RBalicongan Nov 23, 2021
Repost
Symphony No. 1: Ode to the Mindanao State University
Second movement
Crescendo
The days and months went by. The pace of growth sped up. New buildings rose to house better classrooms and lodgings for fresh batches of skinny boys and girls who came from all the corners of the nation each year. Swelling the number of eager learners: expectant, jubilant, and, perhaps, anxious too. All hopeful of a radiant future.
The number of teachers swelled too. Adding wider perspectives to impart to the students on how to view the world from.
Classrooms were enriched with these added minds. And with growing minds, discussions became more involved. Debates more fierce. Befuddlement at inane remarks grew more often as well as awe at the spark of intelligence that traveled from the mind, escaping through the lips of the more gifted of the bunch, infecting others to strive for excellence.
And, just as what happens when boys meet girls anywhere, romance bloomed, providing an even richer ground for growth to those ensnared by Eros, inspiration to do even better in the classroom . To some, leading to lost of of focus on academic work and the consequential lost scholarship
To be sure, there were personal even tribal conflicts that burst every now and then, just as what happens wherever cultures meet. But all these were subsumed by the pursuit of learning and the desire to get hold of that passport to greater opportunities that a university degree affords.
Dignitaries came too. Marching in during special occasions. Lauding the noble pursuit to transcend regional differences and cultural biases and to forge peace, unity and harmony throughout the land.
April 26, 1966. The day of the first graduation came. The sun rose resplendent, as though it too was rejoicing with the first harvests of ripened minds.
A joyous day filled with the beaming faces of the graduates, the parents and friends, the mentors and the guests of the university.
The graduates marched behind their mentors. The breasts of the honor graduates glittering with shiny medals, proof of their academic excellence. They entered the hall and stood by their assigned seats as the national anthem and the university was sang.
The rites started.
Then President Ferdinand E. Marcos rose and delivered his celebratory address with his impeccable oratory, challenging the graduates to rise beyon the cultural and regional barriers even as they leave the portals of the university and join the rest of the country in nation building.
Then the graduates, sixty-three in all from six colleges, marched onto the stage with pride when their names were called to receive the precious certificate of academic completion as the parents watched, delight radiating from their smiles. The hall bursting with great applause that grew louder as the first summa cum laude, the magna cum laudes and the cum laudes strode the stage with big smiles and added spring on their feet.
That day ended with many hearts filled with joy and expectation. The first of many graduation days to come each year with ever increasing number of graduates.
Graduates who were proud to have been part of the great experiment that was MSU.
Graduates who through the years never forgot the song they sung that day...
Silahis ang katulad mong nagsabi ng liwanag!
Perhaps, a haribon soared hight that day and screeched its congratulations too.
Perhaps many in the towns surrounding the lake were glued to the radios following the flow of the rites. Perhaps they wore big smiles too.
Perhaps the souls of those who roamed the hills of Cabingan finally took their rest at the first fruition of a dream long held in their breasts. That their land would one day become the womb to give birth to a different breed of people that would work to unite the land!
Note from - LCD
Though my stay at MSU was shortlived without a piece of photographic memory, but our reunion that my classmates provided via their timelines, which I lost to hackers anyway, this beautiful green hills will forever remain in my heart and memory. 23/11/2021
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