The 7th Science and Technology Congress of De La Salle University will be held at March 2, 2005. The theme for this year’s congress is “Towards National Recovery through Science, Computing, Engineering and Education”. The participating colleges are: College of Computer Studies, College of Education, College of Engineering and College of Science.

A few months ago, our thesis coordinator invited all the thesis groups of our batch to join the said congress. And so, I thought that we should give it a shot. I informed our thesis adviser about it and consulted him if we should consider it for oral competing or for poster presentation. Of course I was not thinking about choosing the third choice which is oral non-competing. Opportunities like this one are once in a blue moon. And to become a part of the congress is already a recognition of the fruits of our hard work during our undergraduate years.

We chose the poster presentation instead of the oral competing since graphic images could tell a lot and is also easy to understand. And in our undergraduate thesis, the jargons used would definitely double the difficulty of understanding the paper unless you have a background on our particular topic.

We are really not after for getting the best so and so but for our study to be published in a special issue of the Journal of Science and Engineering.

I didn’t know that this particular documentary was shown at Rockwell for a few days. I got this information from Marvin’s blog. I already heard of this documentary ages ago. This documentary reminded me of my thesismate. When we were in our third year college, McDonald’s had a promo where Quarter pounders were available for a cheaper price. Then, he abused the promo by eating two quarter pounders a day. That routine continued until he got hospitalized for having gall stones. Then, he was given medication first before undergoing an operation. The side effect of the medication is that your skin will not be of natural color anymore. Your skin will turn into color yellow. After a series of medications and observations, the doctors suggested that he should be operated instead.

After that kind of experience, my thesismate started to eat something healthy and he became overly conscious of what he’s eating. In the movie Super Size Me, the director subjected himself to eat at McDonald’s for 30 days and have himself checked up for changes in his cholesterol level and such. However, Super Size Me is not just all about McDonald’s. It is all about the fastfood chains and its effects to our health if we would only be eating fastfood for the rest of our lifetime.

If ever I was given a chance to deliver a graduation speech, the following would be heard from me.

For 18 years or so that I have been studying, I have been a scholar of my parents ever since. Some of us here maybe a scholar of a certain company, or some may have had acquired scholarship grants from government agencies such as DOST, and the like. Just the same, all of us gathered here inside the PICC Plenary Hall are all scholars. I believe that not only the graduates rightfully deserve the applause. Now, it’s high time for our parents to be recognized, for their hard work so that they would be able to pay for our tuition fees, and for being able to keep their patience with us.

When I was younger, my father used to tell me how important education is. He would always tell me that education must be treasured more than the earthly possessions in this world. And yes, being once enrolled in the Philippine’s top private university, I could definitely say that such words from my father and being a scholar has put some pressure on my academic standing in some way. However, pressure should not be the effect that one would get. Rather, being a scholar of your parents and such words should have inspired you to do your very best. As Mark Twain have put it, “I have not interfered schooling with my education.” And when such pressure is present, we would tend to interfere schooling with education. Such situations would radically change your principles from being the-one-who-would-stick-to-learn to the-one-who-would-aim-to-score-at-all-costs. At some point in our academic life, we were once the latter but of course everybody here in this room would still prefer the former, ideally speaking. Let me tell you a part of my academic life where I chose to be the former despite of the risks involved. When I was in second year college, I took the hardest subject of my entire college life, and it is known by the course code QUAMETH. I studied real hard for the exam, and prepared for one week. Imagine, I got a failing grade at my first exam., a grade of 24 percent. It was such a depressing grade, knowing that you prepared one week before the exam. And so, I doubled time for the second exam, and prepared two weeks before the exam. Still, I failed. However, my grade went up to 56 percent which is still down by four percent from the passing mark. And then finally, I needed to get a very high grade at the last exam. And thus, I studied real hard and I was able to get a grade that I rightfully deserve. I thought that I was going to fail, but to my surprise, I got 2.0 which is way far from the 1.0 that I have been praying from the night of the final exams for QUAMETH were over until the Course Card Distribution Day. My grade may not be that high, but I have learned a lot from such experience.

I have learned that one should learn from his/her downfall by learning to get up. Like the ones who are being crippled, they would continue walking using their crutches. After some time, they can walk without using their crutches anymore. We may have been crippled for several times before being able to come up here on stage, get our diploma and shake our hands with the present DLSU system President, but then, we managed to get up and sometimes, we really have to learn some things the hard way. All of us here, whether graduating with or without honors, we are all Christian Achievers for God and Country.

We had our graduation last Saturday at the PICC Plenary Hall. The pictures below are courtesy of my blockmate Michelle Ponce.

While waiting…

The picture above was taken roughly 2 hours before the Graduation ceremony started. During that time, not even half of the whole graduating class of MEM were there. I guess they would not want to wait that long before the start of the Graduation Ceremony.

L-R: Kaye, Jing, Tere, Me and Chelle

Finally, Graduation is over. Now, the doors to the real world has opened. It’s now high time to find a job.

