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The construction of these spots became a contest as well. The English Department’s Study Hobbit House emerged as THE BEST SPOT, followed by Science Department’s El Deseo de mi Corazon (My Heart’s Desire) and Non-teaching Department’s Entrada (Entrance).

Photos from SJCNHS Official Facebook Page, Mrs. Ma. Evelyn R. Reyes

SJCNHS’ #BestSpots: The Pandemic Made it Happen

Kaelanie Rae S. Esguerra

The place where students used to enjoy learning, bonding with friends, and expressing themselves has once transformed into a quarantine facility when the fire of pandemic ignited in 2020. But months after, the pandemic that turned San Jose City National High School (SJCNHS) into a dreaded asylum became the same phenomenon that made the school achieve its most beautiful form.

When school facilities such as the three-story building in SJCNHS were used as isolation area, it surely created a bad notion on the learners and their families. To ease this negative impact, School Principal Aldrin Baloc thought of turning some of the school’s dead and dry spots into places worth visiting and making memories of. Let us journey to the BEST SPOTS as teachers and staff from the nine departments worked hand-in-hand, celebrating the arts month despite one of the darkest times in its history. Take a glimpse at the finished project each department has made for you.

WARM WELCOME The first spot you can find is right at the very entrance of City High. Introducing: ENTRADA (Entrance), made from the combined brains and brawns of the Non-teaching department. Visiting it will make you feel like you have gone to an eco park. Its amenities, wishing well (a bamboo-made well surrounded by some plants), bridge (made with woods that connect one place to another), and nest represent the well-known tourist location found in Nueva Ecija. ENCHANTED GARDEN Beside the former quarantine facility is a colorful garden where you can temporarily detach from the outside world, unwind, and reconnect with the spirit. This is JARDIN DEL ARTE (Art Garden), a garden designed through the collabrative efforts of the MAPEH teachers. On the right side, you can find a cement garden set where you can rest and reflect. Further, you will find a swing where you can enjoy the feeling of being in a playground before a colorful mural of nature. The landscapes are an array of rockeries and clay jars, and colorful bougainvillea and zinnia flowers. BATTLE SCARS AND BEAUTY MARKS Are you a chess enthusiast? The TLE Department’s be the right place for you. It has a wide concrete board painted with 32 green and 32 white squares alternately. Also, there are playable human-size chess pieces made from welded metal which will need your arms and legs to move. FROM BOOK TO LIFE Have you ever been so affected by a book that you want to experience living like its characters? That’s what the English teachers thought when they developed the HOBBIT HOUSE horseshoe. Its book stairsteps and round doors will lead you to its hidden treasures: Knowledge. Its purpose is to encourage the love of reading, and at the same time, to provide a safe haven for journalists-in-the-making. WHAT THE HEART WANTS Now, fall in love with the spot Science department has made: CORAZON (My Heart’s Desire) the desire of a