bittersweet send-off

yesterday was graduation day at UP baguio. and it was also the first time i've worn a toga in my entire life. though really, don't we look more like we're on our way to hogwarts?:)

9 am was the baccalaureate ceremony. i had never attended anything like it before...it was sort of a tribute, with lots of speeches and singing. just a few of the graduates and faculty chose to go. and we weren't required to be in our toga yet.

a little after 3 pm, we started our march out of the campus towards the convention center. it felt so regal and official as we were walking toward the stage to the grad march (i don't know if that's the actual title of that song). the elder faculty, with all their colorful hoods, hats, medals, and what-nots looked straight out of a movie--"dead poets' society" and the like.
we were seated at the last row onstage, so all we could really see were the backs of the senior members of the academe. and good thing too, because some time in the middle of the program, we were just clicking away, taking pictures of each other and some of our students who would come up onstage to claim their diplomas.

the ceremony ended with the rousing singing of "UP Naming Mahal". i still get swept away when i sing that. and, i still have it 99% memorized after all these years!
we then walked down the stage and the aisle, where several of my students stopped me, kind of teary-eyed. i shook their hands and congratulated them. but generally, walked on with the rest of the line. i didn't want to bawl my eyes out!
we hung out for just a bit, eating cookies at the faculty room afterward, then left. i had been waiting for a ride in front of school for more than 10 mins. when someone called my name tentatively from behind, and it was keith, one of the students we'd become close to and very talented, with his dad. and we hugged and i congratulated him, and he was teary eyed. oohh... later, he texted me his thanks for all i (supposedly) taught him. and i couldn't help but cry a little because really, all a teacher wants is to be able to impart something, anything to her students! think i'm going to go cry a little more now...