To Whom Much is Given, Much is Expected

by: Miguel Lorenzo L. Ildesa, Most Outstanding Elementary School Pupil of Iloilo for AY 2011-2012

To the audience, organizers, my fellow students, teachers, guests, and parents, a pleasant day.

Another school year is about to end and at the same time my elementary years are drawing to a close. As this journey is about to end, another journey will begin: my high school life. And this journey I will look forward with excitement in the same way that my elementary years I will remember with fulfilment. And one of the greatest fulfilments I have is to be of service to others and serve as a good example to the students.

To be chosen as the Most Outstanding Elementary School Pupil of Iloilo is indeed a great fulfilment. And this moment I will remember not only with humility but with gratefulness as well. For the honor and the achievement also belongs to my school, classmates, and especially my parents. To my mom and dad, it has been a great journey. Thank you for the guidance, for showing me the right directions. And now I have arrived and found my fulfilment as the Most Outstanding Elementary School Pupil of Iloilo.

The Most Outstanding Elementary School Pupil Award is a special recognition, as it does not only measure the students in one field of proficiency. It gives weight not only to the students’ academic achievements but to their extra-curricular activities as well. It sees the students as individuals with varied intelligences and capabilities. Students who vie for this recognition are encouraged, and challenged, to participate in more activities and to excel in them – always making sure that they deliver their best at each endeavour - striving hard in the pursuit of excellence.

To the organizers, thank you for this opportunity. To our dear parents, we thank you all for the untiring support and unconditional love. You have all done well in rearing your children. We hope you do not get tired in guiding us for you are our primary educators. Please continue to direct us not just in our academic endeavours but more so in building our characters as this is of greater consequence and more long-lasting.

To my dad Russel, mom Tess Ildesa and sister, Pat, thank you for the support and love. In fact, this award belongs to you. You are the best blessing I received from God. I love you Dad, Mom and Pat.

To our schools, thank you for believing in us. And to my school PAREF Westbridge, thank you for the mentoring and support, for guiding me to be a man of integrity, a Westbridge gentleman. To Mr. Ronnie Gilles, our Executive Director and Mr. Gerard Eugene Lacaya, our Elementary Principal, my greatest respect and admiration to the two of you. Thank you for producing rounded Westbridgers like me.

To our teachers and mentors, thank you for your patience and untiring support. The love you have shown inspired us to do more and be serious in all our endeavors. To Mr. Laurence Soteo, our student affairs officer and student council adviser and Mr. Gerard Bhel Bionat, our Science Club adviser, no words can suffice how grateful I am to your motivation and for believing in my capacities. I would not have been here without your help. To my sirs and older brothers, I share this award to you.
To my fellow awardees, let this recognition serve as our inspiration to be more diligent in our studies and conscientious in all our undertakings whether in school or outside the school, whether we are graded or not, whether we are being watched or not.

Let us consider this award not as a mere acknowledgment of our achievements but more of a reminder of our responsibility to our families, schools, communities, our country, and to God, the source of all our talents and intelligence.
As we continue our journey, we will meet more challenges and opportunities. And we cannot hurdle them without the aid of God and whatever fulfilment we had and will have, let us abandon it to Him and exert all our humanly efforts not for personal gain but rather to serve others.

“To whom much is given, much is expected.”

And as my high school journey begins I will take into heart all the lessons you have imparted to me. And the fulfilment I had in my elementary years will serve as my inspiration in the long road ahead and I hope that my fulfilment would be an inspiration to others also.

Now, some of you may be wondering or curious enough to know what makes me an achiever.

Well, my journey towards success begins at home with my parents. And they have taught me that nothing, I repeat, nothing beats hard work and discipline. At my young age, the choice between watching a favourite TV program or studying my lessons is always clear. To prioritize my studies and let go of the TV program strengthened my will and gave me a worthy definition of myself as a student. Prioritizing, knowing what matters most and acting on it, is one of the greatest contributions my parents gave to me.



And this contribution is strengthened in school. As my teachers and mentors reach out and organize activities like the Father and Son Camping and the School For Parents, Studying becomes a family endeavour. Yes. Westbridge has a school for parents. In our school, when your son is enrolled, the parents are also enrolled. Through a program of seminars, Parents are taught about how to raise children into mature and active citizens of the community. Parents are made to realize that in the nourishing of their son’s mind and soul, in the guiding of their son’s future, the burden and the responsibility is shared by the school. The Parents are always welcome to talk to the teachers, and to God through the recollections and retreats organized by the school. A holistic home-school collaboration, a collaboration between my teachers and my parents, makes me who I am right now. A man of integrity. A student blessed with talents, given the opportunity to be a good example to others.
Ladies and gentlemen, a person becomes a great leader not just because of what he has received, but more importantly, of what he has given.

Because great ambition or dream without contribution is without significance.
In Westbridge, we believe that our best contribution to the community, to the nation, and to the world is the gift of well-formed and principled people. And forming principled people begins at a young age, begins with us, the young leaders of Iloilo.

To the audience, organizers, my fellow students, teachers, guests, and parents, it has been a pleasant day, a memorable one. In behalf of all the young leaders of Iloilo, Thank you so much for believing in us. As we all look forward to reach our dreams, we will always remember that these dreams were inspired by this very momentous occasion. God bless everyone. Carpe Diem! @