The Scholar’s Poem

The Scholar’s Poem

by Rolly M. Songcayauon

“My four years of academic grinding can finally be applied in reality. At last, a child worthy to sing a song of pride and responsibility.” Oh! But wait, even more there is parents’ sacrifice, now I can repay. Engineer – I long for this! life as an adult, now I play. “Hello?! Hello, Caesar?” a voice in front, calling me. “Listen, you are way too far” then I came to ponder, it’s the secretary! In a glimpse, I thought of truly working But it’s just me, daydreaming.

The uncertainty and anxiousness are now surfacing into my consciousness now that the second semester of the school year is coming to an end – what a quick semester it is, right? Well, that’s not what you’re here for, are you? You are here because you are wondering what’s that poem all about, right? Since I am the only person who knows the story behind the poem, let me tell it to you then. “Caesar is presently a graduating college student, and he is a scholar, a student assistant to be particular, and now he's on duty – rendering his service in the office as a payment for the scholarship. The second semester of his senior year is coming to a conclusion, yet a part of him isn't thrilled at all. Something in him feels unclear, and he keeps thinking about it – all the time.” “On a radiantly sunny day, he is walking along the hallways of the building marching cheerfully to his own office and greeting people enthusiastically with a smile on his face. As he went on parading along the shiny corridors, he now came to a stop by the door. Then, he saw the name of the office that read 'Engr. Caesar Park.' Then he thought, “this is my office” and realized that he is now working as an Engineer. The thought of it made him exclaim with delight – jumping actively around his office as he barges in.” “Caesar? Caesar? Wake up! Listen, I have some instructions for you.” Caesar gazed, smiling with slightly-open eyes, looking towards the person waking him up as he recognized it was the office’s secretary calling him. He remembered he's on duty and figured out that he was only daydreaming. Then the thought struck him, “this was all along with the question that has been stirring my mind." Since he had four semesters of online class, he now has to repay those in the regular class setting. He has doubts if he can complete his service time of 360 hours per semester before he can even graduate and help his family. It's a wrap for Caesar’s story – but only his, not yet the ending of most stories. Yes, you heard that right, the story of Ateneo de Zamboanga University’s scholars is not yet over, in fact, nobody knows how the story will go. Since there is still no hope for face-to-face classes for the next school year because of the continuous rise of covid-19 cases, what lies ahead for AdZU scholars then? For scholarships that require a 25-hour duty in the regular class setting, it will almost have 90 hours of duty since there were already three semesters of online classes plus additional hours for unfinished duties. For the student assistant type of scholarship, which needs 360 hours of duty, these students already accumulated almost 900 hours of duty, from three semesters of online classes and the remaining duty hours before the pandemic happened. This will be the case when education goes back to normal – scholars will have to face this hefty number of duty hours. But the question is since the next school year will still be in an online setup, how will the graduating scholars be able to render their services? Even with the non-graduating scholars, especially the student assistants, is it really possible to complete that heavy load of service hours in a span of a school year? The piled-up duty hours will eventually implicate the future of not only the scholars but also the institution in general. If the scholars will graduate in the next school year, how will they pay their scholarship then? If scholars cannot complete the required hours of service to offices, what options do they have to take? Even more so, will the institution still grant the scholarship to the scholars knowing that rendering duties are not yet suitable at this time? These are the questions that should serve as a guide for the making of our soon-to-end story. Just like the poem, Caesar never sounded ungrateful towards the opportunity he received, but he was worried that he might not be able to finish delivering his duties on time since he is in his senior year. Similarly, all of us are grateful for the scholarship, but we are also doubtful about what the future holds, primarily because no one knows what risk these impending situations entail, especially that students have to fulfill their goal that is to give back to their families after finishing their studies. Now, what scholars can do is to wait in high hopes that the story of this RIGHT track learning setup shall favor them in the most practical course – that in some ways, the scholars' story would not have the same ending as the scholar's poem.