[photo from flicker user]
UP. It is nice to put a period instead of an exclamation point after the acronym on a graduation day. Period, as Ma'am Ginny used to say, is like a close door, it ends every concept. In UP, closing one's door from the past is perhaps the least thing one would do after graduation. Others might think it's a good way of saying goodbye to their incandescent days, a big sigh from their theses, a final stretch.
Closing one's door signals a repose. it does not necessarily put something to end. Every door has a keyhole in which a key fits (do not get green on me), or one could use force to open it. But this door is a special door, because it is a doorway to an unknown place. People have been there, but one can never be too sure.
A period after UP is a temporal standpoint of every graduate in UP. On April 26, 2009, they will be celebrating their graduation, so far the highest achievement for a UP Student. This is where most of their good memories expire (or is it), because this day is the greatest of all days. This somehow parallels the point when one received a envelop qualifying that one passed the UPCAT. But i know this one is much different because it opens one to the world. This is where everything starts, it is a rite of passage, a bottleneck of their destinies.
Congratulations!
Most notably to:
Philip Martinez - BS ECE - kaharap ko lang room niya dito sa IPIL
Luther Caranguian - BS ECE - Summa Cum Laude - GWA 1.192 - BPI -DOST Awardee - Nakausap ko about classic films nung tumambay sya sa room ko
Christian July Yap - BS ChE - Magna Cum Laude - Pseudo-buddy ko dati sa ALCHEMES
Russel Jeff Castaneda - BA Sociology - UP Sorsoguenos - Schoolmate nung HS
Maia Caireen Buena - BA Tour - UP Sorg (again) - Schoolmate nung HS
Gideon Libiran - BS Community Nutrition - Nag-roroom hop sa room ko
SUMMA CUM LAUDE[S]
truly dedicated individuals
I admire them.
[source: UPD site]
Scott Riley K. Ong, BS Biology (1.036);
Juan Lorenzo B. Pablo, BS MBB (1.061);
Maria Patricia Rouelli G. Sabino, BS Computer Engineering (1.082);
Mikhail P. Solon, BS Physics (1.084);
Joseph Ray Clarence G. Damasco, BS Mathematics (1.107);
Frances Antoinette C. Cruz, BA European Languages (1.109);
Laureen Carmela B. Lukban, BS Psychology (1.114);
Anna P. Canlas, BA Broadcast Communication (1.117);
Jan Carlo B. Punongbayan, BS Economics (1.151)
Mark Joseph S. Tan, BS Chemical Engineering (1.16);
Angelo Aresenio de Guzman Santos, BS Mathematics (1.169);
Joseph Jeeben R. Segui, BS Mathematics (1.173);
(he will deliver in behalf of the graduating class)
Christina Marianne G. Mantaring, BS CoEngg (1.178);
Angelo C. Ani, BS Industrial Engineering (1.191);
Luther Paul dela Rosa Caranguian, BS ECE (1.192);
Shyne De Vera Galapon, BS Chemistry (1.193);
Andreo C. Calonzo, BA Journalism (1.198)
Ma. Theresa S. Pamintuan, BS BAA (1.2)
GRADUATES of 2009 good luck on your new journey!
To all left behind:
UP... Ellipsis for the stress. Undergraduates like me locked into the hardwired UP life.
UP --- Dash for the start. Freshmen undergrad have this quick notion that UP is like this and that which fascinates me because the nuances of their categorical claims are mostly true, an approximate.
UP! Finally an exclamation point for those who will be entering UP, full of excitement and enthusiasm.
Lastly,
For the graduates,
I dedicate this video clip from one of my favorite films A Taste of Cherry (1997)
"I don't know this road"
"I know it. It's longer but better and beautiful [way]."
The most beautiful dialogue i have ever heard primarily because of the universality of its theme. It alludes to the age old questions on ethics, nature and origin of man, and to what the director of the film, Abbas Kiarostami, refers to as "the preciousness of life."
****
