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Dear ASHS Batch 2019, I would like to first and foremost welcome you to a new phase in your life--the Ateneo de Manila Senior High School! We open this school year with the Senior High Orientation Seminar, entitled “Layag.� Indeed, the next two years will be like an adventure out into the sea. Like any voyage, as there are times that things will sail smoothly, there are also moments of bleakness and difficulty. No matter what happens, always stay focused, hopeful and determined to the journey that lies ahead. I would just like to give you some advice as we set sail into this journey. First and foremost, have big dreams, and work your heart out in fulfilling them. Ateneo opens doors to many opportunities, and it is up to you to seize them and take the chance. Second, be open to meeting new people and make new friends. Indeed, high school is a place where you will make friends that will last a lifetime. The journey is always easier if you have a helping hand! Third, get involved and have fun. There are many different orgs, committees, teams and clubs that you can join and choose from. Make your year worthwhile and make sure you enjoy each moment as things will be fast. Service may entail responsibility, but with it is a deep sense of fulfillment. Each of you has a reason as to why they chose to take on this journey. I wish you the best of luck as you reach your goals and dreams, and while at it, continue to find yourself in the process. Stay true to who you are and stick to your values. In the next 2 years and even beyond, may you enable yourself to be Lux-in-Domino, light in the Lord. May you let your light shine with and for others. Each member of your batch comes from a different background, each with different perspectives and personalities. Rather than your differences be a source of division, may you let your diversity ensue collective unity and strength. Together, we can work towards a Senior High with an equitable school environment and enjoyable experience. Together, Senior High Strong! With you,
Jb Bejarin
Sanggu-ASHS President
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Letter to Incoming Grade 11 Students Beatriz Reyes & Jenica Grenas
A year ago, we were in your position as well. We felt nervous. We wanted to see familiar faces in this sea of strangers. We wanted to go back to the days when everything was simpler. However, we knew that that couldn’t happen. We were finally in Ateneo. Coming from the province, living adjustments also came into account with the transitions of our grade 11 year. Adjusting to a new environment is never easy but ten months later, Ateneo became something like a home. Ateneo became the place where we belonged. For the incoming senior high school students, here are a few things that we’ve realized that would’ve helped us if we knew earlier! It takes only five seconds of courage to break boundaries. It only takes four seconds to say hello to a new classmate; three seconds to wave at them; two seconds to give a smile; and one second to just even think about them. If you’re a female, cling to other females as well. They are new students like you. Likewise, if you’re a male transferee, don’t think too much about the difference between yourselves and the homegrowns. For the homegrown Ateneans, take five seconds as well to break boundaries! These are the people you’re with for the next two years. Make it count. Remember the past but live in the present. It’s going to be hard to let go of the past especially if you were happy. For the new students, you’ll definitely miss your friends, the culture, and environment from your previous school. For the homegrown Ateneo boys, you’ll miss the classes you spent 2 years with and the way it was before all of the changes. Despite these, you shouldn’t hold back from making new friends and memories. You will spend 10 months with new people and in a new setting, might as well make the most out of it. Please, try your best not to cram. Here’s a heads up: most probably, you’ll be rushing your research papers at the end of the semester. You’ll cram the RRLs. You probably won’t notice that the final projects for your general science would be already due. Try your best not to cram. It sounds demanding. It is demanding. However, this will probably prevent a future breakdown (trust me).
Don’t be too hard on yourself. There may be long tests that you don’t pass or projects that stress you out, but learn to forgive yourself. There will always be someone who is better, whether it be in sports, academics, dancing, or singing, but comparing yourself to others won’t make you happy. Volunteer. There are a lot of opportunities in senior high school. FairComm, PromComm, and Teenpreneur are a few extracurriculars that you could take up. This will give you a challenge in balancing your time, but time management is also the key! There are a lot of people helping out in these committees and you could be one of them! Take lots of photos. There are a lot of opportunities to bond with classmates and friends. Take this chance to have photographs. Keep the memories! You’ll never have them back. Prioritize. Academics, sports, and other extra-curricular activities may be important but put yourself first. Sleep. Eat proper meals. Don’t drink coffee all the time. Take a few hours off just for yourself. Don’t exhaust yourself to the point where you are not happy anymore. You can’t fully enjoy your time as a student if you aren’t healthy, both mentally and physically.
These may be some things that you would need to hear throughout your Grade 11 experience, so keep them in mind. As hectic as senior high school may seem, especially with the transitions along with the co-ed for the incoming juniors, it will be worth it. A year ago, we were very nervous and excited. Who wouldn’t be? We were going to experience a huge change. Now, a year later, it’s our turn to give a few tips to the incoming grade 11 students. Ateneo will become your home. Ateneo is the place where we belong.
