Lance delivered this speech masterfully last April 2, 2016 at SLCS.
To our guest of honor, to our Principal Teacher
Ritchie, to our school officials, distinguished guests, dedicated
teachers, beloved parents and fellow graduates, a pleasant afternoon to all!
We are all gathered here today to recognize the
efforts, sacrifices, and all the hard work we made this school year. The
wonderful and challenging times we spent here in SLCS will always be cherished
even when we are already outside the walls of this great institution.
There have been several speeches delivered during
graduation by the class valedictorians and the salutatorians. Mostly they talk
about being successful in life and the bright future of each student. It is a
challenge for me to share something more meaningful and inspiring that will be
useful to us all.
We all want to win, right? We all want to have
perfect scores in our exams. Make the right answers on Quiz Bee questions. On
anything that we do, we always want to come on top. We don’t want to lose.
Losing is equated to being a failure, who wants to be called a failure or a
loser. Nobody. But here lies the problem, we don’t always have the right
answers, we are not always the brightest, the strongest on a particular subject
or area… losing, making mistakes, or failing is surely inevitable.
Are we going to play it safe? Or are we not going
to try at all? Don’t make challenging goals for ourselves. Lower our
expectations so we will not get hurt should we not receive the recognition we
think we duly deserve. My answer to this is definitely NO. We should put higher
expectations of ourselves and be not afraid to make mistakes. A lot of famous
people did not get to where they are without failures and mistakes.
There are 3 things we can learn from famous people
who encountered failures and made mistakes before becoming successful on their
field:
1.
There
will be times when you fail.
Sometimes physical handicap or
lack of abilities cause us to fail. Sometimes it is lack of preparation or
maybe even overconfidence. Regardless of the reason, we all at times fail and
encounter disappointment and setbacks in life.
2.
Mistakes
must Not be avoided.
A lot of people avoid making
mistakes since they feel it is a sign of failure or weakness.
But mistakes can become learning
experience. Fear of making mistakes has kept many people from rising to the
top. If Michael Jordan who is considered one of the best basketball player of
all time, stopped pursuing his love of basketball when he did not see his name
on the list, if he did not try to improve his performance while he is not yet
meeting the height requirement, then we would have not known of his genius and
eventual greatness in the game of basketball.
3.
Embrace change.
Only thru change can there be
true growth. But why do people resist change? Change is uncomfortable, consumes
a lot of energy, and people fear negative impact of doing those changes. Winners
and successful people did not become who they are when they are finally
recognized. They became what they are when they acknowledged their mistakes and
weaknesses and embraced the need to change. To improve once performance and
change their attitude that is when people started to grow. We grow only when we
change.
So again what do we need to learn from our mistakes
and overcome failures:
1. There will be times when you fail.
2. Mistakes must
not be avoided.
3. Embrace Change
Thanks to all my teachers and classmates for helping
me in correcting the mistakes I committed and being part of my journey. Without
you guys, I wouldn’t be here this evening speaking to everyone. To my friends,
my batchmates, and classmates, thank you for everything. Congratulations to all
of usl!
Next school year will bring us to another stage in
our lives, I challenge you all to always keep dreaming big and don’t fear
committing mistakes. Take the learnings graciously given us here at SLCS, I am
confident that someday we’ll be the leaders in our society and good Christian
people of the future.
Firstly I would like to thank
God, for all the talents and blessings he bestowed on me, for all what I have
comes from Him. I return all the glory to God for my achievements. I also would
like to thank my parents, Mommy and Daddy for being my biggest supporters and
inspiration in my life. My Ate Che and Kuya Tristan who came before me here at
SLCS and helped paved the way for me to adapt and meet school requirements with
their help and advices. To my Tita Phoebe who always push and encourage me to
be my best at school.
Thank you and once again, good afternoon!
"There's an old fable that talks about a man who found an eagle's egg and put it in a nest of a barnyard hen. The eagle hatched with the brood of chicks and grew up with them. All his life, the eagle did what the barnyard chicks did, thinking he was a barnyard chicken.
