The Paglum Adventist Secondary School in Mt Hagen, Western Highlands province, on Sunday hosted their graduation ceremony for the grade 12s and 10s prior to exams.
The ceremony, under the theme, “Ambassadors for Christ”, started on Friday and ended on Sunday, where the graduands received their acknowledgement certificates and presentation of academic awards for top students.
The notable guests in attendance were Pastor Malachi Yani, the President of the PNG Union Mission of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, and David Raim, director of Highlands Mobile Group of Companies, and other speakers.
The guest of honour was Jacob Maki, the newly elected Member for the Mul-Baiyer district.
The graduation, which saw 129 grade 12 students and 221 grade 10 students graduate was a grand occasion as Pastor Yani dwelled upon the importance of technology.
To the graduands, I want to advise you to use technology wisely as it has two sides to it. It can help you to advance in your education and also it can bring conflict so it is up to you to use it wisely as a tool that will help you with your education.
Pastor Yani
Pastor Yani then congratulated the graduands on behalf of the Seventh-day Adventist Church and encouraged the students to always involve God in their education.
Education and God must go together if you wish to succeed. Keep Him first, and the rest will fall into place.
Ps Yani
Mr Raim praised the school’s principal, Freddy Pennington, for the school’s overall impressive academic performance in the province as well as in the country.
Last year, Paglum was ranked first in the Adventist mission schools, it was ranked second in the province and it was ranked eighth in the country and all of that is because Paglum has someone with vision as its head.
Mr Raim
He then urged the students to be honest and work hard and their future education life will be a success as he has experienced in his life.
Mr Maki encouraged the students to persevere as the Lord’s ambassadors in their education and develop a God-fearing attitude.
Thoughts become words and words become actions which can then become your habit so it is important to cultivate a God-fearing mindset at school before you go out to the world.
Be humble and make the most of this opportunity to make history. You will influence the future of this country because you have become ambassadors of Christ.
Mr Maki
It is the tradition of the Adventist schools worldwide to graduate the students prior to the exams so that they are spiritually prepared to sit for their exams in the weeks ahead.