I have been in this school as I have mentioned in my very first blog for eight years now. I had my ups and downs here just like any one would have. But this one is truly a first for me.
Every March of the year, a school goes through what we call as either Moving Up Exercises for those preparatory level pupils, or Recognition Days for non-graduating students, or Commencement Exercises for those graduating students. Since the very first time we had one of those three I aforementioned, I had always been in charge of the laying-out and production of the Program and Invitation. This task I really found to be very interesting, not to mention really difficult.
Let me give you some details of what I really go through as I do every program and invitation of the Moving Up, Recognition and the Commencement Exercises.
First, the graduation committee agrees on the flow of the program for each affair then identifies the persons who would be playing the role established in the program like who will do the invocation, opening remarks, keynote speaker, introduction of the guest speaker, etc. etc.
Secondly, the respective teachers concerned submits to me the final list of honor students with their signature on it. I encode this on the laid-out document.
Thirdly, I print the first draft and gives to the teachers concerned their copies so they could proofread the contents. They thereafter return the paper with me with their corrections if there are together with their signatures.
Fourthly, if there are errors, the correct and update the first draft then print the second one. I do the second and third steps again until such time that the program and invitation file is error-free.
Finally, when it is error free, I make the final, official draft of the document and submit it to the officer-in-charge for her or his signature. Such signature is connoted as a sign for me to contact the printing press for the production. The number of copies depend on the number of candidates for graduation multiplied by 2 (another copy for their parents) plus 50 extra copies for the instructors and invited guests.
The process seems very easy to do as a matter of fact by the way. However, it requires a lot of ink, paper and most of all patience since usually there would still be additional inclusions being submitted even at the time when the final official draft has already been submitted to the printing press. I am not complaining and I will never do so because at least the task makes me busy. (hehehe) Besides, to me, this is just a school year-end routine which I have gotten accustomed to already.
Unfortunately, this school year is really different. To me, this time it has an additional burden for me. Why? Because this year, a niece of mine is graduating from her secondary level of Basic Education. It would have been just fine had she not belonged to the top two. In short, she was vying for either the Valedictorian or Salutatorian.
This year's fight for the top spot was very tight. It is a point between Academic and Extra Curricular Activities supremacy. These two are factors that would determine the final standing of the top ten honor students. Academic ranking is 70% of the final rank while Extra Curricular Activities cover the remaining 30%.
The teachers concerned in the determination of the final ranking convene and deliberate. They provide scores for every student's participation to school activities whether within or outside of the campus, and their respective academic standing -- all according to the guidelines set by the Department of Education. After the deliberation, the committee recommends to the school head the final ranking and such is forwarded to the DepEd Office for final approval. It is only at the time when the final ranking is declared. With this, I can only complete the program and invitation at least on the same day of the announcement. This year, the announcement was done only three days prior to the graduation day. Hmm, too close to call.
But again, that is just part of the work. It even makes the activity more exciting for me since it tests my grace under pressure, right?
What is more exciting is the fact that I will have to control my mouth since I will be able to know the final ranking a little ahead of time than my niece and eventually her mother who happens to be my cousin.
Finally, it was announced that my niece is the salutatorian. Then on the same day, I received a text message from my cousin asking why her daughter placed second. I could not entertain such inquiry since doing so would be contrary to my personal belief on the separation between my personal and professional lives.
I did not even bother to inquire from the person-in-charge. For me, it was not my thing to do. If my cousin needs to clarify something, she should be the one to do it to the persons concerned.
Sadly, my cousin could not openly accept such non-transparency as to how the committee arrived at that final ranking. Thus, she decided that after the graduation, she will go to the office and ask them to explain several things. One of them, aside from the salutatorian concern, is the inclusion of a name in the Leadership Awardees.
To give you an insight about this special award, this award has been given only to those Governors of the High School Student Government Organization and also to the College Student Government Organization. This year, it is different. There are two Leadership Awardees for the Secondary Level (High School). One is the High School SGO Governor and there is another one. This situation seemed to be questionable to my cousin since her daughter is the Vice-Governor and Class President while the second awardee is only the class P.I.O.
Again, when I was asked by my cousin as to how this came about, I did not say a word. Besides, truthfully, I do not have any idea. Such action of mine is beside the fact that I do not want to delve into this since making a comment regarding this matter will put me between two bumping stones, and also because of the fact that I just happen to be the encoder of this program. That's all. Nothing more. Nothing less.
Now, what is my concern? No one will believe that I was really able to separate my duties to the school from my relationship with my cousin. There would always be at least one person in the school who will question my stand on this matter; who will think that I was the one who informed the mother of the salutatorian about all of her informations; who will question my credibility and integrity, and so on and so forth.