I’ve spent my last days in school, walking around the campus wearing a 3/4 sleeved blouse, a skirt, and a pair of high-heeled shoes. Also, I claimed my toga and paid for the photo package. I guess that was the last time that I’ve set foot on the North and South Conservatory. After that, we went to the chapel near the Library for the Penitential Service and Meeting with the Chaplain. Again, I guess that would be my last time to visit that part of the school. Then, we went to the Alumni Office and got myself an application form for the Alumni Card which is also used as a license for bragging as told in an article that I’ve read somewhere. Afterwards, we went to the Waldo Perfecto Seminar Room for the meeting with the Dean. Unfortunately, he was not there and Vice Dean came to the rescue. I remembered the first time that the whole College of Engineering was gathered. We were so many back then. Now, only a few of the 54th ENG are left, the others marched ahead and some are still left. Then, after lunch break, we went to the Main Chapel for the Baccalaureate Mass and I guess that was the last time that I sat in one of the pews, and walked its perfectly polished floor made of marble. After the communion, the awarding ceremonies began. I was one of those whose names were called and requested to come in front and get the medal. And that single piece of gold medal was my 5 years of hard work, and sleepless nights. But that single piece of gold medal is not my end-in-mind. If you study and set your long term goal as to graduate and to have that medal, then something is wrong. I did not have sleepless nights and worked really hard for a piece of gold medal for it’s readily available in Recto anyway.

After that we went to the Conservatory again for our Batch Picture taking. Then, we went to the Sports Complex for the Graduation Practice. Our graduation practice is indeed memorable because our venue was the 6th floor of the Sports Complex–a parking area. I guess that would be my last time to set foot on the Parking Area at Sports Complex. I guess that would be my last times, but it will not be my last time if I’ll become a professor there…

Is this Araneta Coliseum?

It was already halftime when I went out of the house to go to Taft Avenue to meet up with my friend who asked for help in their project. It was a close fight indeed. The rebounds for FEU were 19 while DLSU got 17. However, the 3-point shooting of DLSU is 5 out of 12 while FEU is 1 out of 6. As soon as I arrived Taft Avenue, I went straight to the University Mall and watched the last minute of the UAAP game. When I got there, FEU was leading by two points. Then, Casio made a three point shot and then wham! Thus, the Taft-based cagers were leading by one point. Coach Banal of FEU called for a time out. Then, Cardona “Captain Hook” was fouled and so, he made the two freethrow shots with only a few seconds left on the clock. The Green Archers won by 3 points.

Animo La Salle!

Time flies so fast indeed. Just two weeks from now, I will be getting my academic attire (toga) and I will be attending the Bacchalaureate Mass to receive the Honorable Mention Award for keeping up with a CGPA of 3.0. All in all, 69 students from different colleges will be receiving the Honorable Mention award. Then, come October 9, I will be marching at the Philippine Internation Convention Center along with the other 897 students (PICC) to get my temporary diploma (the real diploma that will be sent via snail mail one month after the Commencement Exercises) where the Laude’s will be awarded. The total of number of students that will be receiving academic awards is 85 while the number of graduates (including graduates of different Masteral degrees and Doctorate degrees) is 898. Thus, the ratio of awardees to the total number of graduates is almost one percent. Quite a ratio huh?

Honorable Mention is not as prestigious as the awards with Laude’s because I know that only De La Salle University gives such academic award (based on my experience with my recent job interview). Also, most companies would only notice the Laude’s for it has been a standard in every College or University be it in the Philippines or the other parts of the world.

There are a lot of things that I have learned in College. In college, sometimes, hard work is not enough. Surviving college is like indulging yourself into a war. As Sun Tzu has said in his book The Art of War,

“It is a matter of life and death, a road either
to safety or to ruin. Hence it is a subject of inquiry
which can on no account be neglected.”

As we all know, there are soldiers that have received several awards, and there are some ordinary soldiers that have managed to survive. Hence, they are the unsung heroes. Like in college, there are a few noteworthy students who have managed to excel during their academic life and there are some students who have managed to graduate even though they have been crippled by failing marks so many times. As said by a graduate in his speech that have circulated via e-mail over the Internet,

“Pero ni minsan, hindi pa ako nakakakita ng unibersidad na nagbigay ng “Hung on and managed to graduate despite nearly getting kicked-out during his academic stay” award.”

Like the soldiers who have survived the war without a medal, just the same, these graduates are the unsung heroes. And to all those who have managed to graduate despite of a “near death experience”, I commend all of you for not giving up, and for not losing hope. I’m sure that your parents are proud of you no matter what.

The list of Graduates at DLSU are now available online in PDF format for First term, school year 2004-2005. I was able to check the list and I was able to see my name there.
I guess I should really find a place where I could put my graduation picture. Hehe.
Congratulations to the graduates and now, we have to wait for October 6 and October 9. Hehe.