More than a Month

Last month's Nutrition Month filled me with so much excitement and happiness. I never knew a single month could be so encouraging, fulfilling, and rewarding, all while allowing me to make a real change and influence people.

My classmate from 10-Maxwell and I were chosen to join the regional nutrition jingle competition. We were scared at first, with so many things to accomplish, but through hard work and perseverance, we made it. From singing at the top of our lungs to losing our voices from trying to hit the high notes, all while choreographing and practicing our dance, this Nutrition Month didn't just bring us closer, it also made us more aware of the importance of good nutrition.

Although we didn't get a higher place at the regionals, ranking only 8th, we were able to place 3rd nationally and 1st in our division. In all our efforts, we created a lasting bond. Now, we just laugh about how funny it was when we tried to reach those high notes and how exhausted we were from singing.

Thinking back, the TLE Department truly made our first Nutrition Month more memorable than we ever imagined. It still feels so fulfilling, and I feel so lucky to have been one of the participants. Sitting here and writing this, I realize that Nutrition Month was not just about promoting healthy eating, it was about building friendships, overcoming challenges, and discovering our own resilience. It was a truly unforgettable experience.

An experience that has taught me that the true victory was not in the rankings, but in the shared struggle. We didn't just sing a jingle; we found our voices. We didn't just practice a dance; we learned to stand together. Ultimately, Nutrition Month was a celebration of how much we can achieve when we unite for a single, meaningful purpose.

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Everything, Everywhere, All at Once

In life, there's so much I've come to realize in my first quarter of the school year. I've come to more deeply appreciate the people around me and their influence. But at the same time, this first quarter was also harsh and wistful. It was staying at school until 7PM  almost every day. It was the jeepney rides and the days we braved raging typhoons. It was the overwhelming feeling of everything, the dreams I had to let go of, the words I wished I had spoken, and the actions I wished I had taken. 

The biggest challenge this quarter was probably myself and my time. I found it incredibly hard to manage and work with it efficiently. In this desperate attempt to manage my time, I was always busy and tired. My sleep barely reached five hours a day, which I found dreadful. This was my desperate way of trying to survive the 1st quarter.

But with this inability to manage my time, I was also surrounded by people willing to help me and offer so much love and support. They understood instead of judging my struggles. And with their support, I eventually managed to find my way and crawl out of that hole I had dug for myself.

Moving forward, I will try and try until I can't anymore. I knew we had different situations and dreams, different ways of coping and handling things. But I know that my first quarter was full of trying and loving. I know that it was also full of life. It was full. I was full. I've filled its cup with enough blood, sweat, and tears, and a good laugh. What a privilege it is to have been filled. What a privilege to have been made.

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Project LINIS

~

 Beautiful 

green leaves, 

the air we breathe, 

the water we drink, the 

soil that grows our food,and 

 rustling while the wind blows. 

Would you not want to let the

 next generations experience this, 

the calming and soothing feeling

 that these living things bring to us. 

By knowing the importance of the 

environment and how to protect it,

 our responsibility is to take actions, 

not only the sake of us but also for

 the sake of the future generations. 

Educating each other is crucial in 

promoting environmental aware

-ness, and by teaching the young 

people the importance of our 

environment we can guara 

-ntee that the future gener

-ations will continue to 

prioritize environ

-mental 

c

  o

    n

      s

        e

          r

           v

             a

               t

                 i

                  o

                     n.

 Through working together, we can create a sustainable future for all.

We cannot always sculpt a precise face of the future for our youth, a world that is free of all challenges and uncertainties. Picturing the beautiful green leaves, the air we breathe, the water we drink, the soil that grows our food, and then gentle rustling of leaves in the wind. Would you not want to let the next generations experience this, this feeling that feels like an alternate of analgesic and acetaminophen, a drug and some sort of crystalline used in a medicine to relieve or lessen pain and suffering.  These are what connects us to something larger than ourselves, giving us a sense of peace and belonging. By knowing the importance of the environment and how to protect it, our responsibility is to take actions, not only the sake of us but also for the sake of the future generations. Wouldn't we want our children, and their children after them, to share in this connection? Educating each other is crucial in promoting environmental awareness, and by teaching the young people the importance of our environment we can guarantee that the future generations will continue to prioritize environmental conservation. Through working together, we can create a sustainable future for all.                   

We cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future

A quote by Franklin D. Roosevelt. (n.d.). https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/72364-we-cannot-always-build-a-future-for-our-youth-but

copyright free nature video free download | copyright free nature . . . (n.d.). www.google.com. https://share.google/images/0bNTYEvGuj4ECvhij                                                                                                                                                       

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Are We Looking at the Same Sky: A Letter to the President

 Dear Mr. President,

Are we really looking at the same sky? When you look up, you probably see stars that shine bright in the depths of the night. But our realities are different. When we look up, we see roofs overlapping each other, with electrical wires tangled beyond reason. So few stars appear from our view that we have to try our very best to get a peek at a beautiful sight that others take for granted.

And when this sky we so admire weeps and roars, its thunder being its bullets, we are submerged. The frequency with which the sky weeps is, you said in an interview, why "we should shift our mindset as this becomes the inevitable." It is admirable, indeed, that we Filipinos have the ability to always adjust, to swallow the words that are about to question such statements and just be proud of the fact that we are viewed as strong and resilient while we suffer. Even if we know better, we don't do better. I hope we don't have to wait until we are fully submerged in the water, dead because the only thing we were holding on to were promises that we deemed were strong enough to keep us afloat.

I live in a place where the city is almost 30 minutes away. People have to wake up much earlier than usual as the traffic can feel like it takes forever to reach their destination. On a bad day, the journey can easily stretch to an hour or more. Yet, this experience isn't unique to my place, this happens every day all around the country, forcing the people to wake up early and come home late, only to earn minimum wages that barely make a living. Our only question is: Why has the government never resolved these problems despite having billions of pesos in the budget allotted each year?   

Watching your SONA last July, your promises, plans, and actions were, honestly speaking, not enough. Is the government really there? We need to put an end to the romanticization of Filipino resilience and start holding the government responsible for its failure to provide long-term solutions to issues and problems that our counry faces. We are similar to the tangled, twisted electrical cables that dangle over our streets. We are unable to claim that our stories are uncommon.  We are identical, and the same adversities have bent, knotted, and torn us apart. Our lives are a chorus of common hardships and resiliency, a loud, chaotic, and neglected choir. I hope that your plans will one day truly change our sky and help us rise above the water. 

Ultimately, the true measure of your plans won't be in the promises you make, but in whether the stars we see from our streets are finally the same ones you see from yours.

.

  Threads. (n.d.). https://www.threads.com/@aencille/post/DMfOPpEz7jI?xmt=AQF0ABh2wWK3muWObPmnXgVbQQonC0jjE9tsiF7Rw0h6IQ

  Dava, B. (2025, July 24). Marcos says Filipinos need mindset shift as typhoons become inevitable | ABS-CBN News. ABS-CBN. https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/7/24/marcos-says-filipinos-need-mindset-shift-as-typhoons-become-inevitable-1505

 Tangled electrical wires are seen along Kapalaran Street in . . . (n.d.). www.google.com. https://share.google/images/fAqF8ODdPQuAqiBhc

  HIGHLIGHTS: President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s SONA 2025. (n.d.). www.google.com. https://share.google/images/XHQdYNSKUFGkPvL0I

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If I Were Held at Gun Point

If I were held at gun point, it is expected that i will beg for empathy, to plead for my life. I'd try to break through the hardened exterior of the person behind the gun and find the part of them that is still human. Maybe I'd lay it all out there my hopes, my fears, my entire life story while hoping that in my words, they would find a reason to see me as a person, not as a victim.  

Maybe i’ll tell the person who is holding the gun how, sometimes I wonder about my life. I'm Jane, 15 years old. The people around me influenced me so much that my favorite color went from green, to red, to brown, to pink, to black, to a point where it became nothing. I enjoy reading books, short essays, and articles online so much specially if it’s from a different perspective and perceptions. It basically influenced my way of thinking and my moral compass. I also love writing, but I also at the same time, despise it. I have five journals filled with words I could never say out loud. Words that are inked on paper because they could never leave my mouth. And I'll share my common, not so unique dream of changing the world in my own small ways. Only to be slapped with the gut-wrenching realization that it's hard to change the world when it changes us ourselves.

