“The old order changeth. yielding place to new, And God fulfills Himself in many ways, Lest one good custom should comipt the world. – Lord Alfred Tennyson
Good morning Sister, teachers, parents and friends!
It is an honour to be here in front of you / for the last time.
As I began thinking about what I should say, I discovered that I could go on for hours about our 12 years here at school. But then a friend reminded me about the fate of the famous Greek philosopher, Socrates. Socrates was very intelligent. But Socrates gave long speeches and his friends killed him. Thankfully I’m no Socrates. Even so I do not want to end up like Socrates. So I will try to be brief.
Our deep gratitude to our principal and teachers for being our mentors throughout these years, we really appreciate you for bearing with us and still loving us. Words are not enough to thank you.
Beloved friends, how many times have we imagined what this day would be like? I have to say, I have thought about this day so many times. I could have memorized every imagined scene! 12 years, my dear batch mates, it took us 12 years to finally get into 10 std. Who would have thought that our nervous 4 — 5 year old selves would ride the roller coaster of school days and end up sitting here draped in sarees? Indeed we have come a long way in our journey.
It has been a long 12 years and a short 12 years. Long because of the drama, exhausting assignments, boring days, early morning alarms and remembering that night, that there is a project to be submitted on the following day. And by the way, we only remembered about the project because our CR posted a reminder on our class group. Short 12 years, because of the lifelong friendships, the lasting memories and the truly interesting and amazing things we learnt between the occasional bits of toil. We haven’t finished our conversations. Can we have some more time? I guess not.
Good or bad, long or short, I will always remember our school. This place will always be part
of our nostalgia. When I walk out of these gates, I will always remember the family we’ve grown into. I’m proud to be a Josephite. Our school taught us to be brave and to find happiness. It taught us to respect our elders, parents and teachers but most importantly to respect ourselves.
This year, we leave school. We leave behind a!! our beloved teachers, friends…. 9t’ stds, we’re going to miss you so much. We leave behind our beloved big grey and white stone building.
But there is a universal truth we all have to face, all good things comes to an end, eventually. But I’ve always disliked endings. The last day of summer vacations, the last page of a good book, But endings are inevitable, leaves fall and you close a book. Today is one of those days for us. Today we say goodbye. But some people always stay with us, no matter what. They are the small clear voices in our hearts that will reverberate within us. always.
Quoting Winnie the Pooh, “How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.”
Joana Abraham
X – B