Centro Escolar University graduates and junior students gathered for the much-awaited 79th Sampaguita Interlude, recently held at the CEU North Quadrangle.
Since 1938, Sampaguita Interlude has been a traditional ceremony held few days before CEU’s graduation day. The occasion marks the formal turnover of duties and responsibilities of the graduating seniors to the juniors who will succeed them.
Being the country’s national flower, the Sampaguita serves as a traditional symbol of the ideal Filipino, thus, the ideal Escolarians, “modest like the spotless whiteness of the Sampaguita petals; loyal and sincere like the lingering sweetness of its fragrance; firm and courageous like its green stalks and sturdy petals”.
While singing the three songs titled, El Collar de Sampaguita, Sampaguitang Mabango, and Sampaguita (La Flor de Manila) students performed different routines to form human sampaguita garlands.
The ceremony remains as one of CEU’s distinct traditions and is passed on to the next coming generations.