Commencement Exercises: Recognizing Learners' Academic Efforts

Every learner needs to be appreciated. They came from various families and were expected to have different behaviors. But despite the reality of individual differences, they must be understood and properly guided.

Good day, Hive friends. Your cup-bearer will share with you today the commencement exercises of our school. I hope you are feeling great as you read about the preparations until the day of the ceremony.

I have mentioned in one of my blogs how busy we were in school in the month of May. After our masquerade ball, we then started the preparations for the recognition, completion, and graduation ceremony. Our ICT coordinator was the one who created the layout for the program invitation. I helped him prepare the photos of the students and graduates to be included in it. With the help of the CTU-Tabogon student teachers, we started printing some of the pages. There were only a few pages ready for printing, and we only have 3 days to finish it.

The three student teachers, Virnie, Cynthia, and Kristine helped me with the printing at the school. I was glad I have these hardworking student teachers because they are always willing to help with my tasks in school. They are eager to learn the teaching-related work because they believe it will be useful to them someday. We waited until 5:00 p.m. to go home. We agreed to finish it the next day and probably have an overtime making of the program invitation at our house.

On the second day, my co-teachers helped with the printing of the other pages. We were worried because we only have three functional printers. Luckily, Ma'am Emz brought her own printer to school to help finish our task. Our goal was to produce 136 copies of the invitation to be given to all the completers, graduates, and guests. We were not able to produce a copy during school hours since there are still pages that our ICT coordinator was working with. So, as we've planned with the student teachers, we need to do it at home.

They brought the two printers, bondpaper, glue, tacker, and other materials needed to produce the invitation. I cooked pancit miki guisado, and my wife fried the dilis (anchovy) and the bagoong (fish paste) for our dinner. After having our dinner, we did not waste time. We placed one printer on the terrace and the other in the bedroom. We did our best to produce an invitation intended for the guests since it needed to be delivered the day before the ceremony. The STs checked the pages before I bound them using a tacker. Then they pasted a Moroccan board to cover the tacker wires. As we produced the invitation, we also continued the printing of the lacking pages so that we could start producing programs intended for the learners.

On the next day, even though we lacked sleep since we slept at 3:00 o'clock at dawn, we went early to the school to continue our production of the program invitation. My co-teachers lend their help because I need to do another task, which is to set the tarpaulins needed for the venue decoration. As I planned, I made a layout of the tarpaulins to cover the post near the stage and to emphasize the logo of the school at the center. Even though the STs were tired and drained from our work, they were the ones who set the tarpaulins. Selected grade 11 learners were also there to help with the table skirting.

I am glad, and I really appreciate the learners efforts just to receive their certificate of completion and diploma. That is why, even though I need to exert a lot of effort, I will do it. I want the event to be one of the memorable moments of their high school journey. Though only a few could remember my contributions to this momentous event, I'm still happy and content. They were once my learners in grade 7. I loved them, and I cared for all of them.

I waited for DawnCardz Catering Services to come until seven in the evening. But unfortunately, they had two accidents on that day. Two of their cars crashed, but one good thing still happened. Dawn and her husband were just fine and continued their obligation to our school. They finished the decorations at 11 in the evening, and I was glad I could take a rest because I needed to prepare for the Baccalaureate Mass, which will start at 7:30 in the morning.

I woke up early and went to the barangay covered court to prepare for the Baccalaureate Mass. I set up everything I needed and went back to our home to have my breakfast. When I came back, my co-teacher Vincent helped remind the students what to do during the celebration. When the priest arrived, we started the Eucharistic celebration. The completers, graduates, and recognized learners from different levels attended it. When it was done, we announced that we would have a short break before starting the recognition ceremony. The completion and graduation rites started at 3:00 o'clock in the afternoon.

My wife had some makeup appointments with six learners. We finished 10 minutes before the time to start. When I arrived at the venue, I wore my bachelor's degree regalia. This year, we teachers agreed to wear it. We also included our guest speaker, and we found it more solemn and an honorable occasion. The ceremony started with the processional of the learners, teachers, guests, and colors. Followed by the preliminaries and the welcome message from one of the completers, David. Our school head presented the completers and graduates and hereby confirmed by our guest, the school principal of LRMNHS, ma'am Maricel.

The conferring of certificates, diplomas, and special awards was done by our school head with the guests. Our guest was introduced by one of the graduates, Jaddua. Ma'am Maricel then delivered an inspirational message to the learners. She congratulated everyone for all of their efforts just to complete 4 years in junior high and 2 years in senior high school. She emphasized the need to focus on achieving the goal and not on those painful comments from the people around us. Surely we can reach our destination.

One of the highlights of this ceremony is the tribute to friends, parents, and teachers and the graduation song. I suggested the songs, and they agreed to it. When they had the tribute to parents and teachers, some of the grade 12 learners approached me crying as they said thank you. They hugged me and expressed their gratitude to me. And of course, since I am an emotional person, it made my tears fall.

I told them that I wanted to see them after 4 or 5 years of reaching and achieving their dream careers. I would be one of the proudest people if it happened. I felt satisfied with the outcome of this year's commencement exercises. I was suffering from asthma after the event due to fatigue. I overworked just to give them the best I could. I hope their smiles as they took their photos were expressions of gratefulness and satisfaction.

This event belongs to their life's accomplishments. May it reveal their dedication and hard work in order to succeed.

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog. Till next time. Have a great day!

The lead image was edited using Canva. All
photos are mine unless stated otherwise.