TESTIMONIAL SPEECH
We are gathered here to acknowledge something that we never expected will be achieved from our humble
beginnings. I, myself, consider it as a product of two things: first, of the effort one exerts, and second: of the help
of the many people who were willing to sacrifice for us.
When we were about to take up our review classes, I felt scared. Because I will be far away from home, from my
family and from what I am used to. I only had a routine of going to school and back home in all of my school
years. But now I had to move and be away for months, which was the longest that I had been for my life. Isang
napakalaking adjustment para sa akin ang malayo sa pamilya, mag-isa, kasama lang ang mga kapwa ko
estudyante. But this was the least of my worries, because we knew that when we went to Manila, we had but
one purpose: to pass the boards.
For the first few weeks of the review, I focused on the WHAT and the HOW of the exams. What should I do to
pass? How should I do it? I never wanted to fail, so I studied, and I studied hard. Day in and day out you devoted
your time to reading and answering problems. You studied every single day. The only breaks we took were to
attend to ourselves and to go to church on Sundays. After that, it was all reading. Read our textbooks, read our
materials, read everything we can grab and put our hands on. We did this because we knew what we needed
for us to pass. To be honest, this came as quite a shock to me. Because for four months, nothing ever really
mattered except for the board exams. I never studied with so much intensity in my life as our formal review
classes.
However, it is through this process that I learned how to give respect to accounting. Because it requires so much
from a student that if you do not give what is due you, you will not overcome the challenge. So I gave it my all,
for four months. Naturally, this routine took its toll on my body. And as the review classes went by, I had these
moments when I just wanted to give up because I was physically and mentally tired, I just want it all to end and
be done with. But then it is in these moments when the WHY of it all starts to shine. WHY were we here in the
first place? WHY are we doing this? Then I remember that there were people counting on us and praying for us
to pass and hoping to for us to top the exams. So it is in these moments that I prayed, for us to have strength
and to persist through it all. So we kept on reading and reading. This went for months. In the last few weeks of
the examinations, I never had the right amount of sleep, because I still had so many review materials to cover.
Frequent headaches from tired eyes and lack of sleep were normal. You had to wake up so early in the morning
to reserve a decent seat in the classrooms and after that you needed to read the materials they gave you.
Then came the day of the board exams themselves. And now we’re here.
In the end however, I think to myself, was all of our hard work worth it? Was it all worth it? Seeing that so many
people are happy and many more inspired by our achievement, I can say that it is a definite yes.
Again, this will not be possible without the continuous help from others. They are the people who were with us
when we needed help and who are now with us to celebrate this achievement.
To my parents, thank you for giving me this life, for raising me and trying as hard as you could to give my needs
in order for me to become who I am. For always being there in times of worry, to encourage and remind me that
there is no challenge in life that we can’t handle. Thank you for the guidance and the love and for everything.
For that, I will always be thankful.
To my fellow passers. We share the triumph of overcoming the challenges we had in our course and for passing
the board exams. I appreciated our time being together, and I thank you for being part of my life. Know that being
a CPA is not a reward from our hard work, but rather see it as a testament to the process that we all underwent
when we devoted ourselves to study. It is a proof of the lessons that we have learned and will carry on for the
rest of our lives.
To our review mentors who have helped us, thank you. Thank you for all the inspiration, the lessons, for your
prayers and for believing in us that we can achieve more than we have ever hoped for.
Thank you and good evening.