Living, learning, leaving

Sunflowers now line University Avenue. The calendar is just too fast in flipping its pages. Less than a week from now, I will don a sablay, march onstage, and receive my diploma.

The four years of toil in my degree program have not been easy. Aside from the intellectual challenges, I also encountered financial and personal problems. Financial, because tuition at the University of the Philippines is just too much for my family’s meager budget, and I had to go on scholarship to sustain my studies. Personal, because I was actually culture-shocked when I entered UP and had to move away from my comfort zone.

My experiences were humbling but worthwhile. I graduated valedictorian in high school, but I soon found out that in UP, many others are like me. I cannot brag that I am smarter than anyone else, for there will always be someone more intelligent. When I realized that, I avoided any competition with any colleague and began focusing on my own path.

UP taught me to value people and the things I learn from them. The organizations that I joined helped me in dealing with fellow scholars (and even those outside the campus). The skills I learned in high school were honed in institutions like Sinag. Learning was not limited to the classroom: It included something as practical as knowing where to buy the cheapest “sulit” meal possible for a dorm resident like me. And enthusiastic discussions with others on various subjects helped me to think critically.

As a microcosm of Philippine society, UP made me realize the problems our country is facing. The growing apathy among the youth, the state abandonment of our right to education, the security issues on campus, the dismal condition of our facilities, and many more—these problems are expected to be, if not solved, at least alleviated by UP graduates. I am a member of the Iskolar ng Bayan, thus reinforcing my sense of nationalism. I am needed by the motherland to help find solutions to perennial problems.

I am so proud to have lived and learned from the UP student life. I am very thankful that the university shaped me into who I am now. Equipped with its brand of education, I hope that I will be ready to face the challenges of the real world.

As the sunflowers bloom to their full size, I grapple with mixed emotions as I prepare to leave UP. I am joyful that I met all those people I treasure most; I am anxious that I have to move on and start things anew. Nevertheless, I will be looking back with pride and nostalgia. Graduation is never an end; it’s the beginning of something great.

Roldan P. Pineda, 21, is a political science student at the University of the Philippines-Diliman.