graduation day recap

As previously foretold, my youngest brother (a.k.a. The Last of the Pedroso Siblings) graduated from Bene grade school yesterday, in simple rites held in the school gymnasium. After all these years, it was still similar to what I and Krista had when it was time for us to graduate from the same grade school as well. Incidentally, his was the 33rd grade school commencement; mine was the 21st (1997), while Krista’s was the 25th (2001).


This graduation has perhaps punctuated our 16-year stay with the school – with a fancy combination of question marks and exclamation points, I guess. Haha.

He was seventh in academic ranking – it came with the fancy name, “Second Honorable Mention -- With Distinction.” But then, whatever its name was, all that mattered was the effort that came with it and the fact that as photographer for the day I was little concerned with anything else other than the times that he was on stage. =) Oo, napaka-“tita” na lang ng dating; pagbigyan.

The day started off early – I was shaken awake by dad around 5.15-ish in the morning. I slept barely anyway as I shared the top bunk with several huge stuff toys and a giant balance ball (yes the one you see in gyms. Don’t ask why), but only because Wy was already asleep when I got home the night before and was hogging all the space on the lower bunk, where I usually slept when I was there. Anyway, we had to get to school by 7 because my brother was in the band.

Actually, both my siblings were band geeks – I think my sister also played the violin during her own grade school graduation (didn’t you?). Anyway, for the first part of the morning, I was seated on the bleachers near the band, taking pictures and video clips of my brother playing violin in the school orchestra’s version of the graduation march. Awesome? I know! How come they got all these musical gifts that I didn’t? I KNOW! Hahahaha.

Anyway, he got up to join the march a while later, as the honorees were supposed to march last with their parents. I came to the grad with only Auntie and Dad, seeing that Krista still had an exam to hurdle at around the same time. Too bad, because this meant that I was all alone (cue: Heart), since Auntie and Dad had seats near the graduates by virtue of being honoree parents. Le sigh. To amuse myself, I took lots of photographs and violated a lot of rules of the “Parents, please be reminded of the following guidelines about taking pictures”-variety instead.

Good thing my cousins, Bene alumni themselves, dropped by to watch the grad. The younger ones were also nice enough (read: easily bullied) to buy us food in the middle of the ceremonies.

The whole thing was eventful, actually. A fuse broke in the middle of Very Reverend Father’s inspirational talk. Dead air for at least five minutes. There were announcements of retirements (Principal Agregado’s – after 32 years of service, SERYOSO), appointments (Fr. Gerard as Grade School principal – I think this is the first time the grade school would be under a priest. During my time, it was under Edith Alvarez), new buildings (a new four-story one to house the clinic, the book store, the computer lab and even more classrooms), tuition increases and the lack thereof because of the global meltdown (greeted by applause, actually – yehey hindi na lalagpas ng 60k a year ang tuition ng anak ko dito! I know, right).

(And I know, nakinig talaga ako sa inspirational talk para maireport ko dito yung mga nangyari hahaha.)

Anyway I also listened to the two other student speeches – the salutatorian’s welcome address and the valedictorian’s speech toward the end. I marveled at how such young people could hold themselves that well in front of a huge crowd. (It was also cute that the valedictorian had to stand up on a box to reach the microphone, which couldn’t be lowered hehehe)

I remember when Krista graduated in 2001, I wrote her welcome address. (And with the latest grad over and done with, now it can be said that her finish from grade school was the most stellar haha) Anyway, delivering speeches in graduations has always been my frustration, seeing that I had consistently graduated third and always one spot shy of the opportunity to actually have one. Hahaha. No matter, I always had asthma during graduations anyway. I remember I was having this horrible attack in the middle of my grade school grad in 1997 (I blamed it on spraynet) and at the end of the thing I was supposed to lead this Panunumpa ng Katapatan (I love how that entire ceremony was in Filipino) and I remember wheezing right into the microphone. Hahaha. Lame, I know.

Lamer, I think, is the fact that I had extreme difficulty getting nice shots because I was so short (Grrr). But the lamest, I suppose, is the fact that I was teary eyed while the batch was singing Kaleidoscope World as their grad song. Jeeeez. Seryoso. And then they sang that American Idol final song Time of your Life with actions tapos kinilabutan ako – sa actions. Hahahaha. (Eh yung akala ko theme sa Dirty Dancing yung kakantahin nila nung una kong nabasa yung title ng song sa program? Ang tanda, te.)

And they reverted to the old Bedan Hymn! (Oo friends, the one that starts with, “Herald the Bedans.”) It must have come with the change of name into San Beda Alabang. When I graduated from grade school, I think it was already St Benedict College at the time, and with this change we started singing this “Hail Alma Mater, St. Benedict” song, which was okay, but I really liked that first one. And now here it was, back again.

I was surprised to hear myself singing along – I still had my lyrics intact, it seems, save for two lines toward the end, which I must have never really figured out all along. Haha. E sorry transferee ako at nahiya namang magtanong tungkol sa lyrics, buti na lang never kasama sa exam. I love how there were these times you could sing your alma mater song while pumping your fist in the air, and how graduations were such occasions. For all the things that have come between Bene and I after all these years, my sense of loyalty to the institution that has educated me for seven years is something I could never take away from myself, I guess.

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I was glad to have been given the go signal to take the day off at work, despite the fact that it was a weekday and the middle of the week at that, to be able to take part in such an occasion. I always have this soft spot for graduations, and I think part of my whole “guilt-sisterhood/absentee-sisterhood” complex is this urge to at least be present in all the important occasions, if I couldn’t be at home every night.



Afterwards, I dropped by the high school department to say hi to an old/older friend (haha). Along the way, I ran into my fourth year Statistics teacher, who honestly didn’t look a year older, despite having a toddler already. The student lounge was full of seniors trying to get through clearance week in time for Friday’s high school graduation, where my brother is also making an appearance, this time purely in his capacity as violinist for the school band.

The thing with high school faculty is that they recognize you, because you’re only from 8 years ago. More or less, the face you have on now is the same face you left with in 2001. More or less. Grade school is different. I didn’t even smile in grade school, so I wouldn’t blame my teachers, some of whom last saw me at graduation 12 years ago, for not recognizing. I was too shy to call out their names as I knew them; for all I knew, they’ve already married, though I should note that upon verification, a lot of them were in fact still single.

I would have loved to chat more and visit more people, etc, but as usual, in this sprawling campus, to get from one place to another, it was always a long, long walk and the frilly blouse I had on was *this* thin and yet it was so hot (no, not *that* kind of hot. Or okay, maybe that too, but not that kind, primarily) and my folks were hungry, and were waiting. After a while, I had to go.

I wish I could have stayed longer. (Always, when I am here, my parting thoughts are, I wish I could have stayed longer.)

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My friend said that now that my brother’s out of here, I would never be back. I wish I could say outright that was not true, but then, I was afraid of making promises.