Working student

DELA CERNA

There are two kinds of working students: those who work outside the school either day or night and get paid, and those who work inside the school being assigned in various offices of the school and don’t get paid but have big discounts in their tuition fees.

In the ’60s, students working outside the school were rare. Since there was no advanced technology, much of the work was done manually and there was a lot of recycling and reusing of materials. I was a working student from grade 6 to third year high school so we could have reduced school fees for me and my three younger sisters (our four elder siblings were fending for themselves in college). Every Saturday, I was assigned to assist Sister Consejo, the teacher in charge of grade 5 and 6 in preparing teaching materials like charts for the different subjects and preparing bulletin boards and posters.

The bulk of the work as a working student was done during summer where we cleaned and repaired the textbooks from the elementary to high school.

First, each book is inspected and then the edges of the books are cleaned with sandpaper. Stains on pages were removed with chlorox. For torn pages, transparent paper is used to paste across the tear and the paste used was specially prepared. Books with broken spines had major repairs. First the spines are cleaned with sandpaper, then glue is applied to the spine, and the book is left to dry under the sun.

After the cleaning and repairing have been done, all cleaned and repaired books were covered with thick brown paper ready for enrollment. Then the covered books were grouped according to the list per grade/year level. During enrollment period, we were assigned to distribute the books to the enrollees.

What did I learn from my working student days? I learned how to manage time — juggling domestic chores, schoolwork and working student assignment. I learned to be organized in doing things, keeping things and filing important papers. Resourcefulness was the order of the day where taken-for-granted materials were used to come up with a beautiful presentation. Whatever job was assigned, it was always good to be neat and orderly. Putting up a bulletin board every month according to a given theme drove me nuts at first but soon became handy. Working with people of different temperament taught me patience. The whole experience greatly helped sharpen my memory. Most of all, I learned the high value of work.

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Today is the fiesta of Our Mother of Perpetual Help, the most popular devotion of the Filipino people. This is also the closing of the 150th anniversary of the turning over of the Icon by Pope Pius IX to the Redemptorists with the mandate “to make her known throughout the world.” After a series of congresses throughout the country, the celebration was concluded with an International Pilgrimage Congress in Baclaran last April 2017. One of the features of the International Congress was the International Film Festival on the theme “ The Filipino as a Devotee of our Mother of Perpetual Help.”

At the Visayas Our Mother of Perpetual Help Congress in February, we had a screening of three entries to the International Film Festival. One of the entries “Giya” was one of the two winners at the International Film Festival. The film was made by Kent Pepito, an AB Communication graduate of Cebu Normal University. We thank Our Mother of Perpetual Help for all the blessings and grace showered on us throughout the year and hope that this will be also perpetual.

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July is homecoming and reunion month for most colleges and universities in Cebu. Calling all members of the College ’67 class of St. Theresa’s College, Cebu City to attend the STAA Homecoming on July 28–29, 2017 for we are this year’s Golden Jubilarians. For our attire and presentation, our class color is aqua blue, and for our presentation, our song is “Both Sides Now.” So far, we only had one rehearsal yet with only four of us present.

But you can be sure that even if you don’t attend the rehearsal, you will be a part of it during the homecoming. For updates, please join the conversation group of STC ’67 Golden Jubilarians in Facebook.