Over the Spring Term, the School continued with its Church Assembly program, overcoming attendance restrictions to provide valuable reflections assisting the community in its life of faith. The following personal account was offered by a member of the graduating class, Pablo Herrera. Pablo was also voted by his peers to represent them this year as one of the student speaks at commencement. Here he speaks to his classmates of the story of his father, which is surely a story of faith.

During, winter of my Fourth Form year, I went on vacation to Cancun, Mexico for New Year’s Eve. One night, after dinner, my father told me the story of his life. I always knew a small part of it, but my father thought it was time for me to hear all of it.

My father grew up in Rio Bravo, Tamaulipas, a small town in Mexico. He lived with both of his parents and his four siblings, 3 brothers and 1 sister. His father, although not a wealthy man, made enough money for the basic necessities. As he got older, my father and his twin brother began driving for a trucking company as a way to help out with family expenses. At the age of nineteen, my father was admitted into college where he began to play football for his school – as a way to get a free meal from the dining hall every day. At 22, he graduated and began his professional career. As he turned 26, his father passed away leaving my father the man of the house. He now had to earn money to support his family. He began competing for government-funded contracts to get work, and this did not always go his way. Things got even harder when his younger brother suffered a tragic accident and passed away. With less people to help out, things began to get worse and my father started losing hope. This hope seemed to be completely lost when his other brother left the house one day and never returned. My father was now left with his mourning mother, a younger sister, and his last brother. Now more than ever, my father was at his lowest point, as he felt that he just could not do enough to support his own family.

Things finally began to look brighter when my father joined a friend in the construction business and they began to have success, even finding himself a wife with whom he had a kid. With things beginning to look promising, my father’s life took another negative turn when his wife left him taking their kid with her. My father gained split custody of his child but was left heartbroken and emotionally defeated. My father felt like nothing good would ever happen to him, but he never gave up. He kept his head up and used his tragedies and pain as fuel for his career, making connections and finding success of his own. With this success he was able to support his family and pay for his sister’s education. My father became the man he thought he would never be.

I wish I had known this earlier, given that I was a kid trying to gain the whole world through materialistic possessions, only thinking about what I wanted and what I could obtain. The story of my father shocked me and honestly brought me to tears as I felt terrible that I had always taken all the things he gave me for granted. This story made me take a step back and see that I am extremely blessed, as I am surrounded by people who love and care for me. I now understood that there is more value in personal relationships and love than there could be in any material thing in this world. So, I now ask you guys, my classmates, to reflect on your lives and appreciate the number of countless blessings that have been given to you, and even if they seem like many, don’t lose hope because there is always more to come.