JUST last weekend, we celebrated our Poveda high-school homecoming at Saint Pedro Poveda College. I was grateful to be given a few minutes to speak about my advocacy: “Poveda is a big part of my advocacy’s roots and its future. It was Poveda’s ever-nurturing Ms. Sally Villavicencio who pushed me to finish my Education course here at Poveda and pass my LET exam last September. It is my great memories with my teachers and classmates in Poveda, that I wish for child education to be as enriching as what I experienced in my Yellow Home.
From my series “Diary of a Mom with No Limits” (DOMWNL), this week let me share my treasured journey in my Yellow Home.
In August 1993, I came home for summer break from New York. I was set to go back for junior year but was exploring options of coming back to Manila on my graduating year. As it turned out, no school would grant you a diploma without studying at least two years in their institution. Before I knew it, I remember being told I was no longer going back to New York. I was quite resentful because I promised my teachers in New York I would be back and had prepared to get my college achievement test that year. More than that, I had to catch up on a whole semester’s school work again since the first tri-semester just concluded.
I remember telling myself: “Just study well. You survived catching up in New York. Just stay in the library every break time. No point to socialize. It’s just two years!” Little did I know those two years would have the greatest impact in my high-school life.
I still remember vividly my first day of school in my yellow checkered uniform. Camille Macapanpan invited me to join her for lunch. She introduced me to her barkada. I remember meeting Eirene Aguila, who remains a great friend today.
I kept quiet most of the time. Coming from Saint Jude Catholic School, Poveda was definitely a very different environment. There were few Chinese. Students were more vocal. It was an all-girl environment. Being rigid-minded back then, I felt I would not fit in. I was as aloof as any transferee would be. It was surprising for me that in every encounter when I could have felt out of place, there will always be someone initiating a welcome. My classmates like Anna Martirez, Camille, Carmela Beltran, Carmela Jose, Jing Osias, Karla Ermita, Katrina Odi, Lea Disini, Lia Pastrana, Luisa Evangelista, Mia Capistrano, Mary Ann Santos, Missy Castro, Nikki Mercado, Nona Reyes, Sunshine Garcia, Tiggy Hernandez, Tyreen Catral and, of course, my seat mate Paula Locsin were very patient with my very serious ways. Slowly, they peeled through me. Eventually, especially after our retreats at the Poveda House of Prayer, I understood what it meant to be truly real with people—that it was OK to cry, listen, be accepting, be angry…because this was home.
I remembered it started with my notes. I copy fast and would do so with almost every word a teacher said, and so classmates would borrow my notes to photocopy. I also remember a statistics class when I was asked by a classmate to explain a lesson during recess, and I ended up explaining it on the board to the class. My barkada from Poveda are five amazingly strong women: Maika, Pia, Chin, Chris and Kends. They granted me the gift of amiespourjamais (“friends forever” in French, and what we called our group), and together we faced our fears, hurts and challenges with candid solace and meaningful togetherness. Even at one of the most dangerous times during college, we all marched to be with Kends. I truly believe we were strong women then, and even stronger and happier women today.
Learning also took on a different shape in Poveda. Outside of our regular homework and tests, there was the famous IW (individual work). An hour before formal class started, we visited each subject stations for projects to process our formal lessons. For example, when we were learning Shakespeare in Ms. Terry’s class, we were tasked to make our own sonnet, create a tune and record it as a song with our own voice. In another quarter, when we were reading The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, we were tasked to pick a character, create the costume ourselves, and participate in a gathering acting exactly like that character.
I will always remember Poveda as a school of open-armed opportunities, not just from teachers but from fellow students. It was an English class, in my first school year there, that I was surprised to be given the task to lead our final class play for the year. I remember asking myself: Who will listen to a newcomer? And yet, with everyone’s enthusiasm and cooperation, we got an E (excellent).
At the beginning of the next school year, before class elections, Katrina Odi, our class president in our junior year, approached me. She said that I did a good job in the English project, so would I like to run for class president that year? I told her I might not be ready but Ods, as we fondly called her, said she would help me. And she, together with the whole class, truly did. Up to this day, this benevolent act of Ods is a story I tell my kids, and one that I am forever grateful for.
To be continued….