I VIVIDLY REMEMBER myself in grade school walking along the streets of U-Belt while holding my mother’s hand, talking about the universities where I would be pursuing my dreams. It was all the other colleges around except San Beda—not because I never liked it. Honestly, I really do.

Even at a young age, I had become aware of my family’s financial situation. Studying in a prestigious institution like San Beda simply felt beyond my reach. It was a dream I never allowed myself to dream. 

Yet here I am, wearing my red toga. And often I think, who was I to ever doubt the boundless grace of God?

Looking back, I really thought college would be so hard. But really, it was not just the academic completion that they were talking about. 

College was showing up even when I felt unwell. It was studying until midnight even when my body begged me to stop. It was making ends meet and helping my family pay my tuition. It was trying to balance responsibilities while pretending life was perfectly manageable. 

Didn’t know if it was, but it was indeed fun. 

I am one of the dreamers who had a major adjustment in my life when the pandemic came. Everything shifted online before we entered senior high—it was as if all the plans I made for myself started not to work out. 

I wanted to be an architect ever since I was little. All along, I thought I was sure—not until I realized the lockdowns became too restrictive for my family, causing our growing business to completely shut down. Pursuing architecture was no longer practical, and with it, I thought I had lost the future I had imagined for myself. 

But then I realized, do I really want to be an architect, or do I only want it because everyone told me to do so? And suddenly, right before I graduated high school, I had a change of heart. 

Again, right where I thought I would just shrink myself to be realistic and practical, God had other plans and brought me to the Mighty Red School, where I could pursue something that I had quietly admired for years but never believed I could achieve—the pursuit of law. 

Courses such as social studies, politics, and philosophy became my utmost interest when I pursued campus journalism in my junior and senior high years—which is why I took political science as my undergraduate pre-law program and became part of The Bedan, the official student publication of San Beda University. 

More than an organization, The Bedan became my home. It shaped my voice, strengthened my convictions, and introduced me to a community that made San Beda feel less like an institution and more like a family. It’s like the institution gave me an identity I proudly carry until the very last page of it. 

Of course, any journey wouldn’t be so enthralling without finding your own people. 

At first, everything seems out of tune with a campus filled with people so different from each other, each carrying dreams and stories of their own. Then, I realized that not everyone gets fortunate enough to find their people right from the start. Still, I’m glad mine came even when I was least expecting. 

To my best buds in class, to The Bedan family, to college organizations I affiliated myself with, to the kindest faculty and staff there is in San Beda University, and the person who unexpectedly taught me that love could also be found within these walls—You’re all the reason why I get to call San Beda my home. 

And to my parents, who taught me to never take education for granted, I did my part with a very grateful heart. 

And I hope, even so, to manifest and express the same gratitude in the following years when I finally get that J.D.

Congratulations, Class of 2026!

That in all things, God may be glorified.