TWO YEARS have already passed since I became a staffer of the Varsitarian and I still cannot believe that I was given that kind of opportunity.
I can probably relate my stay in the “V” with the famous line of Julius Caesar “Veni, Vidi, Vici”—“I came, I saw, I conquered.”
I had always wanted to be part of the “V” since I entered the University, and to have my name printed on its paper was my dream. I really envied my blockmates who were already writers of the V before me, and just like them, I wanted to be part of it.
Although I was not able to pass on my first try, I was really exultant when I successfully passed during my second time trying.
When I came in, I did not know that a publication could be so welcoming, and for an introvert like me, I was really overwhelmed by how the staffers made me feel at home.
I started as a Filipino writer and experienced covering events and seminars I never imagined I would, and met famous writers I only encountered when reading books. It was at this point in my life where I knew that I really love writing and that I was on the right path.
I saw everything in the V. I had a new perspective in life because the experience was really different when one would be a part of the V. I learned how to love a publication more than I love writing.
As they coined it in the “V,” I should have belonged to the “Team Bitin” staffers who only had the chance to stay for one year. But I decided to stay for another year even though I entered law school.
I stayed for another year because I still could not leave the V—not just yet. So I took up law at the University.
The University has honed me and taught me a lot of things, and I will never regret that I enrolled in UST because I would not trade my experiences inside its four corners for anything.
People wondered how I balanced my time being an editor of the V and at the same time be a law student. I have to admit, there were times when I wanted to quit or just go home and leave everything behind. But my fellow V staffers helped me be sane all throughout.
I would not have survived my first year in law school and my last year in the V if it were not for my fellow V staffers because whenever I feel like giving up or crying, it was to them that I vented out my emotions and frustrations.
Even if I was transferred to the Features section as its editor during my last year in the V, I did not lose my momentum. To be honest, I learned more about feature writing when I was handling the Features section of the V.
I conquered, not in a way that I won the battle or defeated anyone, but in a way that I was able to conquer all of my fears, doubts and insecurities. With the V, I was able to overpower my monsters.
The V believed in me during the times when I did not believe in myself. It taught me to take risks, to overcome my fears, to grow and mature.
The V did not only help me improve my skills in writing, it also taught me a lot of lessons in life. It taught me how to be strong whenever I feel weak. It taught me how to stand on my feet and be independent. It taught me how to constructively take criticisms.
Being in the V is truly the highlight of my stay in the University.
I will be forever grateful that I was able to know each and every staffer of the V. Instead of treating my leaving from the paper as an ending, I will treat it as the beginning of a new chapter in my life.
My time in the V has to end in order to give way to new writers who also want to be a part of the V. Just like me, a lot of Thomasians also have the same dream I had before—to be part of the legacy that is the Varsitarian.
