First and foremost, I would like to give glory and honor to our Heavenly Father for His unending love and abounding grace. Soli Deo Gloria! Secondly, we would not be here tonight if it wasn’t for the unified support of the people behind our sweet success. Thank you Lord for providing us with these wonderful people whom we owe our success today.

To our dedicated mentors, thank you for imparting to us not only your knowledge of engineering principles, but also for teaching us to become a better person. We students sometimes keep on complaining about our very hard exams and unlimited set of requirements especially when the deadlines were scheduled on the same day, but these eventually brought out the best in us. We know that the hardships we went through are preparing us to withstand more challenging situations in the future. Now, we are ready to face the pressures and demands of the world outside the walls of the classroom. So Ma’am, Sir, Thank you very much!

To the MSU-IIT College of Engineering, thank you for providing us with the best education possible, for providing us not only a place to learn, but also a true home, and for teaching us that honor comes first before excellence.

We should not forget to thank our classmates and friends whom we shared our laughter and tears throughout our engineering life. How can we forget the countless overnights we had either to prepare for exams, make projects, or perform experiments in the laboratory for our thesis and plant design, or practice a Wanne Be performance for the Palakasan and COE Week, or simply prepare for pitches and oral presentations. Indeed, you made difficult things bearable yet sometimes even more complicated! Nevertheless, thank you for being there to celebrate with our “uno” and to comfort us with our “singko”,

Most importantly, we graduates would like to congratulate our loving parents. They have not only given us life but have worked really hard and sacrificed a lot to send us here in MSU-IIT. Indeed, words can never express how truly grateful we are for everything you have done for us. Fellow graduates, let us give our dear parents a resounding round of applause. We may now be seated. May I also take this opportunity to acknowledge my loving parents, Rev. Richard and Rosalina Cedeño, Ma, Pa, may you please stand for recognition. Ladies and gentlemen, they are the ones who inspired me to achieve whatever I have today. Ma, Pa, I love you so much!

As an engineering student, we are all familiar how it feels to take a major exam full of problem solving. Sometimes, when we look at the exam paper, we get really shocked! Sometimes, the problems look like strangers we’ve never met before, sometimes they look very easy but when you start solving, it turns out to be so complicated, and sometimes, we just simply don’t understand them until the time is up.

Life is like a very LONG EXAM. It is very difficult if we are not prepared.
In order to pass the test, first, we must always follow instructions – may these be from our parents or from our mentors. Let us be humble and respect their advices and suggestions since they have more experiences in life. Therefore they were able to pass more exams than we do. Second step in problem solving is to know what are given. We should know our own strengths and weaknesses. Knowing these given variables will help us choose the right path and the right direction of our careers in the future in order to make a difference in the society. Third, let us be aware of the governing life equations. We must learn how to add hardwork and integrity, subtract stress and discouragements, multiply them by faith and optimism, and raise them to the power of God’s grace. Lastly, we must realize that in this exam, there are no perfect answers. So let us not be afraid to commit mistakes, but rather we must learn from them.

Meanwhile, many people fail the exam because they try to copy others, not realizing that everyone has different sets of question to answer. Let us stop comparing ourselves with others because each of us has a different purpose. If we were consistent Dean’s Listers or graduating Cum Laude, then let us prove that we are not only good at solving thermodynamics and differential equations, but we can also excel in the workplace as well as professionals. If we barely made it to graduation, took series of removal exams just to pass, then let us prove that grades do not measure a person’s success. Grades should never define us.

Whatever the future holds, and whether we are planning to pursue Graduate School, review for the board exams, or find a decent job right after graduation, we are ready to face them. We have passed one of the greatest exams of our lives, so let us be confident. Let us be assured that God knows the plans He has for us, plans not to harm us but to prosper us, plans to give us hope and a great future.

May I end my speech by quoting Ralph Marston saying,

“Excellence is not a skill. It is an attitude.”

Thank you and God bless us all.