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Balancing act in
abm
Some people might think that life as an ABM student only revolves around making business proposals and balancing sheets in accounting. Well, there’s no denying that there would be a lot of those during the school year. There might even be times when you’d run out of business attires because of the countless presentations you would do in a week. Your bag would be filled with yellow pad papers with notes in Management and Accounting. And there would be frequent trips to UP to print papers and have them hard bound. However, there is a whole lot more to becoming an ABM student than just all those. During the whole school year, you would be able to interact with your classmates during class events such as the Katipunan Fund Drive and strand weeks. You would get to know more of each other through the class retreat. Every week you would look forward to riding the jeepney to your Tulong Dunong center and teaching your TD kids. And you would get to express yourself through the org you would join in—may it be through singing, dancing, or writing. You see, life in ABM is a perfect combination of everything. It is now up to you to apply your skills in balancing sheets to balance your student life. Remember, credit your best effort and you will surely get the best school year experience as a debit.
Jamila Domingo why did you choose
GA?
“Why did you choose GA?”
That was one of the first questions I was asked when the last school year started. I was sure of my answer. I did not know which path I liked to take, so I chose the path which would allow me to experience them all to an extent. I still wasn’t sure, but I was sure that I chose GA. Believe it or not, I put it as my first choice. However, it didn’t surprise me when some of my classmates answered that it wasn’t even their choice in the first place. “I didn’t really apply for GA. I was put here because my grades weren’t enough for me to be put in my strand of choice.” If I were to summarize their responses and rip them off of all the unnecessary masking of meaning, it would be that. There’s this stigma attached to the GA strand. More often than not, people associate the strand with athletes and slackers. It had become 3
a place for the “almost, but not really.” As a GA student, it gets inevitably offensive. Being your average grade-conscious student, I couldn’t really relate to these stereotypes. But even though these don’t apply to me, they offend me just as much. In the case of slacking, yes it's true, there are slackers in GA. There are slackers in GA just as there are slackers in the other strands. If you would look closely, you’d see an abundant number of honor students residing within the walls of GA classrooms just as there are in the other strands. I want to ease off your minds by saying, no, GA is not an inferior strand. It has a diverse population. Yes, there are athletes. There are athletes just as there are debate champions, artists, musicians, and many others. The athlete stereotype gave the athletes within this strand such a bad light, which shouldn't happen. Being a part of this strand entails hearing these stereotypes often. But fret not, surviving life in the Ateneo Senior High also made me see the beauty of this strand. It is indeed a flexible strand. Imagine having to take a subject from ABM and another one from STEM simultaneously within a year. It is, in a way, more difficult due to the fact that GA students are not only focusing on one specialization. This allows the students to have a wider set of knowledge from different fields. It is a strand with a purpose to guide. Most students who enter this strand are either not sure of their futures or are forced to. Getting the chance to explore different fields allows the students to fully discover which field they would thrive in. As for those forced to be in the strand, it is actually another chance for them to hone what they already have more. And come grade 12, they could choose electives specific to their inclinations. This makes me go back to that question in the beginning of my first year in ASHS. Why did I choose GA? Like I’ve said, I wasn’t sure about what I wanted. But I was sure that this strand will help me achieve that enlightenment. However, no matter the reason why you’re here in this strand, it helps to remember that being in GA also requires effort just like any other academic strand. It is not inferior nor superior. It is a strand which houses students who belong and contribute to the ASHS community.
Keziah Pasion
humss
HumSS ka lang.
