Good evening to Sr. Nelida Peaflorida, the RCA Principal. Good evening to our dear Sisters, Faculty and Staff.Good evening Seniors and Grade 9. You all look dainty and debonair. Thank you, Sir Mike Sales for inviting me to give this inspirational talk. You made me wear heels tonight. Significance of JS Prom1. The pictures projected in front of you show how most people perceive prom nights glittering gowns, neatly-pressed tuxedos, prom king and prom queen, and more importantly Instagram, Twitter and Facebook thereafter.

These arent wrong notions. You do not go against any law moral or statutory for wanting to look good. Each Senior and Grade 9 Hijo and Hija is entitled to feel pretty and handsome once in a while. Many a mother would be delighted to spend a little more than usual for their daughters and sons to look like movie stars, even just for a night.

After having known from my cousin Ken that your prom dress code is modest casual, I could not help but remember our own version of prom. We did not call it a prom back then. It was a Junior Senior Interaction. I remember being in my P.E. Uniform. There was no gym to hold it in so we laid down our mattresses and banig along the hallway of the main building. There was a huge campfire at the middle of the quadrangle and we spent the night bonding. There were still no boys then and they were mere figments and admittedly a major topic of our girl talk. You may have been in your early elementary.

That was almost a decade ago. Please do not compute my age. Still, CHJ remain a school that values substance over form. My prom, just like your prom may have lesser glitz and glamour than the rest of the worlds, but we derive the same, if not more, inspiration and wisdom from it.

2. Sir Boy Cequina taught us well in English. I learned to love words because of the Hijas way of teaching English. Sir Mike Sales and Ms. Glorfe Cajilig also taught me good history. That is why I opted to dissect the origin of the word Prom. Prom is a shorter term for Promenade. It was first used in simple co-ed banquets in 19th century which American universities held for each year's graduating class. Promenades etymology is the French promener which translates to to take a walk. The French promener is rooted in Latin pro which means before or prior and mener which means to lead. How timely is this discovery. Promenade was originally intended to mean leadership. Beyond the dainty dresses, well brushed hair and scrumptious food, prom should be an event that celebrates leadership. More specifically, the turn-over of leadership from the Seniors to the Juniors or in your case, Grade 9. This turn-over is made formal through the Seniors Class Will and Testament. The manong and manang bequeath attributes, status and more importantly, responsibilities to their manghod. The Prom fortifies this shift and indirectly establishes in each Grade 9 the vinculum or the obligation to execute and administer to whatever was left by the Seniors for the ultimate goal of keeping CHJ and its community at its best and harmonious state. This is the culmination of a year of leadership for the Seniors. Yes, you are the schools leaders regardless of whether or not you won first place overall during the Intramurals. In a few months, you will be graduating and moving up the academic ladder. Youll be in college. This prom should summarize your legacy, what you have left for Hijas and what your dreams are for Hijas. Tonight is your own version of Venezuelas Gabriela Islers final walk and speech before she gave her crown to Paulina Vega of Columbia. Make your exit the most graceful and most meaningful. Localize what Mahatma Ghandi said, My life is my message. Your message is the accumulation of the several years of having been enrolled in this institution. Your message will include how much omelets you made for Mo. Candidas feast day and how much of these you secretly ate when your teacher was not looking. When I was in elementary, our class advisers concluded that we seem to be the most notorious batch. We felt guilty, for many of us were indeed makulit and stubborn. But, we did not leave it as it is. We exited this school with a promising graduating class. Our academic awardees crowded the honor roll. Now, a lot of us are capable young professionals. I ask you to reflect as a class. Think about how you will all be remembered in Hijas. Will it be a pleasing memory for your teachers, staff and younger schoolmates? Or if it is slightly stained with mischief and pasaway, what can you do to correct them? You still have several weeks to make good and make big your exit. This is the beginning of a year of leadership for the Grade 9. More novel is your case that because of the change in curriculum, you will lead the school longer than usual. You will become the manangs and manongs of our younger schoolmates for three more years. This means more is expected from you because you get to actually grow and learn to be elder siblings. But, on the plus side, more balon for you. Learn from your Seniors. Emulate their strengths and improve on their weaknesses. You are now expected to be a little more selfless than usual to be a little more giving than usual. As the incoming big brothers and sisters, the school administration, faculty and staff count on you to be role models for our younger schoolmates. Clichd as it may have sounded, but it cannot be overemphasized. You will be the trendsetters. You will decide what the hash tag should be. During the vacation prior to my senior year in Hijas, I felt kilig because in a few months, I will get to do something I have always wanted to do since elementary. Lead the lullaley ang mga ibon and making melodies medley. No more second thoughts and inhibitions. Once the music starts playing, the quadrangle will be filled by Seniors leading the entire CHJ community into a song-dance number. Yes, my dear Grade 9. In a few months, you will lead this school. I want you to be the kind of leader that you yourself will undoubtedly follow.

