My elder son completed Junior High this month. His batch is the first to do so in the new DePEd Kto12 curriculum. Then they proceed to two years of Senior High.

Last year, we were busy applying to both big universities and colleges for Senior High. Today, he's deciding between UST and San Beda College Alabang. We have made reservations for the latter, but have yet to do for the former. We are praying we can be accommodated in UST. He qualified for the grade requirement but his track, which is STEM, has a quota, so he is on the waitlist. He also really wanted to be in DLSU, but his grades fell short. According to the letter from La Salle, his grades from Grades 8 to 2 quarters of Grade 10 were also considered to qualify.

That was a wake-up call too late for Gabo.  He realized that we (Wizheart & I) were right all along--that your grades in previous years will be considered when you apply for university. I knew that for a fact when I applied for UP and took UPCAT. But, Gabo didn't take that advice to heart. Perhaps, he was too distracted by a lot of things.

Distracted. That's the keyword to describe his whole Junior High. He was doing a lot of things at the same time. Although his academics didn't really suffer as a result of his focus on sports (he maintained a GPA of 87% and never had remedial classes, and kept getting gold and silver medals in basketball, volleyball and swimming), that was still not enough as the competition was stiff. If you look at the list of top students, you would see that most of them only differ in decimal points. 

So throughout his Junior High, he didn't get any academic awards so unlike when he was in Grade School when he got metals in academic contests despite making it to the finals in major subjects. But  he did collect quite a number of awards in sports. In fact, in the last sportsfest, I was going back and forth to the stage to get his awards. 

In the remaining days of Grade 10, I could already feel his anxiety and unhappiness. I guess because he knew I would be expecting some award (he he! bad me! I know!). He was quiet most of the time. I guess he was eyeing for the Athlete of the Year, at least. But still he didn't get it.

In short, he didn't get any recognition as he completed his Junior High. Not even the Loyalty award as he entered the school in second grade only. 

I must admit, I was downhearted, too. I used to being on stage come graduation or recognition rites. I attended this year's Recognition Rites as executive secretary of the High School Family Council, and all the while, I wished I were one of those parents who were putting on medals on their children. 

Then I caught  myself. For the nth time, I had to remind myself that this is not about me. 

Still, I can't help feeling guilty. My son has a lot of potential to excel, but I feel I didn't push him enough, I was not there enough, Idid not guide him enough. I did not give him my 100 percent support! 

I know he has a long way to go in life. And I've been told that it's not too late. He can still do better, especially in Senior High. I think he plans to do that, too. The past days/weeks leading to his Junior High Completion rites and when exam results of DLSU and UST started coming in, he kept on embracing me and saying, I will do better, "Babawi ako Mama." Yes, babawi tayo. XD

I can hear the seriousness in his voice coupled with regret, and my heart tears some more. 

The hard lesson I learned from this experience is that our children, especially during their growing up years, do not really know what they want to accomplish unless we show them what they can do, can accomplish, can achieve.

I never knew completing Junior High could be this anticlimactic! 

We cannot be prouder though for he has grown to be a good-hearted young man. 

We love you, Gabo... very very much! 

On Wizheart: Gap polo shirt, M&S slacks

On Gabo: Custom-made long-sleeves, slacks

On Rago: Uniqlo shirt, Penshoppe jeans

On Me: Stradivarius dress

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