Hi! I’m Dalzy, a fresh Pisay graduate. Not too long ago, I walked the very same corridors you will be walking for the next five years. (Or is it six? I’m sure tiningnan niyo na batchmates niyo kung sinong crush- able. Six years din kayong magkasama.)
Anyways, I’m glad that you have decided to go to this school, and in this campus. (Alam niyo ba ang pinagkaiba ng regular high school student sa isang Pisay student? Nalaman ko ‘to sa Maskara, ang acting club ng Main Campus. /heavy books skit) I’m pretty sure everyone of you has your own story of how and why you ended up here at this moment, sitting in this room, listening (Yes, you are supposed to be listening.) to a girl you’ve never met before, but all of this was meant to be.
This could have been your childhood dream. You could have gotten all sorts of medal in Science and Math and you just aspired that, one day, you’d get to be a Science High School student. This could have been you worst nightmare. They say you’re good in academics but deep inside, music and arts is your passion. It was never in your wish list to be drilled with Physics, Chemistry, and Biology (and Maths 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. The list goes on.) but you’re here... because your parents said so. Or maybe, you have the Batman syndrome. Iyong kahit anong mangyari, bahala na si Batman. (Gets niyo ba? Or hindi uso sa inyo ‘yun? Nvm. Hahaha.)
However, all of this doesn’t matter. If there is only one thing that I can leave in your minds and hearts today, then it is that Pisay is a home.
Pisay is a home.
It is a place where you’d meet new people, forget their names, see them in the hallways and think twice of whether you should wave or not. It is a place where you’d find a new crush, become groupmates in a project and think destined na kayo for each other, become close only to get friendzoned, break your heat, and then find a new crush and repeat the cycle.
It is a place where you’d find a friend, who’d stick with you even if you’re ranting and simply repeating your words. First time kong bumagsak. Dude, first time kong bumagsak. Sa lahat pa ng subjects, sa Music pa ako bumagsak. It is a place where you’d find teachers--teachers who teach not only knowledge but wisdom. It is a place for you to experience set-backs and achieve milestones. It is a place for you to grow.
Pisay is here to nurture you and push you to become a greater you. No, these are not merely words conjured so that you’d think Pisay is the best high school in the Philippines. These are words that are born from the countless memories I have of my stay.
Let me tell you that you are not the cream of the cream of the crop. (You aren’t the cream of the cream of the cream of the crop either, if you’re thinking that or if that’s exactly what they told you earlier.) We all have gaps and holes. These are things, that we may be aware of or may not be, that keeps us from living our lives to the full.
You may think you’re good enough or smart enough, but it is only time that will tell you that you are not. Try to carry the burden of the world, or just your own, and you’d only sink; I am certain. (Kapag may crush ka pa nga lang, ang dami mo ng iniisip. Una, crush ka ba ng crush mo? Kung hindi, may crush ba ang crush mo? Kung meron, crush ba ng crush ng crush mo ang crush mo? Idagdag mo pa kung heartthrob ka at merong may crush sa ‘yo. O diba?) See, life can easily knock down someone standing at the top of a ladder of pride.
In this immense universe, you are nothing but a speck of dust. As science sees it, you’re just an aggregate of calcium carbonate, water, and thousands of mitochondria with this clump of muscles, at the heart of it all, pumping plasma throughout your limbs. You are nothing but that. But let me also tell you that in the eyes of God, you are everything.
I have learned through our fellowships in ACTS and the people I meet there, that it is not I who should bother about filling those gaps and holes in me, but it is God who would do that. You have your own set of dreams--I have mine--but you and I can never accomplish them on our own. It is only through Christ that you’d see yourself achieving one thing after another. You are not the cream of the cream of the crop, but one day, you will be if only you’d let Him work in you.
Pisay is a home and in it is the ACTS family.
In that family, I was constantly reminded that my God was not done with me yet, that He has so many things in store for me more than I could imagine. In ACTS, I was blessed with friends and mentors who’d speak and encourage me to just live out the path marked out for me and only me.
Surely, you’re excited for what’s coming in your high school life but be more excited of what you would become after this.
Today is your first official day of being here, and you’ve got mixed emotions. What is up with those stinky restrooms? Why does the front landing of the building look like the back? Why are there ONLY thirty people in a class? Why are there THIRTY people in a class? Should I speak English? Or dapat ba I do conyo talk with people? Where am I gonna hang out? Who am I gonna be close friends with? I don’t recall anymore what exactly my first thoughts of coming here were, but all of those in your head right now are going to be answered, one by one. Day after day, you’d see this school in a new light. I assure you.
Pisay is a home. You’re going to wake up here, open your eyes and realize that you have a purpose. You’re going to appreciate all who surrounds you. You’re going to cry because of defeat and of victory. Finally, one day, when you’re all grown up and you’ve come to love Pisay for what it is and what it has allowed you to become, reluctantly, you’d have to leave it too.
But that is not the end of your story. Because the most wonderful Author above will continue to write it until all your imperfections are made perfect and He is the one saying, "My son and my daughter, you are home."