Opening New Doors, Embracing Pride Through Compassion

n July 17, 2024, students of SMA Tarakanita Gading Serpong gathered together with pride and pure joy in their hearts to celebrate a significant day marked by a series of events, including a welcoming mass, the blessing of new facilities, and the 23rd anniversary of the school's founding.

We had the sum of three series of events which were put together into a huge celebration. The whole event was conducted by teachers, the student council, and other students who also participated in the process. We opened the series of events by holding an EKM mass to welcome the new academic year of 2024/2025. The mass was held in the auditorium of our esteemed building of SMA Tarakanita Gading Serpong and was delivered by Father R.D. Vinsensius Rosihan Arifin, whom we warmly knew as Father Vinsen. In connection with the mass’s theme, “Membangun Semangat Baru Dalam Terang Kristus” Father Vinsen read the Bible verse from Matthew 11:25-27. He reminded us that as students, or rather as humans, in addition to having intellectual intelligence, we should also possess a level of emotional intelligence. This was reflected in the way we spoke and acted daily. We hoped that as we returned to continue our studies, we could continue to grow that sense of maturity and wisdom. As the verse stated, God’s secrets would only be revealed to those who were wise. Father Vinsen also touched on the fact that we tended to have an arrogant and know-it-all personality. We hoped that as we opened the doors to a new year, we could bring higher and much brighter enthusiasm and steer away from our past behaviors that didn’t reflect emotional intelligence.

As we entered a new school year, we continued to grow bigger as a community and family. The school continued to support and hold us by facilitating our needs. The new school year also brought new scenery to the picture as we entered it, which was a new building, or more specifically, new classes. Today, as we held our mass, we also participated in a ceremonial blessing for the new building and classes. We hoped that the new facilities would help us through the learning process and support our activities, which would later result in the development of our educational quality, preparing us for the future as we continued to learn in the building of SMA Tarakanita Gading Serpong.

Today we also commemorated the day our beloved school first stood on the soil of Gading Serpong. It filled us with such pride to see that our school had been turning its wheels for 23 years! We celebrated with a procession from our PASKIBRA team, followed by a traditional dance procession. After that, we listened to a welcoming speech from our headmaster, Mr. Yustinus Sumayanto, M.Pd., followed by the ceremonial sounding of the gong. We had stood amongst the morals of CC5+ for as long as we could remember. Through this particular commemoration, we were reminded to continue to harvest the 2nd C, which is “Celebration”. We were encouraged to celebrate and be ultimately grateful for the 23 years of life lessons that SMA Tarakanita Gading Serpong had provided to many students. Students who had already fulfilled their future through their studies here. And to celebrate more years to come, for students and future generations to also be able to bloom as “Cerdas Berintegritas” students and bring along the morals of CC5+ through the obstacles that future life may bring. And so, we hoped that SMA Tarakanita Gading Serpong would continue to strive for excellence and nurture us students here so we could continue to make our school proud and bring pride and greatness to its name. May we continue to find pride and spread compassion as students of SMA Tarakanita Gading Serpong, from this 23-year mark, and forevermore.

Agatha Kelly Wijaya