UPMin grad speakers emphasize grit, perseverance, service

By Arlyn VCD Palisoc Romualdo on July 26, 2024

*The UP Mindanao Class of 2024 pledges its loyalty to the University at the 26th Commencement Exercises on July 19. EVP Jose Fernando Alcantara administered the oath. (Photo by Misael Bacani, UP MPRO)*

Dr. Maria Cynthia Rose Bautista, the former UP VP for Academic Affairs and Advisory Council member of the Second Congressional Commission on Education, delivers the commencement address in the 26th UP Mindanao graduation ceremony on July 19. (Photo by Misael Bacani, UP MPRO)

"Continue despite frustrations and uncertainties," Dr. Maria Cynthia Rose Bautista advised the UP Mindanao (UPMin) Class of 2024 at the 26th Commencement Exercises on July 19.

Similarly, the class valedictorian Kyndra Lei Yunting (BA English, summa cum laude) asked of her fellow graduates, "There will be rejections, setbacks, and loss. ... But I urge you, I beg you, to keep trying anyway. ... Get kicked down, allow yourself to taste the dirt, and then get back up for another round. That is what we owe to the world."

Both speakers also highlighted the spirit of service in their addresses. Bautista, the former UP VP for Academic Affairs and an Advisory Council member of the Second Congressional Commission on Education, told the graduating class, "Your purpose in life is always bigger than yourself and it involves serving others. ... Just remember that a mission always entails selfless service amid countless vexations to the spirit."

*Kyndra Lei Yunting (BA English, summa cum laude) is the 2024 class valedictorian of UP Mindanao. In this photo, she is with her parents on stage. (Photo by Misael Bacani, UP MPRO)*

Yunting, the lone summa cum laude graduate and the first to come from the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, reminded the UPMin Class of 2024, "As iskolars ng bayan, we have to remember that we owe our education to the Filipino people. … So for the rest of our lives, every time we get up in the morning, we have to remind ourselves of the people that got us here, and what we owe to them."

Bautista also had two other tips for the graduates. One was to keep on learning. The other, to enhance emotional intelligence because "this will matter more than your cognitive capabilities at the workplace and in future social networks. ... It also means—and I underscore this for us being from UP—the virtue of humility."

In this year's Commencement Exercises, 303 candidates for graduation were presented—144 from the College of Humanities and Social Sciences; 124 from the College of Science and Mathematics, and 35 from the School of Management. Of the 303 graduating students, 267 were from undergraduate programs and 36, from the graduate. Apart from Yunting, 185 also graduated with honors: 69, magna cum laude and 116, cum laude.

*UP Mindanao Chancellor Lyre Anni Murao, in her welcome remarks, shares details that make the Class of 2024 unique. (Photo by Misael Bacani, UP MPRO)*

UPMin Chancellor Lyre Anni Murao, in her welcome remarks, noted that in this graduating class, "we have pinned 45 [Ugnayon ng] Pahinungód volunteers—one of the largest cohorts in the entire UP System. This is a testament to UP Mindanao's commitment to transformative education, upholding honor and excellence in the service of the nation." The number was a huge leap from six Pahinungód volunteers in 2023.

Murao also pointed out that the Class of 2024 included the first batch of MS Food Science (MSFS) graduates since the program's reopening. The MSFS program was instituted in 1997 as a joint offering of UPMin and UP Los Baños; but enrollment of new entrants was suspended by Academic Year 2002-2003. The suspension was prompted by the economic unsustainability of a joint program, the absence of research facilities, and the lack of cognate fields in UPMin. From its opening until its suspension, the program had 26 students, of which only four graduated. It was the faculty of the Department of Food Science and Chemistry in the College of Science and Mathematics which proposed the reoffering of the program in 2018. Seven composed this first batch of MSFS graduates since it reopened six years ago.