And of course, to my fellow scholars, a pleasant morning.

I stand here before you, looking back on four years of legacy we’ve all made
together. As a student and as a scholar.
When I entered college, I experienced one of the most meaningful rejection
and failures of my academic life.
Who would have thought that a student who did not pass the college entrance
examination for his desired course would complete his academic journey.
Just like what our recollection master said during our retreat “hindi yung
kahinaan at kabiguan mo ang magdidikta ng future mo.”
It has been a cruel start, yet a sweetest finish dahil start pa lang ng college
journey ko, sinubok na agad ako ni Lord and it made me realize na “God has
its purpose and God’s plan is always better than ours.”
Regardless of whether you have or haven't mastered your craft, reached your
full potential, or you still haven't found your purpose yet in life, appreciate the
thought that you have come this far, endured plenty of challenges, and gained
wonderful people and experiences along the way. Plans might not work the
way we envisioned it to be but at least we tried our best to get through all of it.

As our batch experienced the online class for 2 years, masasabi ko na isa ito sa
mga balakid na kinaharap namin sa pag-abot namin sa aming pangarap.
Hindi madali ang mag-aral at magturo sa panahon ng Pandemya, nandiyan
ang “tilaok ng manok kapag morning class, ‘yung iba nga nakakumot pa
habang nakikinig, ingay ng mga nagdadaang sasakyan, ingay ng aso ng
kapitbahay, internet connection like “mam, nawala po ako sa zoom, mahina
po kase ang signal” “naubusan po ako ng data” minsan naman ay “talks a lot,
naka open mic pala.” para sa mga instructors ang favorite line “May kausap
ba ako?” “Nandiyan pa ba kayo?” “Titirikan ko na ba kayo ng kandila, diba
sabi ko mag open cam?” “Paki-off po ang mic, pls!” “Okay, Joshua bakit
sinabing….. (Joshua left the zoom meeting) at higit sa lahat ang pinaka
matinding kalabanan ng lahat, ang antok, na minsan ay tapos na ang klase,
naka-in pa rin sa link.
Sa kabila ng lahat, we’re here scholars, naka survive tayo sa panahon na
akala natin ay hahadlang sa pag-abot natin sa ating pangarap at sa tulong ng
CARITAS-MANILA ay naabot natin ang rurok ng tagumpay bilang isang
college student.

According to an author, "Success in life is not determined by what you get,

but by what you give." For me, this is the meaning of success that fits college
journey. Now, as we end this journey together, let us try to look back on how
much effort we gave just to earn this degree. How many sleepless nights we
spent for making our reportorial task in every subject. How many drops of
tears we shed whenever we thought of giving up. How many prayers we
uttered seeking Divine intervention whenever we face difficulties in different
aspects of our academic life. Being one of the graduates, I do believe that we
gave everything. We gave our best, our time and of course our whole self for
this success. Without this act of giving, everything will turn to nothing. So let
me extend my warmest greetings to my fellow graduates of batch 2023.

At this point of time, let us extend our deepest gratitude to those people who
are behind of this success.

First of all, to Almighty God who brought us here to experience his love,
generosity and wisdom through his guidance and protection as we go on with
our formation with CARITAS-MANILA. You have given us the strength,
wisdom, and faith to carry on with this adventure.
We thank our scholarships (CARITAS-Manila, Caritas Manila executive
director Fr. Anton CT Pascual thank you for your endless support and
unwavering commitment to provide us more than what we could ask for.
We’re beyond grateful that out of millions of people in the world, we have you
as our mentor, sponsor and family.
We also thank Sir John and Sir Dennis, staff and admins of CARITAS-
MANILA, to our coordinators and formators who served as our second
parents, thank you for your effort, thank you for molding us, for the
knowledge you have shared, for your patience, support and words of
encouragement whenever we thought of giving up. We love you from the
bottom of our hearts.
We will never experience this meaningful journey without the support of our
sponsors. My fellow scholars help me to extend our gratitude to our mentors
and sponsors who tirelessly and unconditionally supported us. They worked
hard for us. They sacrificed a lot for us. The word thank you is not enough to
compensate their hard works. Their effort is priceless.
Congratulations to all of us, Congratulations CARITAS SCHOLARS
Graduates of Batch 2023. This is not the end of our journey; this is just a
stepping stone for us to reach our dreams in life. Congratulations everyone.
Once again in behalf of the CARITAS SCHOLARS graduating class 2022-
2023, thank you so much for supporting us.