I COULDN’T believe this would be my 12th.
When I first wrote this column, I did so with utmost pessimism. That is obvious with the column’s title.
And I would like to believe that the previous 11 were read and furiously appreciated, serving as inspiration to many.
In the end, I say that I wrote them with sincerity, hoping that they could effect change. Nonetheless, writing them was burdensome since getting the message across without stepping on sensitive toes is rather difficult.
It’s one thing that people have different opinions regarding things and it is another when people express them or not. I have always tried to be critical about things that others didn’t care about. Or if they do, they kept it to themselves. Or maybe, I was just privileged to have the my opinions heard.
Finally, I would like to thank our guidance counselor, for her faith that what I had written in the past were without malice and were sincere constructive criticisms. But then again, I am happy to end the column now.
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In my last column, I mentioned that I had considered the Varsitarian as my bachelor’s degree and Biochemistry, a mere extra activity. Maybe I was right and wrong. I was right in the sense that I spent more sleepless nights over the Varsitarian than over my studies. And I was wrong because I realized that even without my involvement in the paper, I would have been the same as a student.
Though my performance was never outstanding nor my efforts exemplary, I can say I gave it my best. This is not to redeem myself or deny I was a mediocre student. But I believe that knowledge is immeasurable and that the true measure of intelligence is one’s skills, how one will perform in the “real world”.
Of course I am not discounting the fact one will need the knowledge that one learns in school. But I do not believe that knowledge only comes from within the four walls of the classroom. And though an old saying says, “experience is the best teacher,” the classroom is where one lays the foundation that one can build on when one gets out of the campus.
In all of these, I would like to say I had the best life juggling my duties as a student and as a student journalist.
And if there is any consolation, I did satisfactorily in both. I guess that is enough for me. For now, I am happy that I am earning my degree in a field I have learned to love.
I would like to end and close my column by congratulating and saying good luck to my classmates in high school who just like me are triumphant in the quest for a bachelor’s degree. The same goes for the UST Biochemistry class of 2003. And to the rest of Batch 2003, congratulations.
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Nothing follows.
