Family, friends, alumni and guests witnessed the graduation of the Class of 2011 during Xavier University’s 72nd Commencement Exercises on March 25-26 at the XU Gym. Of the more than 1,700 students who graduated, 31 finished with academic honors including five named as Outstanding Graduates.
Danikka Rose M Fabela, BS Education cum laude and class valedictorian, challenged her fellow graduates to become engaged citizens responsive to the needs of society. “We shall exit the portals of Xavier University with the passion to serve,” she said.
In his parting message to the graduates, University President Fr Jose Ramon T Villarin, SJ entreated the graduates to remember and cherish one word: courage. “Do not lose heart just because of the shadows and darkness you see,” he said. “If there is anything we have taught you, I hope it is to be brave enough to go to the frontlines.”
Most Rev Orlando B Quevedo, OMI, DD, Archbishop of Cotabato was the commencement speaker. He also received an Honorary Doctorate in the Humanities. The University selected Quevedo for his “knowledge and understanding of Mindanao and his continuing involvement in the search for peace in the region….”
In his commencement address, Archbishop Quevedo told the students that as Xavier University graduates, they are “called to make a difference in the striving for peace.”
“To be peacemakers in your daily lives is my prayer to you,” he said encouraging the graduates to be men and women of dialogue. “In the final analysis, the work for lasting peace is the conversation of the heart.”
Read the full text of his speech here.
Xavier University also honored two individuals and a religious congregation of women for their significant contributions and service to Philippine arts and culture, to the community and to the Church, respectively.
Steven Prince C Fernandez, DFA received the Fr Francisco R Demetrio SJ Award. Fernandez is executive art director of the Integrated Performing Arts Guild. He was a recipient of the 2006 Palanca Awardee. He has performed in over 30 plays, concerts and films, and published a number of books, monograph, papers, lectures and essays on the performing arts.
The Fr William F Masterson SJ Award was presented to Sister Eva Fidela Maamo, SPC, MD. Maamo was a recipient of the 1997 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership. She is a surgeon and the president of the Foundation of Our Lady of Peace Mission, Inc. She is a strong advocate of the right of the poor to a decent health care.
The Society of the Oblates of Notre Dame received the Archbishop Santiago TG Hayes SJ Award for the Society’s dynamic missionary spirit, quality Catholic education, and its work with and for the poor and marginalized sectors, and women.