FFEATURE EATURE

I was alone on my first day of school My cold hands shivered stiffly despite the humid weather in this country With one final deep breath outside the gates, I was now inside the walls of St Joseph School I was part of the Dugtong Dunong Scholarship Program (DDSP), which allowed me to have a Catholic Education

Time flew by I met many people I did not expect to become a big part of my life until now I experienced a lot of pain, but as Fr Nolan A Que would say, “Discomfort is part of growing ” I didn’t even realize how I couldn’t hear the clock ticking over the volume of our laughter

As seasons change, feelings do too Being a student is difficult, but being a student in the middle of the pandemic is even more so Studying alone was unfamiliar to me I spoke to a device all day, my back ached from sitting in front of a monitor, and my eyes blurred with tears, not from staring too much at a screen but due to exhaustion

IS COVID-19 STILL HERE? OR IS IT THE END OF THE PANDEMIC?

Kate Buensuceso

Coronavirus (COVID-19) is an infectious disease, caused by SARS-CoV-2, discovered in 2019 Infected people with the virus typically experience mild to severe respiratory illness This virus can spread in multiple ways Anyone infected can cause it to spread to others, even if the infected person does not show any symptoms The closer and longer you interact with others, the higher the risk of COVID-19 spread

Yet, nowadays, it appears that our lives are back to normal Some people do not wear face masks anymore, even in crowded places It seems as if people know how to manage it and even self-cure themselves

However, the question remains: Is the pandemic REALLY over?

Public health officials agree that the end of the pandemic is in sight, but not here yet The truth is, there are still a lot of variants out there, and they can be new or old The virus is continuing to change Therefore, the pandemic is not yet over, but people can overcome it by

I missed my friends and how we laughed at the minor things; I missed St Joseph School Stuck at home for three years, I did my best to socialize, get high grades like I ought to, and be comfortable on my own

Soon, it all ended The hardships were finally rewarded I was free from the four corners of our house Things went back to normal, or did it? It was like what I felt on my first day of Junior High School Thoughts of how people would view me clouded my mind Would they tell me to change my appearance, or would they tell me I was pretty? They didn’t Instead, they welcomed me by saying, “Kinakabahan ako sa introduce yourself.” It was almost like a fast-paced relationship in school, and we are now two months away from graduation

MUSIKABATAAN:

Romanticizing Life Through Opm

In and of itself, teenage emotion is intrinsic as it can be Sometimes, it can even be in its rawest form when teenagers open their music app, higher the volume of their device, and lower the volume of the outside world And as we all know, the Filipino language has a certain emotion or element that is way distinctive compared to other languages With teenage sentimentality and our mother tongue merged, we get the pure bliss that is getting vaccinations As people gain immunity, the infection rate slows, eventually favoring other variants to spread rapidly

COVID-19 is still a threat No one can predict when a new variant will come Not all COVID-19 variants are well-understood Even now, there are many unanswered questions Nevertheless, the best answer and form of protection we have is to be vaccinated Vaccines are the key to preventing severe illness There are also basic things you can continue to do to protect yourself, for example, wearing face masks, practicing social distancing, sanitizing contracted surfaces, and maintaining proper hygiene

OPM, or what we call Original Pinoy Music

The music industry in the Philippines has been alive and breathing for quite some time now, with numerous up-and-coming Filipino artists releasing music back to back With this fact aside, romanticizing life as a Filipino teenager is as easy as pretending to be the protagonist in your movie Here are some recent OPM songs that would definitely feed your main character vibe:

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