...a feeling "reserved exclusively" for teachers.
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by Philipina A. Marcelo
Just a few months ago, my colleagues and I were savoring the joy of seeing our students finish an important journey... to start a new and more exciting one, with a promise of more meaningful and fulfilling "adventures". While it was wringing our hearts to see them go after (mostly) five years of nurturing them, with inspired commitment, hardwork, and tears (mostly theirs), it excited us to think about the possibilities - their possibilities! It's fantastic to think about the many opportunities in front of them... therefore, despite aching hearts that clung heavily to memories of having them in our midst, we happily let them go - to discover and explore their wonderful possibilities.
After shaking their hands for a job well done, their professional journey commenced. They signed on to pursue professional certification - the Chemical Engineer Licensure Examination. Unlike the hundreds of examinations they took in the University, their first hurdle to full-pledged professional practice was a "test of will and perseverance" rather than technical proficiency... because modesty aside, I believe we have more than sufficiently taken care of that in the University.
And so, like parents of eager toddlers who were learning to walk, we watched them - painfully, too, sometimes - as they languished through the harsh patches along the way. And yet, we secretly smiled to ourselves as they remembered to summon the discipline, strength of character, faith, and intellectual and technical seeds that we planted in them, and that they nurtured to glorious bloom, in the University, as they continued navigating the path to certified professional practice. While we tortured ourselves to useless anxiety sometimes about how they would reach the finish line of their very first "professional race", we were confident that they were fully equipped to finish the race. And finish they did! And it led them to this glorious and storied corridor...
After several months of sleepless nights, preparing for the battle, learning to use the strings after long strings of technical "ammunitions" we packed in their bags as we sent them out to journey - on their own now - they valiantly marched out to confront the "enemy". And, as we so fervently believed in our hearts, they conquered it! They emerged victorious! :) The storied corridor led them to this hallowed four-walls where their certified professional journey begins...
...and, as they raised their right hands and inducted into the ranks of one of the most elite professional circles known, we felt nothing but pride!
As they returned their gaze to us... certified licensed chemical engineers now, there was no word to describe the overwhelming joy that filled our hearts, their former teachers! :) And we swam in the glorious sweetness of the moment... like it was exclusively reserved for us!
Congratulations to our NEW Thomasian licensed chemical engineers! All the very best in your future endeavors!! We are very proud of you! :)
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We say a prayer for the victims of floods in Southern Philippines. May the Holy Spirit continue to bring peace and calm in their hearts as they gather strength to pick up the pieces of their fragmented homes and start anew. Amen.
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