On June 23, Mac Andre R. Arboleda graduated from UP Los Banos with a degree in BS Development Communication. While others were celebrating with flowers and posters, Mac’s graduation gift was taking social media by storm because of how unique it was. His photos of him carrying a lapida (tombstone) with his name on it became an online sensation.
Mac told When In Manila that the lapida was something he explicitly asked for from his parents. It was a dig on the trend of people getting tarpaulins for their friends. “You know [that] running joke online where people edit tarp designs for their friends but the design is for funerals? I wanted to take it a step further hahaha.” And take it a step further he did indeed! Mac got to pose with his lapida on graduation day.
He also told us that it was a nice commemoration of the long years he spent in the university, something material he could hold on to while he waited for his actual diploma (since UP gives out diplomas months after graduation). When Mac told his parents that he wanted a tombstone as a graduation gift, his mom just sent him the thumbs up emoji and went along with it.
While Mac had a feeling that his lapida was going to get some of the internet’s attention, he didn’t expect it to exceed over 5k shares. The original post embedded above and is now serving as Mac’s profile picture on Facebook currently has 16k shares, 13k reactions, and 1.5k comments.
Mac is getting ready to face the world and is entering the field of media research soon. He says he’s planning on pursuing his masters next year and might even get a black granite lapida once he graduates from that!
[ALSO READ: LOL: This guy brought his own medal to his graduation day]
Will you follow Mac’s footsteps and bring your own lapida to graduation?Â