Everyone probably read the Inquirer article by Zoe Andin back
when it was published about a year ago, after the implementation of K-12. “HumSS ka lang." The title was provocative, the situation relatable, and the beliefs it challenged undeniably present in our families, communities, schools, and society. As Andin’s article points out, there exists an underlying bias against the Humanities and Social Sciences (HumSS) strand, that it isn’t as relevant as strands such as STEM or ABM, that it is easy, that it is limiting. It is this mentality that had my friend bullied into submission by his family, threatening to cut tuition payment and financial support had he not chosen STEM. It is also this mentality that brings certain other students to choose HumSS under the assumption that it is the easiest. These two very different decisions tell the same tale – the silent tragedy of passions belittled and ridiculed. After spending a year being a HumSS student, I and all other students with me, could and would gladly shove your HumSS ka lang bullcrap right back in your mouth before you even get it out. HumSS isn’t easy. Stacks of research, essays, handouts, and readings piling up on your desk would remind you of that every day. Couple that with the countless terms and concepts you need to know for your Social Studies class and you’ve got yourself a calendar marked with sleepless nights and caffeine-powered days. Oh, and contrary to popular belief, we still have Math and Science! So if you, like me, avoided STEM like the plague since these were your weakest links, I hope you enjoy stat. Yes, HumSS is hard, but it isn’t insufferable. It’s empowering. It’s near impossible to not have taken anything away from the endless journal critiques, psychoanalytic theories, and tales of historical flops. The strand equips you with different ideologies and trains of thought, essentially shoving empathy into your programming and rewiring you to be more understanding, to be more knowing. It’s near impossible to not be uplifted or validated by the school’s celebration of all that gives the strand its identity in the annual HumSS week, or to be heartened by the milestone of having the first female ASHS strand chair – in the person of the lovely Giland Lim. It’s near impossible to not feel whole, spending a year with classmates and teachers who you will grow to love beyond the four walls of your classroom as you learn alongside each other the truths that define our being. HumSS ka lang will never die, much to our ire. It will live for as long as the mentality that enables it to exist lives. However, we trudge on, through hurdles of social truths and post-truths, through theories and philosophical musings. As we surround ourselves with one another – HumSS or otherwise
criticisms and derogatives die out, dwindling into nothing but radio silence. we are at our most human when we are in each other’s light. - Here by Aleiana Zelin Duque, HUMSS
Raymart Santamaria The pressure of being in
Stem
Before anything else, congratulations! It must have taken you a lot of courage and hard work to get where you are right now. But to stay where you are and eventually move forward will entail more cups of coffee and less time with your bed. Most people say that applying for STEM was a bad decision. The four big words—Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics—bring them so much stress, just by hearing what STEM stands for. But what does it really feel like to be in STEM? Some will consider you a nerd, some will say you are boring and that you like boring things, and some will say they are lucky because they don’t have Calculus and so much of Science. Even so, being in STEM comes with perks. You will get the chance to experience a lot of the sciences and technology during STEM week. Get the chance to see robotics and hear talks from some experts in the field of science like Kuya Kim. You will have two Math subjects with one Science in your first year and three Sciences on the next. Comes with those dreaded subjects are researches required in most of your subjects. It sounds taxing; demanding yet it will really prepare you for your future college program. But really, before you even wrote “STEM” in the blank that asked for the strand you desire, you were ready. You are ready. You are ready to face the hardships that this strand may bring because you are here to prepare yourself for a math or sciencerelated course which, by the way, happens to be your dream, or your passion. You may not know it but you are ready. Good luck!
Jean Romano 4
Committees to join Fair Committee
Fair Committee does exactly what it says. In charge of planning the annual fair, the committee consists of several subcommittees dedicated to specific tasks ranging from finance to special events. Most of the time, the work required can be hectic, with many meetings, having to run around the fairgrounds, and solving problems in less than an hour. But like most committees, it’s also a cause for the members and heads a like to bond. Overall, it’s an adrenaline rush and an insightful experience for everyone involved – even the moderators. If you have a talent for accounting cash flows or staging special events, or even contacting sponsors, feel free to join the Fair Committee. Sign-ups for junior (Grade 11) heads begin June 13. Sign-ups for members begin June 16.
They’re usually the first faces we see when we enter offices in the Senior High. APSAF
Mr. Cyrus Lim “Kuya Cy” (APSAF Secretary) Mr. Lim, more commonly known as “Kuya Cy” to the community is the go-to person for concerns regarding Student Violations and Disciplinary Intervention (DI) forms. Beadles also approach him on a daily basis to get the forms they need for the day which include Beadle Forms and Moderators’ Inspection Period (MIP) Forms. Feel free, however, to approach him anytime if the need arises. 5
Bluebook
A yearbook is every high schooler’s key to remembering fond high school memories. For the ASHS, it’s called the Bluebook.
Unlike other publications, Bluebook needs a special kind of skill in two key areas: layout and write-ups. While making sure the students’ opinions are taken into account, Bluebook members are in charge of handling everything from student pictorials and writeup management to making it look good. With moderately heavy tasks spread over the school year, Bluebook is good for people with a knack for publications while providing a unique atmosphere.
Sign-ups for members begin June 19.
Familiar Fac
Ms. Criselle Santos “Ma’am Criselle” (Strand Coordinator Secretary) Ms. Criselle is in-charge of affairs involving the respective Strand Coordinators. Apart from this, in the event that you are absent or tardy, you must go to her and request for an “Admit-to-Class Slip” before proceeding to your class in turn. Lastly, she also provides the “DI” Lists per strand which are posted in front of the APSAF Office regularly.
es
Ms. Jeanette Salvania “Ma’am Jeanette” (Secretary for the Office of the Principal) She is the secretary of the Principal of the Senior High School. Need to talk to Dr. Oracion, you may request for an appointment through Ms. Jeanette. You may also discuss general matters with her or ask for advice on how to go about other business with regard to our Principal.
