Appreciation Day is not just a day to thank the faculty and staff alone. It's also a time to thank and appreciate our students.

    There may be times that our students are very difficult to handle but we don't realize that these experiences with them are the ones that mold us to become better teachers. I personally have experiences, both good and bad, that I can say helped me to become the teacher that I am today.

    I want to thank my students for the challenges they have given me. There were instances during my first year of teaching wherein I didn't want to enter a particular class because of their behavior towards me and the subject. It seemed that the students already knew everything I was teaching them. They all looked so bored and tired with me and the subject. I thought to myself, maybe they belonged to a GEMS class. This made me try different teaching strategies that would best suit their interests. I also experimented on some classroom management techniques that would work on them. Fortunately, little by little, I gained their attention and respect. I was surprised one day when they approached me and asked if I could be one of the teachers to recommend them for High School. I said to myself, "What?! These boys are asking me for a recommendation? The boys who seemed not to listen or pay attention to a single word I said?" Although I wondered why they had chosen me, I gladly said yes. I know that somehow they appreciated all the things I had done for them in the past.

    I also want to thank my students for not forgetting what I have taught them, not only in terms of academics, but also in terms of their personal formation. I want to thank them for trusting and obeying me and for always keeping in mind the things that I had asked them to do. I sometimes receive notes or letters from them, some of them even approach me and tell me about the good and bad things they have done, just to let me know that they are being true to the promises they made.

    These kinds of students are the ones who give me the encouragement and the will to stay on in this vocation. They are the ones who inspire me to always give my very best. Sila ang nagpapatotoo sa salitang "FULFILLMENT". So to all my students, thank you for everything. MABUHAY KAYO! LUCEAT LUX!