11 years ago I graduated as first honor or valedictorian in Tubburan Elementary School. To be in the first seat of our graduation rites was overwhelming yet challenging, because I know that after that program the teaching staff of that school will have a high expectations and they will look after me. Wow! Pressure is real! Hahahaha. But I guess, after all the bumpy rides in my life, I was able to, somehow , meet their expectation and make them proud. So after 11 years, I came back to my Alma Mater and was invited to be their GUEST OF HONOR & SPEAKER of their 35th Graduation Ceremony.
Whenever I see invitation of an occasions and attend ceremonies I asked my self "what seems to be the criteria for to be a guest speaker?". Month of April, 2018, those questions were answered.
At first, when they asked me to be their guest speaker, I doubted my self. A lot of thoughts of - "I can't do it because I don't deserve to be one" on my mind. Compared to those guest speakers I met, I am really miles away from their success in life. I asked my self "why me? not my batch mate who are teachers and engineers, why me?". But you know what aside from those doubts there was this other side on my mind that says ''Go Jessa! You can do it!" then I realized that this is an amazing opportunity, but still I doubted my self at first. Hehehe. I gave my self 72 hours to think then I finally decided to say YES to their invitation.
To be a guest speaker is not about being rich, having a high positions or having additional letters on your name but its all about being a determined individual, has a talent and stories to tell that can be an inspiration to everyone. Me? I didn't worked in a prestigious company, I worked in a BPO Company. 😍
I was pleased to be part and joined the graduates and proud parents on this wonderful occasion. I can't believe that I am now a successful woman. I may not have the things that those very successful individual out there have but I can proudly say even I only have a few things to show, I achieved it all with my hard works. If you achieved your dreams - you can actually say that you're successful even in the simplest way.
The preparation of being the guest speaker was hard, I never thought it was. It is hard how to make a speech. How to start the speech, what to highlight on the speech and how to finish the speech. I need to make sure that my message to everyone most especially the graduates will motivate them and something that they can learn from. It was hard like doing a thesis. Hehehe. From the day i said yes to them, I started making my speech and squeezing my brain. I don't know if my speech was good enough but to see everyone laughing, smiling and some are crying I can say - it was worth it!
Here are some parts of my speech.
My battle cry in this talk right now is just simple. I will start it by reminiscing and revisiting my timeline when I was in elementary up to now. I will start when I was in grade 1. I was so young at that time and I never knew the significance and importance of education. Maybe it is just normal as a happy-go-lucky-child. All in my head was playing instead of schooling. Then a tragic came, when I was in grade 1 my father left us. Yes, he was shot and killed. Nobody can understand the broken heart that comes from a little girl losing her father. I am too young to when my father left us, but I am too young to know what the world is. Without a father while studying is heart breaking. Some days are harder than others, most of the hard days involve me thinking about what he has missed out on from the past 16 years. But I never stopped making him proud because I know that he is watching me from above, But I am thankful to God because he gave me a strong mother. Mother, who gave everything just for our dreams.
Life has several surprises. Don’t expect that everything will happen the same as our plan. Make sure that you’re ready to face the variance of life. Do not expect that everything will go through as plan. Don’t stop dreaming to dream is important. We should have a dream, at least one, as a minimum. Dreaming is significant. Dreaming is valuable, even if there is no assurance that we can achieve all of them, because the moment we dream something for ourselves or for our families, we will realize that there will be reasons of our existence here on earth. If we dream, we have something to look forward to; we have something to achieve. To dream is to find our direction; which way shall we take. By dreaming those impossible dreams, we can realize that there will be realities that we have to face. Graduates, students, I encourage you to dream.
I will end my speech with the following passage: Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to
change the world. Today, I am wise, so I am changing myself. Thank you and god bless.
