school has gone wild.

30 September 2009
MEMO TO: The Loyola Schools Community

FROM : Ma. Assunta C. Cuyegkeng
Vice President for the Loyola Schools

SUBJECT: After Ondoy

For the past days, we have been hearing stories of loss and devastation experienced by many members of our community. We share in their grief and hope to share, too, in the rebuilding. This aftermath of Ondoy challenges the University's traditional learning environment; however, it allows us to learn and grow in different ways.

Thus, the Deans, Associate Deans, representatives of various sectors, and I have agreed on the following:

1. Unless otherwise announced by CHED, Malacañan, or the Quezon City government, classes will continue until 21 October 2009, but there will be no final exams.

a. The basis of the final grade will be the current class standing of the student.
b. If a student wishes to raise his/her grade, s/he will have the option of taking the final exam or fulfilling an equivalent requirement. The deadline for completing INC or NE may be extended.

2. Classes can be used to deal with the aftermath of Ondoy, e.g., apply knowledge, skill sets, and values to understanding and managing disaster, rebuilding and rehabilitation of communities, or organizing and implementing support systems. _________________________________

that's just half of the memo. the first time they announced this during the relief operations, i didn't want to believe it at first.

CURRENT STANDING IS THE FINAL GRADE?!?!?!?!??!?!
NO FINAL EXAMS?!?!?!
REQUIREMENTS BEYOND SEPT30 ARE OPTIONAL?!?!?!

srsly.

people kept spreading the news around, on facebook, multiply, yahoogroups. but i didn't want to read them, i didn't want to hear about it until i got my life back. i mean, until i got organized and stuff...

and so, since i was not able to go to class last Monday (because my doctor advised me not to and to rest instead), here's the news on what my subjects are planning to do with the rest of the semester.

HISTORY
it's up to you if you still want to attend class. FINAL exam will be optional, the coverage will only be on martial law. (finals were supposed to be comprehensive) and i'm planning to take the finals just to pull my grade up. :)

PHILO
it's also up to you if you still want to attend class. everything will be optional. you don't have to take the final orals if you don't want to. your current standing will be the final grade. and so far, i'm doing okay in philo. :) :)

ITALIAN
the last lecture will be on wednesday, sir will just have to finish the last two lessons on the book. but it's also up to you if you want to go. final oral exams will also be optional. current standing will be the final grade.

EDPSY
We will still be going on with the final reports, and submission of stuff. idk, we haven't met as a class yet. but this is okay. i'm confident i'm getting a B+ in this. HAHAHAHAHA kapal much! but seriously. i'm doing good. 43/50, 46/50, 50/50 in one paper, and a 92/100 in my report. i'm so mayabang, but i'm proud of this. yaay. :)

THESIS
NO MORE ORAL DEFENSE!!!!!!!!!! homaygad. i'm so relieved to hear this. we don't have to be in our corporate attire, and defend our thesis. i know this is part of thesis, but since it's no longer a requirement, we don't have to do it. what our class voted on was to have a sit-down 'consultation' with our thesis adviser and the panelists. we DO need the feedbacks so that we will be able to execute the rest of the thesis properly. and we also have to submit the final proposal. we have to. thesis won't be thesis without this, graded or ungraded. and we want to do it anyway. THIS IS OUR THESIS. The essence of our being psychology majors. :) so it's okay. :)

ABNORMAL PSYCH
today, we discussed about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. here's what was flashed on screen before Sir Davis started the lecture.
- since we're going to talk about PTSD, if you have PTSD, you might want to sit this one out.
- in other words, today's lecture is voluntary
- if you feel stressed out already, feel free to leave at any point.

basically we just talked about how to deal with PTSD, and stuff. talked about our experiences with Ondoy. Sir Davis is currently spearheading a research team in the psych dept on creating a module for Ondoy survivors. something like that. woooh. :)

the effort of the psychology department is basically focused on counseling and therapy and stuff like that. they've been giving talks on how to do counseling sessions for ondoy survivors, and now they're looking into how to talk to the children about their experiences with ondoy. :) pretty cool. a lot of people need to be psychologically healthy too. to keep people sane. you know. :)

thesis class.
spent an hour just talking about our experiences during Ondoy.

all we've done today was talk about our experiences with Ondoy. i've heard about people crying and breaking down upon hearing the sounds of the raindrops on the roof. they've been traumatized, and this is normal. this is expected from people who have been affected by the calamity. there are stories about neighbors who only had one floor, and as the water was rising, they were just embracing each other waiting to die. it was so depressing. one knew a young boy who kept on crying because he couldn't get the people's screams and yelling for help out of his head. and when you're trying to help, you can never tell them "it's going to be okay.." because it's not okay. you can't comfort or console them as of the moment. all we can do is to be supportive, help them clean their houses, help them put their lives back.

today was my first day in school, and it felt like the usual first day high. the one where you spend the first few days orienting the class on what they're supposed to do during the semester. in this case, we were oriented on what's left to do and what else we can do. other than that, we are free.

i am assuming, and i am highly hopeful that my current standing as of the moment is passing. and i'm okay with that. i will still do as much as i can to pull my grade up, but other than that, i'm FREEEEEE. :) i'm actually relieved that i have time to do things already. that i don't have deadlines, and that attendance is optional for all my classes. the image i have in my head on what's happening in school right now is that of a wild animal on the loose. wala na. bahala na kayo lahat. kung gusto nyo mag-aral, di mag-aral kayo. kung hindi di wag. walang bearing sa grade. go run free wild animals. parang ganon.

still, there's so much to do with the communities that were devastated by ondoy. good thing pepeng has not further damaged what ondoy has already done. i really want to volunteer and get deployed to places where clean up is needed.


but. after being hospitalized. i think. i have to. learn how to REST. :)

speaking of rest, it's 1:13 am. i have an 11pm deadline (but i just arrived. i got home at around 12:30 from burger machine+kopi roti date with pao, ate virr, kate, robert and vian!). i'm going to sleep before 2!!! PROMISE. goodnight!