18/04/2026
๐๐ฅ๐๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐จ๐ ๐๐๐๐
๐๐ก๐๐ญ ๐๐ญ๐๐ฒ๐ฌ ๐๐ก๐๐ง ๐๐ฏ๐๐ซ๐ฒ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐จ๐ฏ๐๐ฌ ๐๐ง
โ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐, ๐๐๐๐โ๐ฌ ๐๐๐๐ข๐๐ข๐๐ฅ ๐๐ญ๐ฎ๐๐๐ง๐ญ ๐๐ฎ๐๐ฅ๐ข๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง
Batch Ascendia, take a moment to read this piece generously offered to us by OMNIANA. In the midst of all the celebrations, transitions, and farewells, it quietly reminds us of what truly staysโ the memories we didnโt plan, the people who became part of our story, and the version of ourselves that kept showing up.
As we continue to ascend, may we carry not just the milestones, but the meaning behind them. Let this be a gentle pauseโ a reminder that nothing real from our journey was ever lost, only carried forward. We are proud Marists. Always. In all ways.
๐๐ก๐๐ญ ๐๐ญ๐๐ฒ๐ฌ ๐๐ก๐๐ง ๐๐ฏ๐๐ซ๐ฒ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐จ๐ฏ๐๐ฌ ๐๐ง
Dear Batch 2026,
If you sit with it long enough, youโll notice something strangeโcollege doesnโt come back to you as one solid memory. It comes in pieces. Not the ones you expected to matter, either.
Itโs the version of you rushing out the door, already late, half-prepared but still going. Itโs the weight of a bag that somehow always felt heavier during exam week. Itโs scanning a test paper too quickly, heart racing, convincing yourself you studied enoughโor knowing you didnโt. Itโs checking your grades with that familiar mix of dread and hope, refreshing the page like the numbers might change if you look again.
And then, just as clearly, itโs the people.
The ones who sat beside you without needing to say much. The ones who shared answers, shared snacks, shared entire breakdowns in the middle of the semester. The group chats that started as academic and slowly turned into something elseโsomething louder, messier, more real. The inside jokes that stopped making sense to anyone outside of them. The way certain names started to feel like constants, like they had always been there. You donโt realize it while itโs happening, but those people become part of how you get through everything.
There were also the parts of you that stretched in ways you didnโt expect. Joining organizations you werenโt entirely sure about. Saying yes to responsibilities you didnโt feel ready for. Staying late for meetings, planning events that looked effortless to everyone else but took everything from you behind the scenes. There were moments you questioned why you even signed up in the first place.
There were days that felt heavy in a way thatโs hard to explain. Days when nothing made sense, when the workload piled up, when you wondered if you were falling behind everyone else. Days when showing up felt like the only thing you could manage. But you showed up anyway.
That matters more than it seemed at the time.
And then there were the lighter daysโthe ones that didnโt feel important enough to remember. Walking between classes with no urgency. Sitting somewhere just to pass time. Conversations that had no point but somehow stayed with you longer than the lessons did. Those days didnโt ask for attention. They didnโt try to be meaningful.
But they wereโฆ
Now youโre here, at the edge of it all, wearing green that marks a transition more than an ending. And maybe thereโs a part of you wondering if you did enough. If you chose the right things. If thereโs something you should have done differently.
๐ง๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ป๐ผ ๐บ๐ถ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ผ๐ฝ๐ฝ๐ผ๐ฟ๐๐๐ป๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ฒ๐. ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐๐ต๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ผ๐ ๐บ๐ถ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ฎ๐๐ปโ๐ ๐๐ผ๐๐ฟ๐.
Not the path you didnโt take.
Not the chance you let pass.
Not the version of your life that almost happened but didnโt.
What you have now, these memories, these people, these exact experiencesโis not lacking. Itโs complete in its own way. It doesnโt need to be compared to anything else to be enough.
You donโt get to keep everything from these years.
You wonโt remember every lesson, every lecture, every requirement you stressed over. Most of it will fade, and thatโs not something to fix. Thatโs just how it works. What you do get to keep is quieter. The way you learned to keep going even when you were unsure. The people who made difficult days feel lighter. The version of yourself that didnโt give up, even when it wouldโve been easier to. That version of you is not staying behind.
It is going; it is with you.
And maybe, sometime from now, youโll catch yourself thinking about all of thisโnot because youโre trying to go back, but because something small reminds you. A habit. A phrase. A feeling you canโt quite explain. And thatโs what nostalgia really isโnot something soft or sentimental, but something solid. A kind of proof.
Proof that you were there. That it mattered. That even the days you thought were ordinary were shaping something you only understand now. So as you leave, your classrooms, your organizations, the spaces you moved through without thinking, donโt worry about whether you made the most of it.
You lived it. Fully enough for it to stay.
ASCENDIAโlive up to the name given to you, may you continue to move upward with the integrity instilled to you by the Marist community. And when everything begins to feel distantโwhen names fade, routines change, and life moves faster than it ever didโhold on to this:
๐ฌ๐ผ๐ ๐๐ผ๐ปโ๐ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐บ๐ฒ๐บ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐โ๐ฏ๐๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐๐ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐บ๐ฎ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ถ๐น๐น ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐บ๐ฒ๐บ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐๐ผ๐.
Let that be enough to trust that nothing real was lost.
You didnโt miss anything that was meant for you.
Youโre only carrying what was.
