MAGAYONON AN Sinabi san ATO NATIONAL HERO DR. JOSE P. RIZAL, “ANG HINDI MARUNONG LUMINGON SA KANYANG PINANG-GALINGAN AY HINDI MAKAKARATING SA KANYANG PARURUONAN” . KAYA, MAO PO INE AN GUSTO KO HATAGAN SIN EMPHASIS SA AKO OPENING REMARKS…

una, GUSTO KO MAGPASALAMAT kay MAGAYON AN NAGING RESULTA SAN AMO INPOST NA IMBITASYON SA smhs82 & STAMAGDALENA WEBSITES MANONGOD SINE NA ATO SELEBRASYON KAY DAGHANON KIRITA NA NAGKA-TIRIPON NIYAN NA GABI.

KAYA, ON BEHALF OF SOLID BATCH 1982 AND CO-SPONSORS OF TONIGHT’S EVENT, IT IS MY GREAT HONOR TO WELCOME YOU TONIGHT, to CELEBRATE THREE (3) EVENTS TOGETHER - THE SILVER JUBILEE CELEBRATION OF OUR BATCH 1982, THE 18 TH GENERAL ALUMNI HOMECOMING 2007, AND ALSO, WE ARE CELEBRATING THE 60 TH FOUNDATION ANNIVERSARY OF OUR ALMA MATER .

BEFORE I PROCEED LET ME CONGRATULATE AND SALUTE MY FELLOW MEMBERS OF BATCH 1982 HEADED BY OUR CLASS PRESIDENT, AMELIA ESPUELAS-FIGUEROA – FOR THEIR HARDWORK AND DEDICATION IN FACILITATING THE HOLDING OF THIS MEMORABLE EVENING. THANK YOU ALSO TO OUR CO-SPONSORS – THE CLASS OF 1987, 1992 & 1997 - FOR THEIR wholehearted SUPPORT AND EFFORTS FOR THIS YEAR’S ALUMNI HOMECOMING. (Palakpakan ta tabi sira!)

How time flies so quickLY. ITS ALREADY 25 YEARS HAVE PASSED SINCE WE, batch 1982 marched HERE AT THE public auditorium WHERE WE held our graduation ceremony. i remember We were wearing school uniforms instead of the traditional white graduation attire because our town was devastated by typhoon “Dinang” during THE Christmas Day on our senior years. that TYPHOON caused A BIG DISASTER in OUR TOWN, and DESTROYED MOST OF THE school buildings in our campus including YADTO NA famous BUILDING “NA MAY SIRONG” WHICH I BELIEVE “DOMDOM PA YON SAN MGA ALUMNI WHO GRADUATED PRIOR TO THE YEAR 1982”. DUE TO THAT CALAMITY, MANY OF the SCHOOL ACTIVITIES THAT TIME WERE CANCELED, LIKE THE JS PROM, INTRAMS AND EVEN STUDENTS ENDED UP ATTENDING CLASSES UNDER THE TREE & SOMETIMES AT THE CHURCH BECAUSE OF THE ABSENCE OF CLASSROOMS AT THE CAMPUS. BUT THEN, I WOULD LiKE TO tell YOU, THAT despite the DISASTER, our morale AND SPIRITS were high, because we considered it as a challenge INSTEAD OF a crisis, until we realized that we were ALL READY TO GO UP thE stage to receive our high school diploma.

MY FELLOW ALUMNI, whether you accept it or not, all of us have harbored a dream of some sort – to pursue something we considered worthwhile. the members of solid batch 1982 are no exception. we also have our dreams! some have already been achieved, while others are still being pursued. but as a group, we felt strongly, that although we have to continue to work hard to make our dreams a reality, the one dream that we can not and should not BE takeN for granted IS TO DO A civic duty AND give back SOMETHING to our beloved high school – because this is THE SCHOOL THAT GAVE US THE KNOWLEDGE DURING OUR early FORMATIVE YEARS!

YES! SOLID BATCH 1982 IS PROUD TO ANNOUNCE THAT OUR DREAM OF GIVING something worthwhile to our school will be realised, because TOMORROW MORNING, OUR project WHICH IS “THE STUDENT’S DROP-IN CENTER AT the SMNHS CAMPUS” will BE officially unveiled & WILL BE handovered to the school MANAGEMENT WHEN WE FINALIZED THE ROOFING & FLOORING OF THE CENTER KAY NAIMOD MAN SIGURO NIYO NA TEMPORARY TRAPAL LANG AN ROOF SAN CENTER DUE TO the DELAY OF MATERIALS WHICH WERE ORDERED IN MANILA BY THE LOCAL SUPPLIER. YET, WE ARE ALL very PROUD, and trust THAT the unveiling of THIS CENTER will become THE HIGHLIGHT OF smhs solid batch 1982 SILVER JUBILEE CELEBRATION.

BEING THE INITIATOR OF the PROJECT, ALLOW ME TO personally extend my sincere thanks and appreciation to ALL THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE, in varying degrees, CONTRIBUTED in making this project a reality.

I MUST THANK MOST ESPECIALLY THE VERY GENEROUS LEARNAID ORGANIZATION IN KUWAIT, WHO is OUR MAJOR SPONSOR. YOU MAY NOT BE AWARE OF THIS, BUT LEARNAID’s MISSION IS TO HELP DISTRESSED SCHOOL CHILDREN IN SRI LANKA & INDIA WHO WERE AFFECTED BY the 2004 TSUNAMI DISASTER, and EVEN THOUGH OUR COUNTRY IS NOT LEARNAID’S PRIORITY, I WAS ABLE TO CONVINCE THEM TO also allocate funds and SUPPORT OUR PROJECT.

I MUST ALSO THANK OUR MAGDALENIANS OVERSEAS and local FRIENDS, WHO ALSO HELPED SOLID BATCH WITH THEIR FINANCIAL, TECHNICAL or moral support ON OUR PROJECT. BUT MOST ALL, I WOULD LIKE TO ACKNOWLEDGE the OVERWHELMING BAYANIHAN SPIRIT OF SOLID BATCH 1982 FOR THEIR HARDWORK AND COMMITMENT THAT BROUGHT THE PROJECT TO NEAR COMPLETION AS IT IS TODAY.

MAG-OROGMA KIRITA NIYAN NA GAB-I AND BE PROUD BEING AN SMNHS ALUMNI! THANK YOU AND MAY GOD BLESS US ALL…