SERIES 6 : THE CULMINATING ACTIVITY – FIRST COMMENCEMENT EXERCISE OF SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL

I am going to finish this series with of course the culminating activity of a students’ life and that is GRADUATION. Besides the fact that this is the closing activity of any school this is also the very first ever commencement exercise of the very first ever batch of Senior High School of our university. The activity is extra special and an emotional roller coaster ride for all of us in the department. Seeing the thousands of graduates marching down the isle and walking up the stage is emotional to all of us who had been with them since day 1 of their journey of the new education system.

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Let me start the historic event with the schedule of our rehearsals. It was never easy to rehearse 4,000 thousands for a three days graduation schedule. Here is the breakdown of their rehearsal schedule:

Rehearsal Date	Strand
March 19, 23 & 26, 2018	STEM
March 20, 24 & 26, 2018	TechVoc
March 21, 25 & 27, 2018	ABM
March 22, 25 & 28, 2018	GAS / HUMSS

• March 25 and 26, 2018 schedule was half day on each strand but the rest of the dates are on whole day rehearsal schedule.
• Every rehearsal coordinators such as myself and the respective advisers should be present so as to maintain order and monitor the attendance of the students. We want to make sure that the graduation will be solemn and the struggle is how to maintain order and solemnity of a graduation with 800 – 1000 students. It was really that hard but we were all up to the challenge. We had thought if we had made it through the first two years with our determination to educate the students then we can make it to this last stretch of the struggle.

How did we made it through? Simple. The committee for rehearsal are people that is well blended with each other thus making the very rigid rehearsal a more easier one. See for yourself :)

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After all the rehearsals, finally the day of the verdict had come. The table below will show how busy we were on the graduation week :

Graduation Date	Strand
April 2, 2018 (morning)	STEM
April 2, 2018 (afternoon)	TECHVOC
April 3, 2018 (morning)	ABM
April 3, 2018 (afternoon)	GAS/HUMSS
April 4, 2018 (afternoon)	MARITIME

• The April 2 -3, 2018 graduation was held at the well known Cebu Coliseum. With two (2) consecutive days of the graduation my colleagues of the rehearsal committee decided to book a hotel near the venue so as to make sure we won't be late for the second day of the graduation. The morning schedule needs to be ready as early as 6:30 and with the distance of our houses to the venue it was the best thing to do. It turns out it was a very unforgettable experience!

• The April 4, 2018 schedule on the other hand was held at the university grounds which was a more convenient one for all of us. Of all the batch of graduation the Maritime strand was the very well applauded batch due to the almost perfect execution of their military base performance.

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IT WAS A VERY CHALLENGING EVENT TO HANDLE BUT THE FEELING OF SEEING THE STUDENTS FINALLY MOVING ANOTHER STEP FORWARD TO FINISHING THEIR EDUCATION IS INCOMPARABLE. I WAS EMOTIONAL ALL THROUGHOUT THE 5 BATCHES BECAUSE ALL THE STRUGGLES PAID OFF WHEN YOU SEE HOW STUDENTS SMILE AND THEIR PARENTS PROUD OF THEIR ACCOMPLISHMENT.

BEING THE GRADUATION REHEARSAL COMMITTEE IN-CHARGE OF THE UNIVERSITY, I CAN SAY AFTER ALL 5 BATCHES OF GRADUATION THAT WE WERE ABLE TO PULL THROUGH SUCCESSFULLY, I AM READY TO ROCK THE FOLLOWING BATCH OF GRADUATIONS!

NEXT!!!

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To finally conclude the first two days of graduation, we did not let it pass without taking the historic first picture of the first batch of the Senior High School graduates.

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To finally conclude, on the other hand, this series of my K to 12 journey, I guess it is not yet late to say...

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

SENIOR HIGH! SOAR HIGH!

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