Pinning Ceremony: I Am Now Officially A Pre-Service Teacher

"Today my life begins" as I officially received my pin as a pre-service teacher. We also sang that quoted phrase during the candle lighting. The feeling is so different when you have now realized you've come this way far. It's like a triumphant when you see everyone's big smiles as their pins attached to their uniform. All the hard work and the struggles paid off, as the saying goes you reap what you sow. And now we are almost closer to reaping the fruits of all our hard work within the 3 years and counting.

The venue of our pinning & candle lighting ceremony is the Monicon Hotel. It's a new and the first hotel in the city and I like it. We paid 560 pesos per individual in the venue. And that's not all, we also paid for our pins, set of uniforms, red carpet, etc. I can't summarize the cost because it costs me a lot already, haha. We arrived early at the venue at around 11 am and we were on the ground floor waiting, lol. The call time is 11:30 so we are on the highway waiting for the taxi but all the taxis passing by are occupied or don't stop. Since we have the thing we call as "Filipino time," we have waited for about an hour before we are allowed to enter the reserved place. The good thing is that I am not the kind of person who likes to be late, I'm very conscious when it comes to call time. I wouldn't say I have adapted "Japanese time" but more on being an "on-time person." I just don't like to be the center of attraction, haha.

As much as the majority of us want our parents to witness this ceremony, it's not attainable. The hotel cannot accommodate a larger guest or else we'll find a wider one but with a high fee. Everyone is on a tight budget so for now, it's just us and the faculty to be in this special day.

I like the coziness and the ambiance of their dining area but today, I only saw one customer dining. There are also a lot of beverages to choose from on the counter. We didn't buy anything here, we just took a seat and took different photos.

I thank my lil sister for this fresh makeup look. I am not really a makeup kind of girly so I don't know a lot about putting things on the face. I don't even know how to do my eyebrows! I put BB cream and set it with a baby face powder. I'm surprised it looks good on me! My sister put me the blush-on, eyeshadow and colored my eyebrows. We are also required to wear light make-up for the ceremony and that's understandable because we are the teachers, so we must not distract our students with colorful faces, haha!

After we got pinned, we passed the fire in our candles until all was lighted and we then started singing the song by Bruno Mars ' "Today My Life Begins." It makes each of us emotional because we realized we are no longer the students who will be sitting. We are now the ones to talk and discuss the lessons for those who are sitting. As the DepEd regional speaker' says, "You are now the main character of the classroom."

It is an honour to be pinned as a Pre-service teacher of our school and I take pride in it. I am excited and nervous at the same time because I know it is not rainbow and butterflies. I always want to make a difference in this world and I hope I can play my role as a great teacher and role model to my students. I would be brave if it meant overcoming the giants of life. Being a student teacher means I have to help mold young minds to become the best version of themselves.

The journey does not end here; the journey begins here. Cheers to the final chapter of our college lives and I am manifesting that we will have a successful teaching internships. Time flies so fast and I know the 600 hours duty we need to render will be quick. We will never notice the day is the last day.

"A good teacher is like a candle—it consumes itself to light the way for others"