Whatever way this will go, I always see myself at the losing end. Right now, I am praying to God to give me guidance, enlightenment and wisdom. I am also praying for courage so that I would be able to convince myself to talk to my cousin not to continue her plan of inquiring about the details of the deliberation among others so that, at least, everything will be put to rest; so everyone could start moving onwards.
May God bless everyone.
Let me give you some details of what I really go through as I do every program and invitation of the Moving Up, Recognition and the Commencement Exercises.
First, the graduation committee agrees on the flow of the program for each affair then identifies the persons who would be playing the role established in the program like who will do the invocation, opening remarks, keynote speaker, introduction of the guest speaker, etc. etc.
Secondly, the respective teachers concerned submits to me the final list of honor students with their signature on it. I encode this on the laid-out document.
Thirdly, I print the first draft and gives to the teachers concerned their copies so they could proofread the contents. They thereafter return the paper with me with their corrections if there are together with their signatures.
Fourthly, if there are errors, the correct and update the first draft then print the second one. I do the second and third steps again until such time that the program and invitation file is error-free.
Finally, when it is error free, I make the final, official draft of the document and submit it to the officer-in-charge for her or his signature. Such signature is connoted as a sign for me to contact the printing press for the production. The number of copies depend on the number of candidates for graduation multiplied by 2 (another copy for their parents) plus 50 extra copies for the instructors and invited guests.
The process seems very easy to do as a matter of fact by the way. However, it requires a lot of ink, paper and most of all patience since usually there would still be additional inclusions being submitted even at the time when the final official draft has already been submitted to the printing press. I am not complaining and I will never do so because at least the task makes me busy. (hehehe) Besides, to me, this is just a school year-end routine which I have gotten accustomed to already.
Unfortunately, this school year is really different. To me, this time it has an additional burden for me. Why? Because this year, a niece of mine is graduating from her secondary level of Basic Education. It would have been just fine had she not belonged to the top two. In short, she was vying for either the Valedictorian or Salutatorian.
This year's fight for the top spot was very tight. It is a point between Academic and Extra Curricular Activities supremacy. These two are factors that would determine the final standing of the top ten honor students. Academic ranking is 70% of the final rank while Extra Curricular Activities cover the remaining 30%.
The teachers concerned in the determination of the final ranking convene and deliberate. They provide scores for every student's participation to school activities whether within or outside of the campus, and their respective academic standing -- all according to the guidelines set by the Department of Education. After the deliberation, the committee recommends to the school head the final ranking and such is forwarded to the DepEd Office for final approval. It is only at the time when the final ranking is declared. With this, I can only complete the program and invitation at least on the same day of the announcement. This year, the announcement was done only three days prior to the graduation day. Hmm, too close to call.
But again, that is just part of the work. It even makes the activity more exciting for me since it tests my grace under pressure, right?
What is more exciting is the fact that I will have to control my mouth since I will be able to know the final ranking a little ahead of time than my niece and eventually her mother who happens to be my cousin.
Finally, it was announced that my niece is the salutatorian. Then on the same day, I received a text message from my cousin asking why her daughter placed second. I could not entertain such inquiry since doing so would be contrary to my personal belief on the separation between my personal and professional lives.
I did not even bother to inquire from the person-in-charge. For me, it was not my thing to do. If my cousin needs to clarify something, she should be the one to do it to the persons concerned.
Sadly, my cousin could not openly accept such non-transparency as to how the committee arrived at that final ranking. Thus, she decided that after the graduation, she will go to the office and ask them to explain several things. One of them, aside from the salutatorian concern, is the inclusion of a name in the Leadership Awardees.
To give you an insight about this special award, this award has been given only to those Governors of the High School Student Government Organization and also to the College Student Government Organization. This year, it is different. There are two Leadership Awardees for the Secondary Level (High School). One is the High School SGO Governor and there is another one. This situation seemed to be questionable to my cousin since her daughter is the Vice-Governor and Class President while the second awardee is only the class P.I.O.
Again, when I was asked by my cousin as to how this came about, I did not say a word. Besides, truthfully, I do not have any idea. Such action of mine is beside the fact that I do not want to delve into this since making a comment regarding this matter will put me between two bumping stones, and also because of the fact that I just happen to be the encoder of this program. That's all. Nothing more. Nothing less.
Now, what is my concern? No one will believe that I was really able to separate my duties to the school from my relationship with my cousin. There would always be at least one person in the school who will question my stand on this matter; who will think that I was the one who informed the mother of the salutatorian about all of her informations; who will question my credibility and integrity, and so on and so forth.
Whatever way this will go, I always see myself at the losing end. Right now, I am praying to God to give me guidance, enlightenment and wisdom. I am also praying for courage so that I would be able to convince myself to talk to my cousin not to continue her plan of inquiring about the details of the deliberation among others so that, at least, everything will be put to rest; so everyone could start moving onwards.
May God bless everyone.
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