WHEN UP Cebu student Edsel Codoy gave his valedictory speech last month, he was pretty proud of himself as he wanted it to be personal to him, but at the same time relatable to the thousands of students he’d be speaking to on graduation day.
What the summa cum laude graduate didn’t expect, though, was that his video would blow up on TikTok, with a snippet posted by Jayson Cabral earning millions of views and thousands of comments finding it relatable.
“My biggest regret in UP Cebu was actually studying hard,” he began, to laughter and cheers.
“Wait, wait let me finish… studying hard and doing nothing else,” he added.
The response to his speech has been astonishingly positive so far, and Codoy admitted that he’s kind of felt like a celebrity for the past few weeks. Even though the video of his speech was posted weeks ago, it’s still gaining traction.
As he read through the comments on the video, he felt warmth in his heart seeing how many related to his story and even reflected on their journeys in school because of him.
“Even with college students now in their second year of school, they’re thinking to join orgs din or go out of their comfort zone because of that speech, so that touched me,” he told republicasia.
Behind the speech
When it came to writing his speech, Codoy said the line that so many were able to relate to was the last thing he wrote. He really felt that he didn’t have much of the so-called college experience, and said he regretted spending all of his time just studying instead of experiencing the world around him.
“I was looking back at my stay in UP Cebu, and I was thinking: I didn’t quite have things to remember from my stay,” he said.
Now, he wishes that he’d taken the time to make more meaningful connections with people, or sharpened his leadership skills – the things you can only learn outside of the classroom.
This is the sentiment he illustrated so well in his speech, and when you listen to the entire thing, you quickly realize why it went viral in the first place.
“I have been chasing excellence my entire academic life, but reflecting on my college stay, I was actually missing out in life,” he said in his speech.
“I missed out on the unique opportunities for personal growth, exploration, and building meaningful connections,” he added.
Codoy said the entire speech was from his own thoughts and his experiences alone. Though he did ask for help from his blockmates for some revisions (like if some parts sounded okay, or if others felt like they were going overboard), what he started with was what he ended up presenting, for the most part.
Despite his masterful delivery, he revealed that he never really practiced it fully.
What you see in the video – the day of the actual speech – was essentially his first and last practice; while it may not have been perfect to some, he said the delivery came straight from the heart.
According to Codoy, he never really had the time to hone his manner of speaking given that he was juggling his internship at Thinking Machines Data Science Inc. while he was preparing for this nerve-wracking speech.
He also shared that he’s always had anxiety when it comes to public speaking, which is why he was surprised when on the day of graduation, his anxieties were quick to melt away.
“Magaan yung feeling ko that time, parang nawala yung kaba ko. I was just reading and telling people my story,” he said.
Now that the video has blown up, Codoy still hasn’t taken the time to sit down and re-watch his entire performance because he feels himself cringing listening to himself speak.
Looking back, he feels that he could have built more of a rapport with the people he was giving his speech to, or perhaps could have emphasized certain parts more. But overall, he felt happy with how he delivered it because he knows he gave it his best.
Life post-graduation
Currently, Codoy is still completing his internship. In the two weeks that he’s been out of school, he’s learned a lot about the world that you just can’t get from a book or a lecture.
He has enjoyed working at the company immensely, commending it because the people are approachable and pretty friendly. He also particularly enjoys the work he’s doing because he’s learning a lot during his time there.
“Knowing the technical stuff is different from actually communicating with people around you,” he said.
“There’s a lot more in life than just stuff you learn in school.”
If there’s anything Codoy wants younger generations to learn, it’s that as students, now is the time to go and hang out with people, make meaningful connections, and try new hobbies. Though Codoy has only started learning all of this at 22, he’s still been enjoying it thus far.
When asked about the changes he’s noticed within himself, he said he has grown to be more reflective since he graduated, and is trying his best to look at his future and see what things he needs to best grow into the person he feels he needs to be.
He still struggles with communicating and building a rapport with those he interacts with, but it’s something that he’s working on. And if there’s anything that he wants to focus on now more than ever, it’s the ability to do something that he wants to do – to find a hobby that helps take his frustrations away.
This seems to be a growing trend for adults nowadays: finding hobbies to try to get away from the stressors in life, and searching for the beauty in the most mundane of things. It’s a fascinating reflection of the human mind, and the need to disconnect from reality every once in a while.
Codoy is still learning how to do so, but he hopes to get there eventually.
It’s a filthy world out there
Many have noted the difficulty of finding a job now in the Philippines, and the search is even harder for graduates of what’s considered to be the “pandemic generation.”
And even without that, there’s also the stress of constantly feeling like you’re competing with all the other graduates in your field, especially since you also have to worry about things like nepotism or the lack of meritocracy in the workplace.
Codoy feels that this issue within the system is something that the government needs to address, but is also something fresh grads should be ready to face.
Before graduating, there are also a plethora of issues one may come into contact with: others may still be adjusting to the whole online learning thing, for example, which Codoy found himself struggling with throughout the first few weeks of its implementation at UP Cebu. He admitted, though, that he’s had it much easier compared to others.
“I would definitely give thanks to my family because they didn’t make life here hard for me; even with household chores, my parents would try to do them so I can focus [on] what I do in school,” he shared.
“That’s a privilege others might not have, and I acknowledge that,” he added.
He’s also been blessed to have block mates akin to family, which for him has helped to make college life feel all the more bearable. The reality of the situation though is that not everyone may be blessed with such supportive parents or such helpful blockmates; more often than not, people get the exact opposite.
That’s why it’s as important as ever to be prepared no matter what your circumstances may be – and that includes having experiences that aren’t just limited to what’s in your curriculum.
Even now, as he’s interning, Codoy still feels that grades aren’t everything. In the modern day, just being book smart simply isn’t enough.
In his industry – the world of I.T. – grades and honors may matter for entry-level job-seekers, but over time, it’s the experience that has more weight.
“Dapat talaga may diskarte, and you learn how to deal with people because having all the knowledge in the world will not make a difference if you won’t be able to share it with people,” he advised.
“There’s a lot of life skills to develop aside from the things you learn in school, so I would suggest [honing] those skills, with [some] being collaboration teamwork, [and] communication,” he said.
Codoy also notes the importance of finding opportunities, because obviously, job offers aren’t just miraculously going to fall into your lap. He cites websites like LinkedIn, or Facebook groups meant for people looking for jobs or internships, as places for people to start looking. Another avenue may also be talking to seniors from your school to figure out how they managed to come across the opportunities they were able to get later on in life.
To fresh graduates, he advised them to start with just a hi and a click – simple as that.
When asked if he would recommend the path he’d taken throughout college to those studying now, he said no, he wouldn’t.
“In the long run, I don’t think grades matter much; what I think matters is you have the grit and perseverance to work, [and] that you don’t lose passion [for] the things you love,” he said.
While he continues to regret not stepping out of his comfort zone, he is now starting to learn to do the things he was so afraid of doing before, and he urges everyone to do the same while they still can.
“There are greater things than getting those honors,” he said.
Yes, being summa cum laude may be great, but for Codoy, it won’t beat the experiences he never got to have at school because he was too busy with his nose buried in his books.
While honors and awards may have value at the start, it won’t be worth it when you look back on your life and see all the unique experiences you missed out on, he said.
“Everyone should take calculated risks – taking those will not end the world for you, and missing out [on] things in life will just cause us regrets in the end, so might as well grab them so you’ll leave no regrets after,” he said.
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