Tag: Vol. LXXXII

SOME TIME in February this year, and if I recall, a few days after we finished the layout of the Quadricentennial supplement magazine—the issue that almost drained our energy which we were supposed to train on our undergraduate thesis defense—I saw a note calling the attention of one of our news reporters to get a “registered mail” at the UST Post Office. Wondering what the communication was all about, the news reporter and I went to the post office to get the mail without any inkling that the letter was a subpoena, informing the two of us that we had been slapped with a libel complaint.

I REMEMBER wearing a black shirt—a sign that I was mourning for being kept in the dark.

A year ago, while I was waiting for my name and position to be called out, I kept thinking how unfair it was that everybody around me already knew what their position was going to be, while I was the only one trembling, both with fear and excitement, anticipating my fate in my second and last year at the Varsitarian.

As it turned out, it was because I was the “twist” everybody was talking about and they all silently agreed to keep me guessing—that way, no one takes the blame for whatever my reaction would be. So, while all my friends were being elevated to higher positions, I was in limbo—not exactly the place where I wanted to be.

SOMETIMES, I have this flight of fancy that the earth will be filled with angels and saints if people are just aware of their due dates.

Think of a cancer patient given a three-month ultimatum by his physician, or a trailing team that only has 2.1 seconds to shoot from an inbound play, or a news writer obliged by his editor to pass the article an hour after the coverage. Maybe these are the kinds of people who knew the real definition of spending time wisely or living each day to the fullest. Come to think of it, men are becoming creatures of time, but every so often, they do not know how to make sense of it anymore by wasting their lives in meaningless routines, cycles, and customs.

WHEN I was in high school, I vowed not to be active in extra-curricular activities in college.

This resolution, perhaps, was a result of the exhaustion brought by my engagements in different activities in high school, where I was an active member of our school theater club, campus paper, and student government, among others.

To be faithful to my college resolution, I rested for a year, doing the college’s academic demands and spending quality time with my high school friends.

But as the popular saying goes, promises are made to be broken.

It was during my first summer in college that I realized that I needed extra-curricular activities for experience and in preparation for life after graduation.

NITONG mga huling araw ay nabalot ako ng magkahalong saya, pangamba, at lungkot. Saya dahil sa wakas ay nagbunga na rin ang apat na taon ko sa kolehiyo, at nakamit ko na ang pinakaaasam kong diploma; pangamba dahil hindi ko pa natitiyak kung ano ang naghihintay sa akin sa labas ng Unibersidad; at lungkot dahil iiwan ko ang pamantasang buong-pusong kumanlong sa akin mula noong ako’y 15 taong gulang pa lamang.

BEING A Varsitarian staffer was the greatest thing that ever happened in my student life, and this publication has become my second family and the cradle of my creative beginnings.

I shifted to the Faculty of Art and Letters from the Faculty of Pharmacy because it was my dream to be a journalist. However, my decision to have another home in UST came with a price, considering that I should have graduated by the time I was writing this final piece.

But earlier in my days as an aspiring pharmacist, I found that people were too serious, that everything in this college was a competition. Never have I seen groups of people forming around with gifted individuals who are consistent dean’s listers. These people who deem it necessary to hang on to such talent so that they may have someone to boost their academic standing.

“SPECIAL tasks,” such as a number of Quadricentennial activities, hampered the progress of the Quadricentennial Central Student Council’s (CSC) pet projects, including the long overdue Students’ Code.

Reviewing the CSC’s performance in the previous academic year, Leandro Santos II, who recently ended his term as council president, noted that the CSC’s original projects were replaced by activities in connection with the year-long ‘Q’ festivities.

“Although we wanted to [continue with our] projects, we decided to focus on the festivities, because UST will celebrate its 400 years only once in a lifetime,” Santos said.

DESPITE criticisms that the University of Santo Tomas Entance Test (Ustet) is easier compared with exams given by other leading universities, admission officials are confident of the test’s quality, and think there’s no need to revise it.

However, students interviewed by the Varsitarian said they had an easier time taking the Ustet compared with other admission tests, like the University of the Philippines College Admission Test (Upcat) and the Ateneo College Entrance Test (Acet).

“I guess you could say that Ustet was easier because the test focused on the fundamentals of what we learned in high school unlike in Upcat and Acet which covered advanced topics,” said incoming Marketing junior Michael Miranda.

THE WHIRLWIND that was school year 2010-2011 was indeed imbued with unending grace.

The first half of the University’s Quadricentennial year, which saw a grand week-long celebration, has been filled with many ups—and downs—that prove to be part of the colorful 400-year history of the “oldest institution of higher learning in the Far East.”

Celebrations began as early as December 2009, with the annual Paskuhan that marked the 400-day countdown to UST’s 400th year, gathered a record crowd of 50, 000 people—Thomasians and non-Thomasians alike.

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