Little things1. I won't let these little things slip out of my mouth. But if it's true, it's you - it's you they add up to. Just a few more weeks and the boys will be in town. But they are past my age bracket. The phrasing of song writers Fiona Bevan and the more popular Ed Sheeran is simple but is accurate. The Little Things that we do or that we are, are like cells to an organism. Ms. Gener in Biology told us that cells are building blocks of life. They make up tissues, organs and organ-systems ultimately. Its these little things that make us similar or different from each other. The little thing of sharing the same genre of music which brings both of you to chip in for the 1D concert or the little thing of having different tastes in dystopian fiction which eventually causes the Divergent and Hunger Games factions. However, the little things, because of being little are left out of the spotlight. What is often paid attention to are those that are grand and explosive. Nevertheless, I personally value these little things because I have two little things that have helped me up to this stage of adulthood. These are: the little thing called dreams and the little thing called adaptation.

2. The ability to dream, more than its significance in our REM cycles during sleep, is a hidden superpower. Back in Grade 3, I first got hold of a copy of The Flames the official student publication of CHJ. I read every page of it but understood only the comics sections. Nevertheless, I got inspired by the thought of writing for this publication. I remember enthusiastically reaching for my Grade 3 pad and Jumbo Mongol pencil and then scribbling whatever words known to my vocabulary. I wrote a four line poem about a girl getting chased by a goat. I compared my poem to the poems printed on The Flames. I felt so small that day that I cried to my Nanay asking her, how come they can write such lengthy beautiful words and all I had was a girl being chased by a goat? My Nanay smiled and told me to be patient and continue to dream because in time, Ill have my own place in the paper. She was right as she always is. As of the moment, I have six essays published in national broadsheets like the Rappler and Philippine Daily Inquirer. I have also worked for seven years as a weekly columnist for a regional newspaper. And currently, the Editor-in-Chief of University of St. La Salles College of Law Journal. Not a single day did I let go of my dreams of becoming a writer. Until now, I continue to dream. I dream that one day, I will write prolific legal essays worthy to be published for Harvard Universitys Law Review. This little thing called dreams may be little but they can ignite something big. However, the little thing called dreams should be coupled with a bigger thing called perseverance. I did not sleep on these dreams; I worked my bottoms off for them. I started in Grade 4. I applied for the Flames and was accepted. I was assigned the most menial of writing tasks. In Grade 6, I wrote some short news items and contributed some poems. Mind you they no longer talk about a girl being chased by a goat. They however are about the pettiest of childhood fancies. In high school, I was given positions in the editorial board. I, being athletically wimpy, became a sports editor. But I did not qualm and still took the task. Come 4th year, I was made Assistant-Editor-in-Chief. In college, I entered the university publication of West Visayas State University called Forum Dimensions. I became one of the senior editors before I graduated and also became its scholar. I prepared a piece weekly for the regional newspaper and the deadlines were tough to beat while I was balancing my academics and clinical practicum in Nursing. But lo and behold, my friends, it all paid off in the end. The little thing called dreams partnered with the bigger thing called perseverance.

3. There is a quote by martial artist Bruce Lee that I love to read and reread. You must be shapeless, formless, like water. When you pour water in a cup, it becomes the cup. When you pour water in a bottle, it becomes the bottle. When you pour water in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Water can drip and it can crash. Become like water my friend. Lee is of course referring to my second little thing: adaptation. Our little thing called dreams will consequently urge us to make plans for their actualization. You dream of becoming a physician. You plan of going to pre-med Biology, then medical school and finally pass the Physician Licensure Exam. In my case, I dreamed of becoming a critical care nurse in a busy hospital in New York City. So, as a consequence, I planned and took up Nursing, graduated with Latin honors, passed and even topped the Nurse Licensure Exam, worked in the busiest medical center in Iloilo and took all academic units for my Master of Arts in Nursing. I was on my way to fulfilling Plan A to be an astig critical care nurse in NYC. But, reality intervened. Immigration hindered. US job opportunities made it difficult. I was down. I felt underachieved. I have prepared well for the battle but my enemies retreated. But the one day, I realized it was merely Plan A. There are 25 more letters in the alphabet, 27 if we consider the s and Ngs. I dont drive but at that moment I decided to shift gears and took on Plan B. I adapted to what I have and what I lack. I decided to become a lawyer. I plan to enter law school, pass the bar exam, earn big and help the least, last and lost. My love for words had always kept this fascination for the law at the back of my head. It was at first difficult. A handful of people were raising their eyebrows questioning the practicality of my new plan. But if norms, tradition and even popular opinion are the only ones keeping me from becoming a lawyer, then why should I surrender to their discouragement? The little thing called adaptation works best with what is the bigger thing called willpower. Willpower to survive, to continue to carry on. Adaptation allows us to deal with our gaps and limits and finally make good with what is possible and subsequently make the possibility a reality.

Our dreams wont be enough because reality is now turning out to be a frequently cruel place. Let us keep it from making us as cruel and as frustrated. There will be foreseen and unforeseen detractors. Our dreams must be coupled with the ability to adapt because when we do know how to adapt, failures and losses become the best opportunities to dream new and surprisingly better dreams. Dream and Adapt, my dear friends. I wish you all a pleasant evening.