City Hall honors, gives medals to 250 students
Seventeen-year-old Hilarion Raganas Jr. may have finished junior high school a year behind his peers, but this did not stop him from graduating as valedictorian of the Basak Community Night High School in Cebu City.
The second child in a brood of four, Raganas had to stop schooling two years ago to help his father support their family’s needs.
“I worked as a construction worker when I was 15. I’ve had troubles, but I know that God was only preparing me and my family for something greater. I’m dedicating this success to God and my family,” he told SunStar Cebu.
New graduate Casszandra Kaye Arota also dedicated her academic achievement to her family and relatives who have been in a rough time in the past few months.
The 12-year-old graduate of the Mabolo Elementary School said that her overseas Filipino worker father and teacher-mother have inspired her to work harder.
“Because of them, I wanted to be a lawyer working for the Public Attorney’s Office so that I can help the poor fight for their rights,” she said.
Raganas and Arota were among the 250 valedictorians in the city’s public and private elementary and junior high schools who were awarded with Don Sergio Osmeña Sr. medals for academic excellence yesterday.
A P10,000 cash reward also awaits them, said Mayor Tomas Osmeña.
Osmeña also posted in his Facebook page that the City will soon give scholarships worth P50,000 per semester to all valedictorians and salutatorians in the city.
“When we have the taxes to support it, we will (implement it). This will be helpful,” the mayor said. /