FRESH OFF the Philippines’s historic performance in the 2024 Paris Olympics, UST embraced the Olympic spirit for this year’s Paskuhan as it unveiled Christmas displays inspired by the global sporting event on Friday.
The lighting ceremony began beside the Santisimo Rosario Parish, where a truck adorned with reindeer antlers made its way around the campus.
UST’s Olympian, EJ Obiena, emerged from the Arch of the Centuries and made his way to the Main Building, carrying a torch reminiscent of the Olympic opening ceremonies, where top athletes light the cauldron.
For UST officials, the Olympics theme was more than just celebrating sporting greatness. Similar to how the games bring nations together every four years, this year’s Paskuhan display symbolized a call for unity and hope.
“The Olympic Games are all about coming together, similar to the birth of Christ, whose birth is a symbol of hope for all nations,” said UST Facilities Management Director Fr. Dexter Austria, among those behind the lighting event.
“In our world right now that is being ravaged by different forms of distress and division, the Olympics brings together countries that may be at odds with each other. Stories of athletes’ perseverance bring hope to many,” he said.
The Paskuhan 2024 display incorporates over 2,000 strands of energy-efficient LED lights, including those at the 20-meter Christmas tree at the UST Open Field.
UST’s historic Arch of the Centuries was adorned with a gold medal featuring a cutout of the Main Building and the Dominican cross. A string of gold medals lined Benavides Lane. Cubes lit in the shapes of basketballs, footballs, and baseballs symbolized popular sports.
Lights in Benavides Park resembled the pole vault, Obiena’s event, while horizontal bars represented gymnastics, where the Philippines’s Carlos Yulo won double gold in Paris 2024.
Beside the UST block letters in the Plaza Mayor was a homage to weightlifting, the sport where the Philippines clinched its first Olympic gold in 2021 when Hidilyn Diaz broke the nearly century-long drought.
Torches resembling the Olympic cauldron surround the Benavides statue, while yellow parol arranged in the shape of the Olympic rings — a symbol of global unity — adorned the Main Building facade.
UST Secretary General Fr. Louie Coronel, O.P. expressed hope the Olympics theme would inspire Thomasians to be like Olympians, who soldier on with an “unyielding spirit” despite challenges.
“The Olympic flame represents not only victory but also the courage to keep going on,” Coronel said during the Mass. “As we light our campuses, let this light that will pierce the darkness symbolize our responsibility to keep Christ’s flame burning brightly.”
Coronel was assisted in the rites by deans of academic units celebrating their milestone years in 2025: College of Information and Computing Sciences (10 years), AMV College of Accountancy (20 years), College of Rehabilitation Sciences (50 years), and the Conservatory of Music (80 years).
On the same day, UST illuminated its branch campus in General Santos City, marking the start of the Paskuhan festivities there and the first time the Thomasian Christmas rites are celebrated across multiple campuses.
Plans are also underway for a lighting ceremony at UST Santa Rosa in Laguna.
While the Olympics serves as the inspiration for the decorations, the overarching theme of Paskuhan 2024 is “Ever Thankful, Ever Hopeful,” drawn from John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son.” Carlo Jose H. Ruga
