Hi! You will remember me as Jamie, Jaimee, Jaymee, Jaime, and I also responded to ‘James’😜.. I am happily married to my high school love and have spawned 2 kids.
Sooo, what was high school like…
I’m sitting and staring at a blank page, trying to look back and remember what high school was like for me. Was it fun, horrific, so-so? Was it life changing? Was it “carpe diem’?
We all share the same memories but have different perspectives, went to the same classes but scored differently, had the same classmates for most of our 4 years but stuck to our own cliques, had favorite teachers and feared some of them but for different reasons; but what was all the same is that we were all girls…stepping into another stage of growing and some growing up we sure did happen in those 4 years.
In one way or another, we all grew up with each other.
We watched each other thrive and envy those who didn’t have a care in the world but still passed peer pressure with flying colors.
We watched our fellow classmate/s be ‘bullied’… some of us laughed at them (aminin!), some of us cried with them, and then some us turned our heads for fear of being the next victim.
We watched the failures of others and gossiped about it, hopefully, we also learned from it.
We also watched the academic triumphs of others and aimed for it, and some of us wondered, how the hell did she do it?!
Among the memories that I hold dear are the 4 years I was in the Dance Club (I guess that is what most of you will remember me for). Dance was my life back then! Going to school everyday meant eagerly anticipating 3:30pm to come around and then head off to club practice by 4:30pm. That was my world, I breathed and lived it. It was my escape from whatever puberty, school and family life had thrown at me.
In between life and dance practice, there was life as a student too. I’d say I was an average student. Loved the arts and literature, fascinated by the social sciences and history, intrigued by the sciences BUT dreaded math. I swear, no matter how many times Mr. Feria drew that “sisiw” on the board, my blue booklet was never a representation of that! Lol!
What I remember most are the crazy antics we all got ourselves into. Dun tayo magaling, sa kalokohan and as a class, that is where we learned to stand united and act as one. Oo, sa kalokohan! Lol.
1st year, 1-S. Classroom was the very first one after Ms. Salazar’s office (well the closest one). It was Christmas and we had our annual party. No outsiders allowed daw, but I have no idea how we managed to sneak in 2 or 3 boys from Ateneo. We had a dating game and oo na, I had a crush on one of them boys and yes naging kami.. lol! I don’t know if our class adviser was in on it, but that was a crazy thing to have pulled off without getting caught. Di kaya nagtaka si Ms. Salazar why both doors and all windows were closed? LOL.
2nd year, 2-S. I think this was the year where our horns started to grow. I remember having 2 teachers walk out on us. If memory serves me right one was Sister Isabel. The ever so loving and sweet Sister. She spoke ever so softly and us being the “Ha! I survived being a Frosh and now a Sophomore!”, had better things to do! I swear no one was paying attention to her or were we humming in unison every time she would have her back turned to us?! Whatever it was, Sister was so mad at us for not paying attention that she just upped and walked out of our classroom. What did she do to deserve us?? I don’t even recall who and what happened, do you?
3rd year, 3-L. At this stage, we were invincible! We could conquer anything! And so, we did… try. Speech class at the speech room or AVR room? It was in that itty-bitty room in between the REC and faculty room, but it was facing the quadrangle. So, anyone walking along the walk way on either side or walking up/down the main stairs would have seen what we were up to.
Speech class was divided into 2 back then. So, half of the class I was in was waiting for our teacher who was late. We were bored, so we decided to play a prank on her. As soon as we saw her coming, we all decide to hide! There was nowhere to hide except behind curtains, so hide we did behind the green black out curtains! When she walked in, she was baffled… called out to us but the room remained silent. You could feel everyone stifling their giggles and pressing against the wall and the windows as if trying to melt into it! She calls out again and then you could hear stifled giggles from girls who thought they pulled off yet another one. Then she walks out… then we got scared… because the next voice we heard was that of Ms. Salazar. At this point, we were still all behind the curtain trying to make it seem that no one was in the room. But alas, apparently, she was doing her rounds and saw this image of bodies pressing against the windows trying to conceal themselves. We forgot that we could be seen from everywhere Do you remember what happened next? Were we punished or put to stand out in the sun for an hour? LOL!
4th year, 4-A. I’ve been trying to remember if we did anything crazy as a class but it all is a blur. Perhaps during this time, we were trying to be mature (daw) as college/university was in the horizon and we all wanted to get into our school of choice. If anything comes to mind, it’s the time when we were in Ateneo. During a break from the entrance exam, a bunch of Kulasas convened in the bathroom and were swearing our heads off. Kasi naman, may calculus sa exam, di naman tinuro yun eh! If you weren’t part of the ‘star’ section, I’m sure you share my sentiment. LOL!
That’s just some of the things I remember. I’m pretty sure we all have our own fond memories and more of all the crazy stuff we found ourselves in. Either way, high school brought about a lot of emotions and imprinted memories in us. Whatever it is, I hope you all have at least one happy memory of our time together.
See you all soon! Can’t wait to exchange stories and hear more from you!
