My Valedictorian Speech (March 2012)

It was a particularly stressful day. I was running between classes and the library, and had one meeting lined up after another. As I walked by the patch of roses that grow near Lydia Hall, the colours caught my eye and I found myself stopping to admire them. There were a variety of roses, each a different size, shape and colour. There were radiant whites, vibrant yellows, soft pinks, deep maroons and even speckled roses. Some were bigger and more attractive, while others rather plain.  However, when viewed together they were a sight to behold.  Their prettiness rejuvenated me and I finally found my stress buster—the rose garden of SAIACS. Whenever I stopped and smelled the roses, it always brought a smile on my face.

But my joy was soon cut short. The lovely roses vanished overnight and all that was left were thorny ugly looking stumps. I had heard about pruning and its many benefits but I was sure that the gardener had definitely overdone the pruning. The stumps looked bald and bare and I was afraid that he had killed them. I wondered if those roses would ever bloom again. All I could do was to wait and see. During the long wait, the gardener patiently fertilized and watered the rose bushes. Days passed, busy-ness set in and I soon forgot about them, until one day, I saw a little rose bud emerging tentatively from its stem. The roses were living again!

My dear Principal, Trustees, Faculty members, staff, family, friends, students and my fellow-graduates, life at SAIACS for each one of us as been pretty much like those rose bushes. We all co-exist together in God’s garden and make up one beautiful, egalitarian and caring community. But sometimes, even though we are blossoming together, we often feel lonely and forgotten. We battle with critical thinking, try our best to avoid the crime of plagiarism and struggle to fit our assignment within the allotted word count. Between following the student handbook and making sure we don’t stumble onto the lawn on weekdays, somehow- loneliness sets in.

And to add to our dilemma, some on campus seem to bloom bigger and brighter than the rest of us. They have got it all together—the grades, enviable communication skills, amazing talents, a great marriage, well behaved kids and a successful spiritual life. All that, while some of us still struggle to get our footnotes right.  Some of us slave away in the library from sunrise to sunset while others write a research paper in two hours flat. Life does not seem fair.

And if that’s not enough, God proceeds to take out his pruning shears. Just as we begin to get a grip on life, we receive a phone call from home with bad news, sickness plagues us, a loved one passes away, our laptops crash the night before submission, our thesis writing seems to go nowhere, friends vanish and academic pressure crushes us. We rush to pray but God appears silent. We find ourselves burned out, unappreciated and in a spiritual rut. We are like those bare, cut to the ground stumps—half dead.

But that’s not the end of our story. As we go through the long and often painful time of waiting on the Lord, we find that life at SAIACS isn’t that gloomy after all. Friday nights bring laughter and we find ourselves interacting with people we often don’t have time to get to know. Chapel week brings us together as cell groups and we discover and appreciate each other's creativity. Sports get us on the volleyball court and we discover talents we didn’t know existed. Evening strolls with friends, spending time with families on campus, cooking together on weekends, a smile generously shared and an encouraging prayer by a friend—these things refresh us. We begin to appreciate our differences and realize our uniqueness.

And then there’s our faculty who provide for the enrichment of mind and soul. We are watered daily by our chapel services and times of prayer. As we study God’s Word, we realize the privilege set before us and try our best to understand and interpret it correctly. We soon realize that we have grown spiritually, academically and relationally and find ourselves blooming once again.

My fellow graduates, we have been through the different seasons of pruning and growth together. We’ve had our share of tears and laughter. Though unique, each of us can sweeten the air around us with fragrance. A Hebrew proverb says, “As the gardener, such is the garden.” We serve a mighty God who will bring us to increased yield and full maturity as we step out from SAIACS in obedience to His leading.

Class of 2012: May we bloom wherever we are planted!