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“I’ll taste every moment and live it out loud…I know this is the time to be more than a name, or a face in the crowd…I know this is the time of my life.”- David Cook, “Time of my Life”

MY COLLEGE life ends here, and what can I say about it? It’s been a glorious four years, despite all the wounds, bruises and injuries, physical or otherwise.

Life in college was like American Football: in the game, you get banged up by players from the defense in their effort to stop you from moving the ball and scoring, but if you win against all the collisions and tackles, it feels as if all the huge efforts were worth the exertion.

“A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out”.-Walter Winchell

I HAD once thought vacations mean detaching myself from people around me in school. But college life proved me wrong, when it made me realize that distance is never a hindrance to keep bonds established on the campus.

I finished my first year in college with a different note from my previous school year-enders. Surprisingly, I am now anticipating what would happen when classes resume. Even though another school year will mean a barrage of lessons and scientific terms, the thought of my friends and classmates compels me to return to school, which I previously considered to be meant for academic honing alone.

A WEEK ago I took the licensure examination for nurses at a public elementary school in Manila.

I was in a dirty room with 23 strangers, my rump sore from the wide gaps in the small wooden chair I was sitting in with sweat trickling down my forehead, praying for someone to turn off the novelty songs playing in the distance or for our watcher to stop cutting her nails so I can focus on my exam.

But about 30 minutes into it, staring at the armchair in front of me laden with misspelled profanity, I simply sighed deeply and thought to myself “only in the Philippines.”

The sad state of our country’s public schools is alarming. How can any child be expected to learn effectively in those surroundings? Add to that the fact that the country’s best teachers are leaving in droves.

EVERYTHING that has happened in my life has always been my choice.

Eight years ago, I marched into this University not knowing what fate had in store for me. All I knew was that I was going to study high school in what my elementary text books claim as the oldest university in the Philippines. I could have stayed in my old school; after all, my parents only had to pay half of my high school tuition fee after graduating with honors in elementary. But it was my choice to be here in UST. And, at 12 years old, I was unaware that this choice would lead to a cascade of events that I never imagined would happen.

THE GOVERNMENT is at it again.

Hoping to redeem its lampooned image before the general public as a result of the battering and bruising it got over the ZTE-NBN broadband scandal, the Arroyo administration is once more – if only to duck, nay escape, further political lynching by its enemies and the disillusioned quarters of society – doing what it is best noted for: parading others’ dirty linen in classic populist fashion. Ironically, it is doing so with its own soiled hands caught in its own laundry bin.

And what a way for the government to cast a mirage of concern for the very people it has duped in the past than to pick on someone its own size in the playground of power – Meralco. The power distributor has been taken to task for its high power rates and charges.

THE UST College of Nursing will implement the new “five-year” nursing curriculum required by regulators this academic year, despite some reservations, saying it won’t be difficult for the University to comply with tougher standards being imposed by the government to arrest what some say is the declining quality of the country’s nursing graduates.

THE DOMINICAN order and other religious congregations have pooled together their financial resources to form a mutual fund that will ensure a steady flow of income to support religious projects and apostolates.

“Owned by the Religious for the Religious,” the Ekklesia Mutual Fund Inc. is being managed by private sector professionals and is open to all religious institutions and schools.

According to its prospectus, the fund aims to be a “safe and profitable investment,” with money to be invested mainly on Treasury bills and government bonds which are considered the safest in the market.

TO DIRECTLY monitor the state of medical technology education in the country, the Commission on Higher Education (Ched) has taken over the accreditation of hospital laboratories used to train medical laboratory science or medical technology interns.

Under Memorandum Order (MO) No. 6 series of 2008, Ched will take the cue from the Department of Health (DOH), with the new order replacing the latter’s Administrative Order (AO) 118-B or the “Rules and Regulations Governing the Accreditation of Clinical Laboratories for Training of Medical Technology Interns.” Experts told the Varsitarian the new scheme would help improve the training of med-tech interns, reduce costs, make sure grades are fair and prepare students for the board exams.

Old order

NOW A Center of Training in the fields of Music, Arts, Physical Education and Health (MAPEH), the College of Education has been asked by the Department of Education (DepEd) to train 73 public high school teachers from 10 city and provincial school divisions in Southern Tagalog, under a new certificate program.

As a Center of Training in the multi-disciplinary program, the college is tasked to equip non-MAPEH teachers with the fundamental skills and competencies in teaching the subject.

“For a college to be designated by DepEd as a Center of Training, it should be known for providing quality education that can offer good training for future teachers,” Asst. Prof. Fylene Uy, coordinator of the certificate program, told the Varsitarian.

THE THOMASIAN gavel of former Supreme Court associate justice Jose Feria would always echo both in courtroom and classroom, resounding passion and commitment. But it peacefully made its last strike in the morning of May 8 as Feria slumbered to eternal rest. He was 91.

“He is a very religious man and a very brilliant professor,” Faculty of Civil Law secretary Ricardo Magtibay said. “We certainly lost a caliber of law.”

In October 2007, Feria suffered a stroke and doctors at the Makati Medical Center found that his heart was becoming weak.

In February, despite his fragile condition, Feria opted to spend his remaining days at the Caryana Lay Monastic Community, where he had been a member since 1972, and to see his daughter, one of the lay monastics at the Pampanga monastery. He was again rushed to Makati Medical Center after two months because of recurring pneumonia.