed. Then many of you now may ask, after all the bad things that happened to me, how did I pull myself back up again? </p>

<p><strong>TURN EXPERIENCES INTO MOTIVATION</strong></p>

<p>We all have good and bad experiences, pero gaya nga ng sabi ni Maam Pia to me, turn all your experiences, whether good or bad, into something positive. May they continue to challenge you to excel and never stop learning. And thats what I actually held on to and did even before noong di pa kami nagkakakilala ni Maam. I turned all my failures into something positive and believed in myself even more. All my bad experiences became my motivators to strive harder while my parents became my reason to be strong.</p>

<p>And we are all here because we did the same thing. We looked at the brighter side rather than succumb to weakness. We are all here because we believed in ourselves as much as our loved ones did and even our friends and other people. After all, like what Roy said earlier, what matters is how we moved forward. Now to add to that is: what are the things that made us move forward.</p>

<p><strong>GRATITUDE</strong></p>

<p>We should always remember to look back at our motivators. Let us all learn from our past mistakes and remember the people who stayed and left. Never forget the past, never forget the people that have helped us go through it all. Ngayon, mamaya, o paglabas natin sa auditorium na ito, pasalamatan natin lahat ng dahilan kung bakit tayo nandito. Lets all humble ourselves to God, and the people around us. We owe them everything.</p>

<p>In acknowledging all the people behind this once far-fetched triumph, I will speak on behalf of all the graduates and will hopefully be able not to miss anything out.</p>

<p><strong>Faculty and Staff</strong></p>

<p>So first and foremost, we would like to thank you, Dean Kate, former Dean Igor, Maam Rhea, and Sir Bono for letting us in, for accepting our pleas, for the guidance and for the never ending considerations. To the staff of the UP SLIS, we thank each and everyone in the office and even outside. Graduates, lets also thank the institutions we courted and used in our theses. Without them, we wouldnt have a good set of data. But everything wouldnt even be possible without OJT, so thank you UP Main Library; let us all also thank our outside institutions where we did our practicum.</p>

<p>Paano nga ba tayo magwa-181, magwa-199, at 200 kung wala naman tayong foundation? Paano tayo ga-graduate kung wala naman tayong 51, 55, 61, 62, 64, 151, 152, 71, 160, 161, at mga major electives? Sino ba ang nagbigay sa atin ng grades para maka-graduate? Of course, our professors and instructors. Maam, Sir, thank you po sa mga pangaral, sa mga discussions, lectures, quizzes, exams, activities, reports, papers, and other requirements na humubog sa aming kakayahan bilang future librarians and information professionals. We owe you eat-all-you-can treats. Faculty and Staff of the SLIS, all of you never failed in whatever you do because we all made it and we made it because of you.</p>

<p><strong>Friends, Family, oneself and Almighty</strong></p>

<p><img src="images/articles/2017/patricia2.jpg" alt="" width="400" height="270" align="right" hspace="10" />To all our friends and bestfriends, sa never ending nilang pakikinig sa ating mga rants sa buhay. May you all be here or not, thank you. To the special someone in our lives, thank you for existing and thank you sa support. And of course, to the families of each of the graduates</p>

<p>Mom, dad, brother, sister, tito, tita, lolo, lola, pinsan, ninong o ninang. Thank you for the never ending love and support you have given us. Kung alam nyo lang po kung gaano kami nagsisi nung mga araw at gabi na sabaw kami at nagsisisigaw, nagdadabog o nagwawala sa bahay. Kung wala man po kami sa mood at sa hulog ng mga panahong iyon, sorry po. Sana po malaman nyo na may pinagdaanan lang kami: thesis, grades, exams, terror professors, at mga di kanais-nais na events siguro that time. Mahal po namin kayo. We never meant to hurt you with our sentiments.</p>

<p>You never knew how much your love and support motivated us and helped us graduate right now. Sa mga pieces of advice po ninyo, sa mga baon, paghatid sundo, paghihintay sa amin umuwi, at sa mga pagkain na nakahanda na agad sa table sa tuwing uuwi kami. Sa pag-gising sa amin sa umaga sa tuwing di kami magigising sa alarm. Salamat po sa mga paghihirap na dinanas nyo sa pagtatrabaho para makatapos lang kami. This is all for you.</p>

<p>We wanted to graduate so that we could help you. Gaya ng paglalagay ko ng sablay sa daddy ko na parang turning it over o pag-aaward na usually ginagawa ng magulang sa anak; it actually meant na kami naman po ang babawi at magbabalik ng lahat ng pinaghirapan po ninyo. Panahon na po para kami naman ang magparamdam kung gaano namin kayo kamahal at kung gaano nyo kami kamahal.</p>

<p>You have done so much that we could not thank you enough for everything. Salamat po sa suportang ibinigay nyo sa courses namin at sa paniniwala sa kakayahan namin. We love you.</p>

<p>To Lexy, Shelly, Neil David, Ovid (mentions everyone who form part of my life), thank you for listening to me and for being true to yourselves and to me. I will forever treasure you all.</p>

<p>To Alec, hello. Thank you for the never ending love for three years. Roy, thank you for being my most awesome friend, a motivator, supporter, and adviser. To Neil Mark, for being my shoulder to lean on and my future office mate.</p>

<p>To Alfred, hello. Your presence is as special as this recognition rite so thank you for coming. Also, thank you for being my long lost soul mate na bestfriend but since you dont do labels, thank you na lang for being there. See you sa law school sa July.</p>

<p>To my family, my dad, mom, and brothers: thank you for believing in me and in all that I can do. You have all been so supportive that without you, I am certain that I would not have made it this far. I hope I have made you all proud as much as how proud I am of you.</p>

<p>To Almighty God, thank You for giving us the privilege to wake up in the morning and for giving us purpose in life. Thank You for giving us good health, happy family, good relationship with colleagues and friends, and for this opportunity. Thank You for the blessings and guidance. We will forever humble ourselves to You.</p>

<p><strong>SUMMARY</strong></p>

<p>And to conclude this emotional speech, graduates, sana palagi natin isasapuso at isip na we should always use and turn our experiences into motivation to excel and do better. Let those experiences, may they be failures or not, be the reasons why we should continue and never give up. </p>

<p>Its okay to be scared of the concept of failing but dont be afraid to actually fail. Learn when you fail and use that failure to move on and pull yourself back up again. Turn your successes and failures into motivation and let that motivation help you stand up when you fall. After all, if we are going to give up now, its like letting our motivations be consigned to oblivion; and its like forgetting the reason why we started in the first place.</p>

<p>Lets all thank the people around us for things wouldnt go as planned if it werent for them. Pasalamatan at iparamdam na natin especially sa mga magulang natin na mahal natin sila dahil hindi natin masasabi kung hanggang kailan nila tayo masasamahan sa ating paglalakbay. Remember graduates, lets love our parents. We are so busy growing up that we often forget that they are also growing old. I love you, mom and dad.</p>

<p>Muchisimas gracias a todos; y enhorabuena a todos los graduados del ano dos mil dieciseis. (Thank you to everyone, and congratulations, graduates of 2016)</p>

<p>We believed we can, so we did.</p>

<p>To God be the glory. </p>

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Published:  2022-03-07 15:15:13