C. Arellano High School Alumni General Reunion
Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
October 17-18, 2015
Welcome Speech by CAHSAFI President Jesse Tiamson
Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
October 17-18, 2015
Welcome Speech by CAHSAFI President Jesse Tiamson
On behalf of all the Directors of CAHSAFI, they are all your classmates, welcome and thank you for coming this weekend to renew the bonds of friendship you created in high school and make new friends with people who shared the same experiences you had but in other years and on different decades.
CAHSAFI was not formed to eradicate poverty. There will always be poverty, but we strive, in our small way, to help a poor boy or girl break the cycle of poverty and not become a statistic, by paying back the school that nurtured us for four years of our youth and paying forward students who have shown remarkable resolve to excel and lift themselves from their current state of poverty.
CAHSAFI is not my legacy nor of Emil nor of Evic, Nanding, Anita, Percy, or any of our founding or current directors. It is our attempt to help someone make poverty history, just like what my wrist band says. In our small way we are changing somebody's future to a promising and brighter tomorrow, a chance at success and in so doing help their families get a chance at life. Emil may not be big on organized religion, but he believes in prayers that come with actions. Kind actions come from the heart. Prayers without this is a false Messiah. Act as if everything depends on you, and pray as if everything depends on it.
Some of us came from where they were but our parents had the foresight to send us to AHS. Some of us had the means to go to private schools but we went to AHS because they knew the quality of education there. Some of our parents went there themselves. It paved the way for us to go to college and attain what we have become today. We pay back these blessings by paying forward.
Open up your hearts while opening your wallets. We have items for silent auction and tickets that we will raffle for prizes. Your attendance here has given us funds to support our projects and donations. Give us a chance to spread our wings and be the wind beneath our wings. Together we can fly and lift those that need to be lifted. For that, on behalf of all the Directors on the Board, I thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
I now leave you with words of wisdom from Eleanor Roosevelt that can spur us to improve ourselves and be better stewards of our gifts and blessings: “Do something you think you cannot do.”
CAHSAFI was not formed to eradicate poverty. There will always be poverty, but we strive, in our small way, to help a poor boy or girl break the cycle of poverty and not become a statistic, by paying back the school that nurtured us for four years of our youth and paying forward students who have shown remarkable resolve to excel and lift themselves from their current state of poverty.
CAHSAFI is not my legacy nor of Emil nor of Evic, Nanding, Anita, Percy, or any of our founding or current directors. It is our attempt to help someone make poverty history, just like what my wrist band says. In our small way we are changing somebody's future to a promising and brighter tomorrow, a chance at success and in so doing help their families get a chance at life. Emil may not be big on organized religion, but he believes in prayers that come with actions. Kind actions come from the heart. Prayers without this is a false Messiah. Act as if everything depends on you, and pray as if everything depends on it.
Some of us came from where they were but our parents had the foresight to send us to AHS. Some of us had the means to go to private schools but we went to AHS because they knew the quality of education there. Some of our parents went there themselves. It paved the way for us to go to college and attain what we have become today. We pay back these blessings by paying forward.
Open up your hearts while opening your wallets. We have items for silent auction and tickets that we will raffle for prizes. Your attendance here has given us funds to support our projects and donations. Give us a chance to spread our wings and be the wind beneath our wings. Together we can fly and lift those that need to be lifted. For that, on behalf of all the Directors on the Board, I thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
I now leave you with words of wisdom from Eleanor Roosevelt that can spur us to improve ourselves and be better stewards of our gifts and blessings: “Do something you think you cannot do.”
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Keynote Speech of Herman T. Gamboa, Guest Speaker, 2015 AHS-US Reunion in Las Vegas, NV Good evening, Classmates, Ladies, and Gentlemen, Let me first thank you for this opportunity of speaking before you today. We are not here because I was invited to be your guest speaker. I would have attended the CAHSAFI-hosted Reunion, whether as an observer or as a speaker. Whenever we have the opportunity, Lita and I will always attend. Having been Past President of the AHS Alumni Association in 1982-1983, you might be expecting me to talk about our High School organizations. No, I will not. In fact, I am a little bit out of touch with the current activities of the Alumni Association. Today, I choose to talk about “Where we are today” and “What we expect to be” in the immediate future. Most of us are very lucky to be in the best of health and are in a position to help. In that case, our wish is for all of us to be a gift to Arellano High School, our dear Alma Mater, and its students. I am reminded of Rotary International, where I am actively involved up to now. Its theme this year is “BE A GIFT TO THE WORLD.” We give thanks to the Lord for what He has given us: good health, good education, and stable financial condition. Then it is our turn to share God’s blessings: the 3 “T”s: Time, Talent, and Treasure to those who need them most – the poorest of the poor, especially those who come from our Alma Mater. This is the reason why I was attracted to Rotary, to our AHS Scholarship Foundation, to CAHSAFI, to Tuloy Sa Don Bosco, to the Chosen Children Village for young children with disability, and the Rotary Homes Foundation. This is my way of saying thanks to the Lord. This is also what we are doing in our AHS Scholarship Foundation and our CAHSAFI. I mentioned Rotary Homes Foundation as one of my outreach projects. Let me just tell you a little about what it is…. As we share the 3 “T”s, we get a hundred-fold return, not necessarily in terms of money, but the feeling of satisfaction that we helped alleviate the conditions of our poor schoolmates, and our countrymen. As we share the 3 “T”s, being happy and satisfied with what we do, we don’t just add years to our lives, we add life to our years. We get to know new friends and enhance relationship with old ones and people we work with. These are the secrets for a long, healthy and happy life. Let me mention, at this point, the story about CAHSAFI’s first college scholars from Arellano. My wife, Lita, was requested by my cousin, Jesse Tiamson, one of the organizers of CAHSAFI, to be one of the judges of the Selection Committee to select CAHSAFI’s first two scholars. After two of the four candidates were decided, Lita felt so bad and so sad that the two who were not selected were equally qualified. How she wished that all four could have the opportunity to go to college. She asked me if we could extend scholarship to the remaining two on our account. I went over their biodata and fully agreed that they are outstanding students. Since we have a Gamboa Scholarship Fund in my office, we invited the two students to my office to explain to them our offer and they agreed on the terms and conditions of the Scholarship grant. Later on, we were delighted to be informed that come Graduation Day, these two would graduate as the 2014 Valedictorian and Salutatorian of the Arellano High School. I was so happy we that we did not have second thoughts. One is now enrolled at the University of the Philippines taking up BS Electrical Engineering and one at the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila taking up Physical Therapy. Moral of the story: When given the opportunity to offer your time, talent or treasure, take it without thinking of any reward in return. Look at all of us here right now and the camaraderie we are enjoying. Today is not just God’s gift to us, we are God’s gift to one another with the love we give and the service we do. As we are blessed, we become blessings to others. The fellowship that we all enjoy gives more meaning to our lives and will eventually be converted to service to our Alma mater, the Arellano High School, to its students, to our country, and eventually, to the world Everything we do will leave a mark. Let the mark be of SERVICE. As we say in the Jaycee world: “Service to humanity is the best work of life.” Last, but certainly not the least, I would like to congratulate CAHSAFI for the good it has done to Arellano High School and its students. Another day is at our door to continue more pages of our lives. I encourage you to carry on with your noble advocacy. Remember, if you cannot share your time, for one reason or another, then share your talent or your treasure. Let us be a “Gift to the world,” be a gift to Arellano High School and its students. Thank you! |
Herman T. Gamboa, guest speaker.
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