[[ This essay and the contest both have a sentimental value in my heart. I
always wanted to join the essay writing contest by The Eyoners’ Club but since
their Spelling Bee was also to be held on the same day, I exhausted all my
money for the Bee. The contest started around 8:30 and would end on 11:30 but I
woke up around 9:30. I had 30 minutes of thinking until a friend lent me his
money for the Registation Fee. Hurrying to the venue, I was a bit intimidated
when I came to the contest area because some big heads in the writing arena in
the university were there and I was oh so late! But still, when they handed me
down the theme of the contest “MSU’s Greatest Story Begins With Me”, all these
words, flashbacks and thoughts came rushing. I didn’t even have time to edit
the piece since the time I had left for the contest wasn’t that long enough to
allow me a draft. And more incredibly, I never thought that just by writing, I could
receive a monetary award aside from the certificate. I paid back my generous
friend and went on more inspired in writing.<3]]]
Those were the lights
I will never forget. They were not just some ordinary lights but they formed a
spectrum of different colors, formation, magnitude and distances. It was called
the Symphony of Lights – a tourist
attraction and an always-awaited event every night in what is dubbed as “Asia’s
Finest Skyline” near Victoria Harbour. Just last summer of 2012, I had the
chance to participate in a Peace Forum in Hong Kong. While watching the
symphony, a newly-found friend from a well-respected university in Manila asked
me a question out of nowhere: “Do you think your university has done something
in bringing you to places you’ve never been before?” Wearing my I-Love-MSU
shirt, I bowed down then gazed at the all-torn four-year old pair of high-cut
shoes I was wearing. I smiled back at her and answered, “Absolutely, my prime
mover is Mindanao State University”.
When I first set
foot on MSU grounds, I really did not think that this would be the best school
for me. There were people who wore all-black suits
covering their entire bodies. A strange sound of someone who sang in tongues
blasted some loud speakers. I couldn’t understand the feeling of intertwining
fear and curiosity then. This is how the norm works for new people in the land.
All I told myself was timing. When I would realize that I don’t really deserve
studying here, I would immediately pack my bags and go home without second
thoughts. After five years of stay, I realized that if not here, I couldn’t be
happier elsewhere.
My MSU story is
not really a journey that is only ventured on going to normal roads. As an
adventurer, I love standing at crossroads. I joined a semi-academic
organization, MSU – Honors Program when I was on my sophomore year. The program
served as the key on my journey. It enabled me to open some doors I always
thought were locked. There were parts of my passion that reawakened me. There
were versions of my interests that rekindled my senses.
I never thought
that this insatiable hunger for facts and general information would lead me to
a very long road. I was and still am a quiz show addict. It pained me to miss a
single quiz bee though I had heavier academic commitments. My love for
knowledge was best expressedwith the joy I felt from reading every single
question, raising cardboards with sometimes the most ridiculous answers, and,
if lucky enough, posing for a picture with medals and trophies in the awarding.
It is also through joining these quiz bowls that I got to meet and became
friends with some of the most amazing kids in the university, those other
students whose fields are far from my own league. One essence of competitions
like this is for me to see a summary of what is inside MSU – bright and
talented young people playing fair regardless of who or what their opponents
are. MSU is a battlefield – a friendly one.
One more passion
that I developed more here in college is writing. I post Facebook status quite
often and I feel unworthy if I cannot tweet every day or blog every month. These
manifestations magnify how I love playing with words. This is I think one of
the few things I love doing best. I remember myself marveling over joining
Mindanao Varsitarian, MSU’s official student publication, since I had some
journalistic roots in high school. But when I read some serious
anti-administration articles on the pub, I lost hope and told myself that this
wasn’t the channel I wanted to convey my thoughts. Not until I became a staff
of RFJPIA’s publication, The Worksheet, that I did not realize I was wrong with
my notion all along. I should have been and should always be adaptive. This was
something I never completely understood then. But thanks to the fate of winning
the University-wide On-the-spot Essay Writing Contest for two consecutive
Founding Anniversaries, I gathered all the hopes back that I still am an
effective writer. MSU is a battlefield – a dynamic one.
On top of it
all, I think that the best gift this university has ever given me is
leadership. It is hard to be a leader in a locus where the students are never
homogenous. There are cultural, religious, ethnic, geographic, social and
lingual barriers everywhere. I had to be someone I had never been since I wanted
to accommodate every part of the organizations I was in. Leaders in this school
are very all-encompassing, learned and experienced. Because of all these
challenges, I believed that we became extraordinary leaders. We have this MSUan
label. We are firm, strong and determined people who have been through serious
hurdles in life. I felt all of these when I became a leader. I went through
holes I never thought had diameters and after winning them over, I became not
just a better person but also a more effective individual. This is why I think
I managed to be part of some of the country’s best leadership summits like that
of Ayala’s and Aboitiz’s. I know that people here in Mindanao look up so much to
those from Luzon Universities especially the powerhouses. As per my time spent
with the students from these other universities, I learned that they also look
forward in knowing what shots we can give because they know that we have
potentials. There are many, many things we should be proud of. MSU is a
battlefield – a hard-fought one.
We are indeed
great beyond measure. We are just at times refusing to agree to it so we’re in
an auto-pilot going down. I believe that each MSUan story is a great story. We
should get away from the idea that we differ from each other. The bias, the
pain, the intolerance, the history – these are what we carry as placards as we
exist in the campus when what we rathercarry with us is the openness for new
innovations. It is but fine to break traditions and norms if we believe that
these are detrimental in our progress.
These may all
sound clichés, I know. But let us get these all up! Be an active student in the
campus! You can write, quiz, speak, debate, lead and do whatever you like. Just
learn from the experiences and apply them. Share them to others. Then your
story will pace faster and will have more meaningful twists and turns.