2,146 graduates have officially turned their dreams into diplomas on the second day of the 49th Commencement Exercises at the University Gymnasium and Cultural Center, June 20.
From the sum, 372 are Latin awardees, with Wendel Rey Salaum leading the list as the Class Valedictorian and carrying the sole Summa Cum Laude distinction. He is also the first Valedictorian of his program and the College of Computing and Information Sciences (CCIS).
Additionally, the College of Education had the largest number of graduates this year at 378.
Graduates began the morning with prayer and praise during the Baccalaureate Service. Thereafter, the ceremony proper followed with this year’s Commencement Speaker, DOST-Caraga’s Regional Director and CSU’s Board of Regents member, Engr. Noel Ajoc. He charged the Manawari Class of 2026 with a mission to always ‘stay homegrown and heart-bound.’ Regardless of the global voyages they may intend to chart, Golden Paddlers should always return to Caraga, a region with booming potential for technological innovation, circular economies, coastal sustainability, and entrepreneurial dynamism.
RD Ajoc also expressed his certainty that the Golden Paddlers carry a significant edge in transforming communities, as a product of Caraga State University’s hard, fertile ground.
In a speech delivered mostly in Bisaya, our proud language, Class Valedictorian and lone Summa Cum Laude, Wendel Salaum, also shared that achieving the highest academic honor is a collective feat. As an orphan and a self-described computer illiterate, he owed his success in college to the people who helped him along the way and to the opportunities at Caraga State University that paved the way for him to become the top graduate of the class.
Salaum also encouraged his batchmates and Golden Paddlers to take risks and be grateful, as life is temporary.
Aside from Salaum’s moving speech, the ceremony also gained traction online for the historic gesture by a Higaunon graduate and his mother, who was captured in traditional attire as she handed him his Magna Cum Laude medal. Bench Aparece, graduated with a degree in science education.
Congratulations, Golden Paddlers. May you create gbetter futures and empower your communities. Bugsay!
