A Secondary Education graduate lead the 67I highly-potential graduates of the city government-run Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Valenzuela (PLV) as valedictorian during its 8^th  Commencement Exercises held at the Valenzuela City Astrodome last night, April 11.

Graduated cum laude, Jessica Napoles, a Physical Science major, used physics concepts in her valedictory speech to illustrate her view on success.

“In Physics, we always say that an object at rest will never move unless an external force will cause it to move. That is inertia. It doesn't require you to be a physical science major like me to understand this. We are objects initially at rest, and we are all objects subjected to external forces,” she said.

“In life, there are forces that will make us move to act on what we think and what we feel. These driving forces helped us in so many ways to achieve our goals,” she added.

For Napoles, these “driving forces” are the City Government, as lead by City Mayor Sherwin T. Gatchalian, the PLV administration, as well as her family and friends.

The Paso de Blas resident shed tears as she thanks her parents.  Napoles is the eldest of the three children of Dominga and Jesus Napoles, who works as a welder in Dubai.

“Both of them were high school graduates but were not able to enter college, so they really persevered to send us, their kids, to college,” Napoles said in an interview.

The graduates came from 12 undergraduate degree programs, one certificate program, and three master’s degree programs.

This batch commencement speaker was former Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) Chair Grace Poe-Llamanzares.  Poe, who has a degree on political science from the Boston College, said in her inspirational message that she would push for an expanded loan program to allow more students to pursue college.  “Ang kolehiyo ay isang karapatan at hindi pribilehiyo. (College education is a right and not a privilege)” she said Poe.

Besides the loan program, her platform also includes a free lunch program for public elementary school pupils and summer employment, Poe said.

Mayor WIN himself was awarded by the Board of Regents a plaque of appreciation for his support to the university, which saw radical growth since he took office nine years ago.

From 437 college enrollees during its founding year, PLV reached a number of 3,937 college enrollees in 2012.

Also during Mayor WIN’s term, 53 classrooms were built in PLV.  The university has also been furnished with modern teaching equipment.

Besides Napoles, 13 others students graduated cum laude. They are: