Of Colorful Beginning: From Class Dismiss to Hello I Am...

Summer vacation has ended last week in the most humble way it could and the ring of the bell in the hallways of our classroom started to to bang a battle the students weren’t prepared for.

Hello, greetings Hivers! Now I am back again in my narrative era after five days of being inactive in this community. Today I'll be sharing with you how my last week went and why I was not doing some activity here. As a college student, great happiness comes from a long vacation of trips and breaks from paperwork. While most of us wish to just be a master of our own time, not dealing with fixed schedules nor being a student who has to iron his uniform before sunrise, life has another teasing way of giving it to us. Sometimes, it would give us more work deadlines and sometimes it is as simple as class schedule. So last week, it teased me (or us if you can relate) by opening the class with a lot of work!

This is from Class Dismissed to Hello I am...

Last Monday, I was officially a third year psychology student on the first day of class and it is also my third year in practicing my journalism skills. I am writing this blog about the opening class through the lens of a student journalist—tiring, sleepless, and sick—because to write it from my perspective as a psychology student, it would have a wide difference. If I were to celebrate the opening class as a psychology student, I would say it is as calm as my head—no works to do and just a simple student finding the attendance checkers only to find out I was past the time. But to attend it as a student journalist, I would say it would be better if I hadn’t.

Covering big events in the institution is our primary goal as a journalist, and the Welcome Back To School program is one of them. Almost all of the schools here in the Philippines have this culture of having a grand celebration when a new school calendar opens and I believe it is because education, although always open, is now brought to life again by the footsteps of the students in the hallway of our school.

Since it is Monday, my Monday blues had left me overwhelmed in my bed before going to school. I wished I could just lay in bed all day and not attend the first event of our school. But it couldn’t happen. Because I have to take photographs of it as part of our work.

The worst part of this kind of event is the crowd. But the best part of this event is also the crowd. We have a lot of freshmen, more than the fresh graduates, roaming around the campus and making the school completely filled like a concert in an arena. It was really crowded that day that I could almost not walk past in the lobby or hallway but it is promising that this crowd is not just a crowd but a battalion of students aiming for good education. And yes, the school is their arena and their battlefield.

We started the day by preparing all camera equipment in the office and orienting our junior applicants. We had applicants wanting to join our team so that event was a good opportunity to train them in the field as part of their assessment. I had one junior for photojournalism and she was my assistant that day. Our documentation didn’t go well at the start of the program because our team was not reserved for a table, only to find out our equipment and laptops were as uncomfortable as our minds. A little while later, we found a way to get one and warmed up for the start of the program.

I cannot vividly remember how the program started only for the reason that I wasn’t present in the program because I was busy freezing it for the past. You see, if you take photographs during an event, you cannot fully celebrate it with the others because your mind and hands are busy working on the settings of the camera. It would be just a pop in your sensation that the event has ended and you’re confused as to what happened. And the only memory and experience you have are the photos you took, unable to live it personally but pleased to capture it for the students as actual memory.

I witnessed different groups of students performing dance presentations one by one, and then by the end of their presentation, a unity dance was performed, and it made the crowd roar and breathe loud noises because it was so vibrant to watch.

The vibrance of the school atmosphere is not only from the fun and colorful dance of the students but also from the banderitas the officers had put that made the school look like there is a fiesta celebrated.

One of the major highlights of the event was the confetti and tarpaulin dropping. The confetti may not be as many as we expected it to be but was still vibrant. This is personally my favorite part—different colors flying just in the highs of our school while the students were cheering aloud to mark the first day of burnout... I mean class. LOL

The program was a whole-day event and actually a one-week celebration. During the afternoon, the students were required to visit different booths each department had prepared for the students, especially for the freshmen. The first booth I visited is, of course, my department's booth, which is inspired by the series Squid Game. In the second photo, you can see the dolls coming from the season 2 of Squid Game.

Our booth also had different activities such as Chinese garter and chess tournament. I took a photo of my best friend enjoying the Chinese garter. She was loud and silly watching the players. I was also happy to know that chess was the game they wanted to feature in our booth. It makes sense to our department because psychology students are immune to the battle of the minds.

A booth from other departments also had unique themes and designs. For instance, the department containing education students had a booth featuring a sari-sari store which they named "CTendahan." It had different foods and beverages sold and students who wanted to have one flocked to this booth. What I like about this booth are the snacks they sell which best encapsulate Filipino preference.

The department containing criminology students had this engaging booth that contained target shooting activity and darts. It best represented their program, and even if I wanted to try it, I did not because I am not good at shooting. But still, I enjoyed watching the participants.

To avail freely the booth about shooting and dart, they offered this lemon balance activity for students. We just had to use any coin and balance it on the upper part of the lemon for 10 seconds, and if successful, we could participate in the booth without paying for a ticket. It was also a trend in different businesses here in the town because it makes the restaurant (most of the businesses who offer this activity are restaurants to give free food and dine-in) engaging and lively.

While strolling to different booths, I saw this booth selling classic books and found out they sold this one-of-a-kind book "Da Vinci Code." I already have this book which is an original one so I didn’t buy another from the booth. I just love the idea they sell books and continue promoting these pages and ink to the modern generation.

Another booth sold these printed anime photos like a polaroid. They also had these colorful bracelets with printed quotes or Spotify music attached. Also, the keychains were carefully made by the students, and price may vary according to the designs.

From the same booth, I saw this munchkin coated with colorful sprinkles and bought two of it. More than two could be too much sweet and I didn’t want my face having pimples like sprinkles.

My most favorite booth during the event was this booth of accountancy students. They sold these crochet products and they made them using their own hands. You can see the creativity and imagination of the students belonging to the department and the best part is they had different products, making you indecisive as to which one you should buy. All were beautifully crafted and if I could, I would have bought it all.

Tracing activity! The funniest activity I visited. You just had to make it to the end and every time a student was about to succeed, they would accidentally touch the curved metal leading to the losing title. Everybody would be so tense just like the participant and then shout every time it failed and laugh because of how silly their reactions were.

This booth had this Threads of Connections where different colors of yarn or thread had different meanings and you had to give it to a particular person with a message behind the color. For example, the color peach thread had the meaning "Nice to meet you!" so it could be best given to a random freshman. Many colors were available and it was fun to buy for a special someone.

Outside the area of booths was a room filled with students taking photos at this photo booth. Silly and cute students took pictures with a smile, loudly enjoying the first day of school because no one expected it could be that happy and exciting.

I found a freedom wall beside the booth and read a note that said "If life gives you lemon, let it squirt on the eyes of the ones who annoy you." I burst into laughter and it actually made my day. A silly note but a true one. No filtering.

Lastly, a lot of students approached me that day to ask for photos. Actually, the hardest part in photojournalism is the times a particular group of people will ask for a photo and then you give time for them to pose and capture them finally. But when you look around you, a lot of people are waiting hoping to have some too. LOL. But I enjoyed it because I got to meet new people.

The event were so tiring and we closed it like a chapter in a book with wonder, contentment, and lesson. That is all I could say in this blog and I hope you enjoyed reading how my first day went.

ALL PHOTOS POSTED ARE IN MY OWNERSHIP, WITH WATERMARK OR NONE.