My dear XUHS Alumni, I would like to welcome all of you to Xavier University – Ateneo de Cagayan, your alma mater, virtually and on-site. My warmest congratulations to all of you, especially to HS batches 70 and 71, who celebrate their golden anniversaries last year and this year respectively and HS batches 95 and 96, who celebrate their silver anniversaries last year and this year respectively!
I am grateful to all of you for keeping connected with your alma mater, Xavier Ateneo, and for your various projects in helping the school and some of our students.
Xavier Ateneo is celebrating its famed Festival Days until today to commemorate the Feast of St Francis Xavier, the great Jesuit apostle of the Indies and the patron saint of our school. Despite the pandemic restrictions, I would say the fiesta celebration has been successful, thanks to our Festival Days Committee's creativity and resourcefulness and to our student leaders.
Your reunion and Jubilee celebrations are an essential reminder to our present generation of students about the school's memorable past consisting of living individuals who were immersed in the day-to-day struggles of student's life and emerged triumphant in the end. Every alumnus should be a testament of what a student can become, given his God-given potentials to respond to the call of the times, appropriating the skills and values he has learned from his alma mater.
Our alumni are the most effective ambassadors of our brand as a quality Jesuit school in Mindanao and the country. For this year, based on QS ranking, Xavier Ateneo has maintained its place in the top ten among the best universities in the country despite the pandemic limitations imposed on the school.
It's my sincere hope that you continue to support Xavier Ateneo as we soar to greater heights, reimagining and reinventing the University as a leading ASEAN University by 2033 and with the Campus of the Future as its primary vehicle to reach its goal.
Again my congratulations to the Jubilarians, my prayers for you, HS Alumni and your families, and my heartfelt gratitude to all of you for remembering and coming home to Xavier Ateneo physically and virtually!
Ad Majorem dei Gloriam