But I will continue to dream deep, not high. I want my dreams to have roots to grow, not wings to fly.

How most of the time, I think about all the different versions of me that exist. Afterall, change is the only constant thing in this world. To my friends, I'm the one who embodies so much kindness and patience, the one who has never succumbed to their "rage baits" or sometimes pretty annoying banter. To my parents, I'm just their sleepy, clumsy, and easily overwhelmed bunso. I'm the one who always makes them worry by skipping meals, and the one they can't have a long conversation with because I'm either too tired or too busy to talk. To my sister, I'm the most impatient and rude person she probably knows. Yet, she becomes incredibly understanding even when the word "ate" barely leaves my mouth when I talk to her. My childhood friends remember me as the outgoing, funny, and soft spoken kid. And to my relatives, I'm just the quiet one who rarely shows up or speaks at family gatherings, a person they know only through my parents descriptions and bragging words. 

And there's another version of me, too. The only person who knows is her. To my grandmother, I wasn't the quiet kid who filled journals with secrets. I was the one who was super scared of ghosts and my bullies in elementary school. And yet, my Inang sat with me in our living room and said the words I'll hold on to forever: "Tumured kanto" (You'll be brave). On days like this, it's haunting. I'm terrified that people will always see me as who I used to be, not as who I am now. It's a horrible feeling, knowing that someone out there still remembers all the cringey things and stupid mistakes I made as a kid. But then I remember that those same people also remember the stupid, fun times we had and the cringe things we did together. How lucky am I to be able to yearn for those memories, no matter how embarrassing they are. How lucky am I that a version of me still lives on in the minds of others, even if it's just for the fun times we shared. 

But if there was something that I still very dearly share with my old self, it will always be my love for documentaries and our very favorite journalist, Mrs. Kara David. When I was asked by my friend who my favorite 'artista' of all time is, Mrs. Kara David would always be my answer. It's the comfort and realizations in her documentaries that deeply inspired and affected me as a human being. Even now, I still look up to her and want to be just like her, but dreams like that were often pushed aside to dwell in the shadows. I had to realize I shouldn't only think of myself, and my dream of becoming a journalist slipped through my fingers like sand. 

But in letting that go, another door opened for me. A dream that also inspires me to keep going. It’s the dream of becoming a doctor. It isn't a dream I chose for myself, but one that came from the realization that I could no longer just tell the stories of others, I had to be a part of them. I had to go beyond observing life and begin to save it. In a way, I am still following in Mrs. Kara David's footsteps, but instead of documenting hardships, I want to be the one who offers a helping hand in my own quiet way. My dream may not have wings to fly, but I am learning to build roots so that one day, my life can grow into something that gives back to others.

So now, if the person in front of me decides to pull the trigger, I can say that when death finds me, it will find me alive. It will find me at peace with my past, with all the different versions of myself I've been and all the people who remember me. I am already fulfilled by the simple fact that I lived a life I somehow enjoyed, a life full of quiet moments and profound dreams. I can accept my end because I've already come to terms with my existence. I owed it to myself to live a life that's mine, and in this life, I know where I am and where I stand firm. Even if the one holding the gun was the person in front of the mirror.

Reference: 

Pasion, D. (2018, July 8). Skip telling our kids to dream high | Inquirer Opinion. INQUIRER.net. https://opinion.inquirer.net/114449/skip-telling-kids-dream-high?fbclid=IwY2xjawMX0JNleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHvd3M_vHw4PPBRpbJACuF9U0Z-K_MKZ8afPLKK_lSKzFvMABqW2aJJv5gHTR_aem_a02qmzDvxSHaOTO8cn-onA

(n.d.). When Death Finds You, May it Find You Alive | Moeller Illustrations. http://www.moellerillustrations.com/coffee-shop/when-death finds-you-may-it-find-you-alive/515?fbclid=IwY2xjawMX37VleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETF4Y1hZdEJQWjZZTXhPdUJLAR79mgxBkCDo4TDMOPrH8zJAd8ipN J723QlF36YcnVVEWX7YUpfTIJjF9xd2w_aem_ueE4FWNBf-5oL67GM9CHqA

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