APAA
Ms. Aileen Bernas “Ma’am Aileen” (Subject Area Coordinator Secretary) Ms. Aileen, being the SAC Secretary deals with any Subject Area matters. To be specific, you may go to her anytime you need to consult with a particular teacher to talk about various concerns. At the beginning of a semester, the art beadle will need to go to her to claim the class’s art materials.
ITC (Instructional Technology Center) Mr. Christopher De Luna “Sir Chris” and Mr. Bryll Dela Vega “Sir Bryll” (AudioVisual Technician for the ITC) Sir Chris and Sir Bryll are the people in charge of the Instructional Technology Center here in the Senior High. When you’re reserving technical equipment, they are the people you look for after going to the FMSO. You can ask for microphones, cables, projectors, or even instruments such as guitars. Sir Chris and Sir Bryll take extra care of these items so the students won’t encounter any problems with the equipment. Why don’t we help them by making sure to take care of what we borrow so more students can benefit from these services? Library
Ms. Jessa Boquiren “Ma’am Jessa” (Records and Registrar’s Office) Come the need for a class list, Transcripts of Records, Certified True Copies of Official School Documents, and the like, you may simply drop by Ms. Jessa’s office with a letter of request and wait for her to address your needs. Likewise, you may claim your Report Card from her if you were not able to get it during the allotted schedule.
Ms. Angeline Ibarra “Ma’am Angeline” (APAA Secretary) Ms. Angeline is in charge of academicrelated affairs under Mrs. Concepcion, the Associate Principal. Furthermore, if ever you need to take on a Leave of Absence (applicable for three days or more,) you will have to submit to her the said form. She will then relay this to the Principal for approval. Finally, you may leave important files with her in case the teacher you are looking for is not present.
Mr. Jonathan Murial “Sir Jonathan” and Ms. Mariel Templanza “Ma’am Mariel” The Ateneo Senior High School provides its students with its own library found in the first floor, across the Grade 12 Faculty Workroom. In here, you will find Mr. Jonathan Murial and Ms. Mariel Templanza who can definitely guide you through the library when you need help. For instance, you can ask for assistance when looking for a book that you need for school or simply for your own leisure. Also, when you need to conduct a meeting, you could kindly ask them beforehand to reserve any of the rooms on your left when you enter the library. Surely, Sir Jonathan and Ms. Mariel will make your stay at the library a breeze. Guidance/OSA
Ms. Jenette Santos “Ma’am Joan” (OSA Secretary) Being OSA Secretary, Miss Joan
handles all concerns with student affairs such as those that are related to programs, organizations, and committees. In the occurrence of having any troubles or simply having student affairs related question, you may simply pay her office a visit. Security
Ms. Yanna Torres “Ate Yanna” Need to get something from your classroom but it’s locked? Lost something in the Senior High School premises? Just ask Ate Yanna politely and she will gladly help you. In fact, she also keeps the Senior High School building secure and well-maintained.
Mr. Bernard Tanguin "Kuya Bernard" Also under the Megaforce Security, Kuya Bernard manages the CCTV Room. In case you need to review the tapes, you may submit of a Letter of Request stating your valid reason to the Facilities Management Security Office and proceed subsequently to Kuya Bernard. Infirmary
Ms. Claudine Ms. Marge Estanislao RN, Santos MD, and Ms. Mina Saez MD Feeling a little bit under the weather? Do not hesitate to proceed to the Infirmary for medical attention. Nurse Claudine, Dr. Marge and Dr. Mina are more than willing to attend to your needs. You may also go to them to update your medical records. 6
Shorsem day 2
Shorsem Day 1
8:15 - 8:25
Flag Ceremony
8:15 - 8:25
MIP
8:25 - 9:50
SHOrSem Program
8:25 - 8:40
Flag Ceremony
9:50 - 10:20
Recess
8:40 - 9:50
Classroom Modules
10:20 - 11:10 SHOrSem Program
9:15 - 10:20
Recess
11:10 - 12:00 Lunch
10:20 - 12:50 Classroom Modules
12:00 - 2:00
Mass
12:50 - 1:45
Lunch
2:00
Dismissal
1:45 - 2:50
Moderator’s Hour
2:50 - 2:55
Examen
3:00
Dismissal
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HI- lites Editorial Board Editor-in-Chief Probe Editor Layout Editor Gamby Bautista Migs Casanova Jean Romano Raymart Santamaria Associate Editor News Editor Hanns Cruz Frans Regala “The Strands as Jacinta Pascual People” art by Managing Editor Tiffany Ng Jamila Domingo Features Editor Frans Regala Keziah Pasion Beatriz Reyes