HIGH SCHOOL ALUMNI REUNION MESSAGE

NOHS Alumni Homecoming Celebration Message

By Judge Ray Alan T. Drilon, Distinguished Alumnus Awardee,  (2016), NOHS Class 1972

I would like to greet  and congratulate the Class President,  Class Officers, and members of NOHS Class 1966, who are our honorees and Golden Jubilarians. The President of class  ‘66 Zen Capatar is dear friend and co-worker in the Judiciary. Before her retirement from the government service she was the President of the court employees association.

Congratulations to the Class President, class officers, and members of the NOHS Class of 1991, and their respective committees, led by class President Fetzgerald Fyentes, and chaired by Eng. Jay Alpas who are the hosts and Silver Jubilarians, for the untiring efforts and excellent preparation  in making this annual alumni homecoming a great success.

Greetings likewise to the Officers and Members of the Board of Directors of the NOHS Alumni Association, headed by the Alumni President Col. Arthur S. Senosa.

To the School Principal Mario Amaca and the teaching staff.  

To our  honored guests, fellow alumni, alumni family, and friends.

It is with great joy that I join you in this special occasion. I belong to the NOHS class of 1972, which is now celebrating its 44^th year. Forty four years ago  my classmates and I left the portals of this school not knowing what the future was in store for us. We belong to that generation of graduates when Marcos declared Martial Law. Some of our classmates joined in the fight against the dictatorship and lost their lives. Others went on to build their careers. We were still children in the legal sense of the word since the age of majority then, was 21.

Today the radiance of our youth is fading and in fact has faded, in the inevitable marching of time. The attitude of our hearts, however, remains young, even childish, as we reminisce with fond memories the boys and girls we were once, carefree, playful, naughty and adventurous, oblivious to the serious affairs of the world around us. So every time I attend the alumni homecoming, the feeling is really one of coming home.

It is truly a great honor and wonderful privilege to speak before an audience of distinguished men and women, who are the alumni of a very old and historic public  high school in this side of the country, known as the Negros Occidental High School or fondly called NOHS.

The NOHS had seen better days and will be looking forward to more better days.

The NOHS as an institution of academic learning, is more than a hundred years old. The school was founded in 1902. The main building was built in 1927.  In her bosom, like an old Matriarch, she had given birth to hundreds if not thousands of children who grew up and made their mark in our society, and country at large, and even in foreign shores, giving her a place of  honor.

There is no question that the NOHS Alumni, collectively has tremendously contributed to the improvement and progress of our City, Province and Country as a whole.

The great men and women who have passed the hallowed halls of this great institution, are now, the captains of business and industry, statesmen, government leaders, politicians, diplomats, military officers, technocrats, economists, scholars, academicians, professors, teachers, researchers, chemists, medical doctors, nurses, engineers, lawyers, seafarers, mariners, business leaders, computer and electronics engineers, highly skilled craftsmen, artists, writers, broadcasters, writers, musicians, entertainers, journalists, technicians, home makers, civil servants, clergy, activists, and a host of other major professions, all of them making a significant impact in the lives of our people.

They are the alumni which the NOHS is famous for. But what is NOHS? She is a humble ancient public school which I am proud to say could compete or even match the academic standards private sectarian schools.

The NOHS today is far different from the NOHS that we know when we were here. In the past the high school program was simple. There were only two programs, the academic and vocational. Today NOHS has expanded to provide high quality education, relevant to the demands of a fast developing nation like ours, in the context of a global environment.

I am happy to note that the NOHS has enlarged her program in three dimensions. These are the Special Program in Science and Technology, Engineering and Mathematics for the Special Science Class; Basic Education Curriculum for the Regular Class; and Special Program for the Arts, Culture and Sports.

In the present, NOHS is facing the challenge of the K to 12 educational program which to this day is still a controversial issue. The K to 12 program will cover 13 years of basic education taken in 5 stages, which are: Kindergarten to Grade 3; Grade 4 to Grade 6; Grade 7 to Grade 10 which is the Junior High School and Grade 11 to Grade 12 which is the Senior High School. It is expected that this program will prepare our children to compete globally in the employment market  and services.

The alumni of NOHS are mostly children of working class parents or poor parents, and yet they have proven that one’s low status in life is never an obstacle to success.

When we left the portals of this great institution many, many, years ago, our lives have taken different directions. But we carried with us in our journey the badge of NOHS. We have had our share of triumphs and disappointments, failures and successes. Every time we gather in this yearly tradition to be with our classmates, we celebrate and renew our kinship and attachment to each other which grow deeper and deeper as we grow older and older.

Today, there will be much recollection of memories, there will be catching up of how we are coming along,  there will be, sad to say, a feeling of sorrow for classmates who could no longer  come because they have gone ahead to far better place of reunion of souls, and there will be again sharing of experiences and stories about life, and how God has been good and faithful through the years.

NOHS is a pillar and  symbol of an excellent public high school education, and the alumni is an important force which holds  this institution together. As a group the NOHS Alumni spans continents and countries across the globe, even across generations.

I am humbled and deeply honored to receive the Most Outstanding Alumnus Award, for this year, and on behalf of class ’72, I would like to express our sincere appreciation to the Awards committee and the NOHS Alumni Association.

This is a great honor for me because there have been many more notable, gifted, great, and prominent graduates bestowed of the same honor, since this school was founded.

More than forty four years ago, I sat, played and hanged around in this quadrangle where we are gathered today. Not even in my wildest imagination did I think that I would be standing here to be given this award, which I will always cherish.

God Bless all of us.