I'll be honest, guys. When Ms. Arawiran told us to write something about what we learned during the production of Julius Caesar, I was already set on writing a corny, typical, and overly mediocre description of how we all "worked as a team" and  how the play was a "pleasant surprise" in the end for all of us. All pride aside, this is what I usually expect myself to do when I'm told to do something I'm not up for at the moment. Alas, this was exactly what happened when we found out we were doing a play on Shakespeare's Julius Caesar instead of The Fellowship of the Ring which I dearly looked forward to doing the previous year. Because of this, I really had a challenging time because of what I did and the consequences took it's toll on everyone because so many practice periods passed and we were still not finished editing the extra-loop-holed script. From this, I learned about myself that one of my biggest flaws is that I oftentimes simply do whatever I want for my own comfort and overlook the consequences of my actions on myself, but more importantly, on other people. The worst part is that I'm much too proud to admit it. This would seem a tad personal to be putting this on a public blog for everyone to see, but I just wanted to take this opportunity to apologize to those who were affected by these careless and selfish moments of mine. I'm really sorry, guys, and I admit it now. You all deserve much more than that. You all deserve more than that because you guys never condemn me when I become difficult to work with or even be with. None of you ever choose to cast the first stone when I get into my manic-depressive, listen-to-me-before-I-give-you-really-low-grades-in-the-peer-evaluation mode. You are all so forgiving, kind, and agreeable--which I think is what made our play such a success in the end.

Instead of saying how great you guys are at acting (which you all probably know already), I just wanted to say how I realized that everyone in this class has been such a perfect second family to me. During the acceptance speeches in award shows, many of the actors, directors, and producers always talk about how they've been blessed with such a great cast and crew and that they couldn't ask for a better secondary family than theirs. Although, I am fairly certain that their cast and crew has not at all been nearly half as wonderful as you each of you guys are. One of the things I love about you guys is that you overlook each of our differences to be able to bring out the best in everyone. I really saw this during the entire run and production of the play because despite our mistakes and failures, it wasn't simple one or two people carrying the burden of cleaning each other's mess. We all helped carrying each other's burdens without leaving anyone behind--that is truly a perfect family. Even if Julius Caesar was all about killing each other's friends and allies, I think that the audience, instead of seeing this, saw and admired the solidarity and camaraderie that is Year IV-B.

Shakespeare was truly right when he said, "All the world's a stage, and all men and women mere players." My dear friends, the school that we've been going to today is our stage, and I couldn't ask for any other people to share it with better than all of you. Unfortunately, there will be no encore and we'll all be exiting that stage (pun intended) in our lives and enter into a new one--with all new roles to play and different actors and players to share it with. I mourn for the day of our final curtain call that would finally end our days as co-actors together: our graduation. I hope that the acts and scenes we've shared will be forever burned into your hearts as they did in mine. Hopefully, in the distant future, we may cross paths again and guest-star in each other's lives once more.

Thank you so much again for sharing the stage. That's a wrap.