There were 2,077 graduates and 1,559 obtained latin honors – 52 summa cum laude, 689 magna cum laude, and 818 cum laude.
The Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology held its first face-to-face graduation in two years on that day at the MSU-IIT gymnasium.
“For this 52nd Commencement Ceremony for our Class of 2022, this is actually our full first face-to-face ceremony after two years that the university was closed," noted University Chancellor Alizedney M. Ditucalan in an interview before the ceremony.
"What is actually historic about this graduation is the number of latin honors. Around 80 percent of our undergraduate candidates for graduation are actually latin honorees,” he said.
Ditucalan said MSU-IIT holds the record among the top universities in the country for producing the highest number of latin honorees in one graduating batch.
Ditucalan said the pandemic failed to stop them from obtaining latin honors. They are the first batch of students under the K to 12 program to graduate from the university.
"If you will look into their records before the pandemic they were consistent. Because I don’t think you would be able to garner these summa or magna cum laude if you have not actually performed well during your first two years in the university. I think they are really amazing students," he said.
Ditucalan said it is too early to say if the K to 12 program is not working.
But if based on number of graduates this academic year not only in MSU-IIT but also in UP Diliman which produced more than 1,400 latin honors and the first batch of K to 12 there, the program is working, he said.
“If we will use the result of our graduates, then I think it’s working, you have to understand that these are advance students because of the K to12,” he added.
Glendy Lou B. Duhaylungsod, BS in Chemistry summa cum laude, with a GPA (Grade Point Average) of 1.10625, in her valedictory address, congratulated fellow graduates.
She started her address by inviting everyone present "to offer a fist bump of congratulations to the person seated next to you.”
“A hearty congratulations to everyone,” she said.
She thanked God for the countless blessings.
“He continues to bestow upon each and every one of us despite the challenges that the batch had to face as the first K to 12 graduates as well as the impact of Covid-19 pandemic.”
"As a student, I highly valued the foundations built upon by my elementary, secondary, and college teachers. Completing elementary education as salutatorian at Tambo Central Elementary School (TCS), junior high school as high honors, and senior high as batch valedictorian of the MSU-IIT IDS, brought me here in front of me as this year's batch representative," she said.
She acknowledged her parents: “Mommy Corazon and Daddy Elias – My, Dy – thank you very much not only for the genes but also for the love. All my achievements in life are all for you. You may not be perfect but always know that ‘palangga kaayo ta mo, My...Dy.’”
And as I take mine, let me lead you with a principle of allowing yourselves to have a space in your own as wide and expanding as the universe but with the foundation in life far stronger than the hardest rock as you push through with making your dreams a reality, Duhaylungsod told her fellow graduates.
"Thank you and indeed it has been a great privilege to represent the graduating class of 2022, together let us take up space in the now so we can influence the future, congratulations to us all," she ended.
Duhaylungsod was awarded the university watch for achieving the highest academic distinction by the chancellor, who was the university registrar.