It's Graduation Season again in the Philippines. For thousands of graduates, it is the day that marks the start of their future. What they don't know is that many of the things they thought they've learned in college will seem irrelevant the minute they enter the wide world of the workplace.

This is how I felt thirty five years ago when I graduated from my Bachelors in Nursing. All I wanted was just to do bedside nursing to the best of my ability. As days went on, I started to realize that what I have just been through as a student is a mere foretaste of what lies ahead. There were many days wherein everything seems to be askew and I seem pitifully helpless to do anything about it. There were a lot of instances when I had to fully fathom the complexities of human behavior within and outside the workplace. Also there was this very vast wealth of knowledge that had to be explored in the medical field which I didn't learn in school.

All these posed as a challenge to me so barely nine months on the job, I got married and was promoted as Headnurse of the OB/Gyne Division. A few months later I was offered the position of Nurse Supervisor. Since I was about to deliver my first child, it was at this point when I had to assess the situation and study my options. I was not too sure if I was capable of the very big responsibility of running a workforce of almost 300 nursing professionals considering my age. But with God guiding me all the way, I accepted the offer and I am proud to say that I did a very good job. With lots of prayers, I became brave, I held fast to my ideals and I considered the lumps and bumps along the way as part of my continuing education. These experiences in this 250 bed hospital led me to higher positions years later in another hospital but this time in administration.

So to the graduates of 2006, let me share with you what Alex Vergara, a journalist said in one of her articles, "What you learned in school for four years are not enough when it comes to acquiring the skills and knowledge you'll need - professionally and, more so interpersonally - to survive and make sense of this life. You can not depend on your mentors and the institutions that endeavored to mold you into what you've become today. You really have to determine your strengths and to draw from them as you begin to chart your own course. "