Dream Big: A Senior High School Recollection

​Each one of us has our own dreams to fulfill in life, dreams that will motivate and shape us to become a better individual in the future. Dreams that will make us happy once these dreams will turn to goals, then goals will in turn become our achievements. Isn’t it joyful when you tell yourself that you finally had the chance to fulfill your life with these goals and move on in making another dream? When you think about, it is a great sense of fulfillment and you try to walk on the right path for the rest of your life.
 
But the question is, have you ever dream big? Have you ever thought that your dreams in life will soon become reality? Do you trust yourself enough to make all your dreams come true despite of fear, hardships and obstacles along the way? Are you afraid of taking each step towards achieving your real-life goals? If you cannot answer these deep - thoughtful questions, then let me share to you how I understood life and embrace it’s significant in gaining experiences to achieve your dreams.
 
The night before the recollection, Father Bong told me that I will be in-charge of the Powerpoint Presentation. I will be his assistant during his presentation for the program as he will be one of the speakers for the recollection. I have never done this before to be honest, it was my first time. I knew that even though I never had the experience with a powerpoint presentation, I took the liberty to ask Father Bong to teach me how. At the back of my mind, I was actually nervous and excited at the same time because I know it will be easy just like using a Microsoft word or Excel.
 
On the day of the recollection, I arrived 7:35 in the morning so I had time to prepare and to practice the presentation before the program started at 8:00. Father Bong gave me the handouts of the program and taught me everything in order for me to assist him with his presentation smoothly without any issues and difficulties during the program.
 
As I was preparing, the Senior High students of Balara High School arrived on time and they were properly assisted with hospitality. As we started, Father Bong welcomed the students with such a lively song entitled ‘I Have a Dream’ by Verbum Dei. The Senior High students were so very eager because Father Bong added some actions to the song. The students had fun and loved the song to their hearts’ content. Who wouldn’t be when the song was full of thrill and excitement.
 
The speakers were amazing with their presentations. The first speaker talked about the actual example of 1,000 peso bill and at this moment, the students were seriously listening as she crumpled and stepped on the money. She showed it to the students, asking if they still want the bill to which they delightedly replied “Yes!”. The bill is still significant because they do all know that it is still the same amount of valued money but what was the main lesson of the speaker’s talk?
 
The point was for us to understand how important our lives are in the Eyes of God, how Jesus still loves us no matter what we are going through in our lives. The bill she showed represents us as we human beings encounter awful experiences, heartbreaks and lost. He will never abandoned us despite our shortcomings, fears, troubles, problems and all those negative things that make us undervalued by those obstacles and hardships we encountered in our paths. He will never stop believing and will forever be patient with us with welcoming arms no matter how sinful we are.
 
Sometimes it’s really hard to have faith when we are in a worse kind of situations; situations of disappointments in life, sorrow and death but there is always a reason for everything. At times we wonder why these things happen to us as we tend to be frustrated and cursed the life for giving us the hard time to live but one thing is for sure, surrender everything to God and trust that His plans for you will never fail. Timing is everything and time is gold, never forget the saying “Patience is a virtue.” as being patient leads us to the right path that God will be given to us. Just keep on believing in your dreams and trust God’s perfect timing. 

The Senior High students actively participated in the activities. Those activities were the best part of the program because we got the chance to get to know them about their life experiences. We learned more about them as they shared their pains, sorrow and sad stories of how hard life was to them within their family, friends, love, school and among other things that lead to becoming an obstacle. I was so deeply touched when Father Bong taught them how to view life as they went further throughout the activities. I had learned so much and I am forever thankful for this wonderful opportunity.
 
As the recollection came to an end, I am so grateful to see such amazing students of Balara High School! I was really amazed by by their expressive hearts and joyful personalities. When I was observing them during the program, I was reminiscing myself wayback in high school. I was this high school student with full of determination and was so focused in achieving my life goals. Those memories will always be missed because I also had my recollection in High School and the best part was to be able to graduate and made a huge step to enter College. Oh how time flies! It’s so good to have those memories when I was still a student. It is such a great experience! I survived and learned so many things. It was the end and yet the beginning of another chapter in my life.
 
It was indeed a fun-filled and fruitful recollection I’ve ever had; bringing all those memories back in my mind reminded me that no matter how hard life was and still is, I will always be a strong and independent woman. Always remember, don’t stop believing in yourself. Life is short, live it and embrace it. DREAM BIG! ​

---

---

With thanks to Mylen Samson and the WordNews team