A Student’s Memento

by Jerelou Mai Jabiniao

It’s as simple as that. As most students pass for the sake of completion, the genuine core of learning is lost cost.

“I was the first one from my family to ever graduate from high school. So I get it. I hear their stories about their commitment to their family, what’s happening with their family and the suffering that they’re going through emotionally,” Vázquez says. “Some students I talk to, and as soon as I look at them and I ask how they’re doing, they start crying, and then I know, you’re having a pretty rough time.”

As a result of this set up, students today do not put out their best efforts as they formerly did. They submit projects, answer modules, and take online classes without learning anything. Traditional classrooms should not be substituted by online learning. Within that circumstance, it is crucial that the school provide other means of communication between learners, peers, and lecturers. We should reopen schools for face-toface interaction in order to reduce our sentiments of isolation.

Vaccines are far more effective at providing long-term protection against serious diseases. That is not a weaker form of protection; instead, it is a different process that employs memory cells, which work more slowly than antibodies.

Booster shots can pose many potential risks. Achieving herd immunity is futile if it only lasts for a while. Booster immunity does weaken over time but do we need to take a few more shots to extend it? Definitely not.

Dr. Anthony Fauci said that it is premature to discuss the fourth shot because booster shots may not provide significant additional immunity. Some scientists have warned that some immune cells in our bodies may eventually stop responding and become contaminated with the vaccine if there are too many doses. They have said two booster shots are the limit.

The world is benefitting from the vaccine but be that as it may, we need not have to take it repeatedly. Like how you can make an omelet without breaking eggs, as we speak for the youth and the healthy population, how many shots do we have to take until we exhaust our immune system?

The 2022 Junior High School Moving-up Ceremony seems to be almost approaching, and many students from Misamis Oriental General Comprehensive High School (MOGCHS) are ecstatic simply thinking about stepping up to that stage podium and accepting awards for their perseverance over these difficult years. I, for one, can’t believe or simply did not expect to have a face-to-face occasion. It was only appropriate as well as we deserve this recognition.

We need to have something to commemorate at every moving-up ceremony, especially on your last year in your school. Something to appreciate wonderful reminiscence of our past occurrences. That is why MOGCHS created a souvenir program, providing annuals that spotlight and cherish our memories from freshman to junior years. Admittedly, even as a public school, it isn’t provided away for free. If a yearbook is desired, students must pay a fee of three hundred pesos (₱300.00).

I believe the cost is excessive for what is essentially a yearbook. However, the materials needed to make it may be expensive as well. Though I must consider the fact that while we were taking our photographs, we were told that they would be in black and white. In other words, because it is not colored, the yearbook should not be as costly. I was not really surprised when my mother’s face was shocked when she heard about the amount.

I even told her that it was fine if she didn’t give me any money, showing it was only a yearbook. I did not expect anything less or more from it.

“It’s something you’ll remember when you’re older; high school is the greatest part, you’ll regret not getting that book.” my mother said.

She opened my perspective with only a few words, but I was still hesitant. It doesn’t cost thousands or millions, but it’s still a lot. We’re not even sure if the outcomes will be as good as how we spent our money. Will it be of high quality?

Will there be no complaints about the outcomes?

Jenielito Atillo, a spokesman, said in March 2019 that there should be no mandatory solicitation of money for graduation ceremonies or mandatory payment of yearbooks for students, particularly at public schools.

Moreover, thinking about yearbooks that are built of heavy material, that is applied to perform a better range of excessive photos, it is not possible for them to be distributed for free unless the government is kindhearted enough to sponsor the souvenir program.

Graduating is such a luxury for someone who does not have the necessary funds. No matter how insignificant some people see yearbooks as, they will never go out of popularity. They have always been a delight to come upon, no matter how many times you review your memories within them. Yearbooks will always fulfill the same role that can never be found somewhere else.