Life

of

Freshmeat

SY 12-13

Name: Simone Salvadore

Level: H1

Secition: A

Specialty: Math

Personal Experience

People always say that we should always make use our time wisely when we are in High School because these last 4 years will be the best in your life. I always didn’t get why people told this to me when I was about to graduate Grade School and move to the High School. People told me because time flies really fast and you never know next thing you know it you already have a family. Today, we are almost done with Freshman Year and I never thought that it would be this fast.

During the first few weeks of FRESHMAN YEAR, for me I looked to it as a new start because I didn’t want to commit the old mistakes I did during my stay in the Grade School. I was really worried because I didn’t know what to expect and most importantly it was a new environment that I really had to deal with. As we entered our new classrooms, surprisingly most of us already knew each other and we were all just talking and waiting to see our new teachers. Suddenly, Xavier started playing us a Xavier School Rap Song then all of us just started laughing and enjoying every moment of it. Minutes have passed, our class adviser finally went to our classroom and we went through the same things we did in the GS. She introduced herself to us, 37 of us did the same and she also oriented us about the “letter grades” and the “ 7 Day Cycle”.

These were the first things I really had to deal or adjust with because as you all know in the Grade School it was number grades and the class schedules are always the same every week, but now it became A+-F, breaks became longer/shorter depends on the day schedule and most importantly each class became longer. From 40 minutes per subject it became 60 minutes. For me, this was one of the hardest  to adjust with because I, with my fellow batchmates have been with the 40 minutes per subject for around 7 years already. In the 7 day cycle, there was this thing called Schedule A,B and C. This schedules were very confusing at the start of the year because it had different time for breaks, class and dismissal. At some cases when we had schedule C and it was an early dismissal and it would fall on a Friday, we still had to wait til 3 because most of us have Extracurricular Activity or ECA and this usually falls on a Friday.

Another thing that was really hard for me to adjust was the Assessments. Before, they give us around 7-10 quizzes a quarter and it would be actually fine if you fail one or two of the quizzes because there was thing called “bawi”. You just need to get high in the QT and then the 2 failing quizzes won’t really affect the grade. Now in HS, per subject they give us around 3-5 assessments and 1 QT assessments for one quarter. 1 assessment is usually 20%, sometimes 10% and the QT from 30% it became 40%. Imagine, if you fail just the QT then you have a chance of failing the subject already. This told me that I really have to work and study hard because each assessment was really big and I had to take every advantage of it even if it was

hard or not.

Problems:

In the High School, I always knew that Xavier would get stricter as the years passed by and I knew that it would be much more easier for me to greenslips. During my tenure in the Grade School, I experienced a lot of detentions and I didn’t really know what to expect. Will I experience more of this? Will I have a bad reputation with my teachers? These 2 questions were really stuck on my head as I entered the High School.

After the first 3 quarters, I actually survived not experiencing a detention or even receiving a green slip. I was in disbelief about not receiving a green slip but I really wanted to maintain it. However I really wished that my batch would lessen the amount of green slips given to a student. In our batch, sadly the main problems was the amount of green slips for a student and most importantly BULLYING. A student in our batch receives a green slip because of being not responsible, disrespecting a teacher and etc. These has been the main problem for actually each batch in Xavier because a lot of Xavier students always forget a lot of school materials in the locker or the word “RESPECT”. Bullying also has been a case in Xavier or in my batch. Some Xaverians actually tease the lower batch with no valid reasons. Sometimes they also tease their/our batchmates because they did something funny or ‘wala lang’. Xavier has really  been trying to fix this problem for years already. Every year, bullying in Xavier gets lessen which is a good thing for the school. Xavier even had a program which showed a documentary about a life of a few bullied students. The movie was called ‘Bully’.  It was shown to us to make us realize what bullying can do to an individual and the effects of it.

I really wish these problems would be stop in our school. I also hope that Xavier would maintain what they have been trying to do each year just stop these problems. If we were able to stop these problems, I would be so proud of my school for the success they did and this also might inspire other schools to do same.

School Activites:

- INTRAMURALS

A-DAY

Christmas Party

Others

Our school is very active when it comes to chinese new year’s, fairs, A- day’s and christmas. During A-day or Appreciation Day, we would treat the teachers with  our uttermost respect, and treat them like kings and queens for a day, we would spoil them in any way we can, and make them very happy for that occasion. Another activity that our school i active in is the christmas activity, this is when we can make dications to other people, classes and even to other teachers. They also have fund raisers for the poor which a lot of students participate into. The school is also active in the chinese new year’s celebration, this is because xavier is a chinese school and it is also part of the tradition. Every chinese new year we would have lion dances, dragon dances, kung fu, martial arts and we even get to see our fellow little brothers perform , all in the stage, and to celebrate chinese new year. They would also show the dance X which many of my classmates are interested in watching, because not only do they participate in the chinese new year celebration they also participate in contests and events outside of school. Our school is very active when it comes to the school fair, it has a lot of fun and entertaining booths, unforgettable rides, delicious and mouth watering foods, and if you think that the fair is all that wait till you see people catching you, YES! we have catching booths that either places you in a torture booth, the jail booth, the marriage booth and the most awaited, the flush booth. After the fair, the school would have a variety show where you get to see famous people walk on stage in xavier itself, it is an all night party and is very tiring after, but a very fun experience to go to.

Dealing with the teachers:

Teachers have been known to be very strict and the only thing they would do is give homework to their students. But that’s not the case in Xavier.

Before I entered High School, I was just like every regular student. I hated school, I always wished for suspension of classes and most importantly, I really hated the people who gave me homework. Actually when I was in Grade School, I only wanted to attend school because my friends were there. I also thought that High School teachers were really strict, but apparently my guess was wrong. When I actually got to know them more, I found them really easy to approach and talk with. However at some cases my class really went over the limit which led to our teachers really getting upset/mad at us. As the school year passed, my bond with my teachers got stronger and I started to be more open and started to really feel comfortable with them. I also started treating them like a friend because I knew that they would always try to help me in my problems if ever I had one. However, I really didn’t get to talk much with the other school staff because of the busy schedule but I always try to take every advantage whenever I see them in/out of school to get to know them more.

They truly are one of the reasons why I love Xavier so much. Without them I don’t think Xavier wouldn’t be as successful and Xaverians wouldn’t be known all around the world because of their academic efficiency. In 3 years, I’m going to be a senior and I really don’t know to expect once I reach graduation, walking up the hallway of the Sports Center one and shaking the hands of the director, our school principal and most importantly saying my last goodbyes to the place that has been my second home and to my teachers, the people who have always guided and helped me when I stayed in Xavier.

I really believe that the teachers in Xavier are really the best in the world. Without them, Xavier won’t be complete. Without them, we wouldn’t be as successful today. Without them, I won’t be proud to be a Xaverian. They with my parents have changed me and made me a better person. In advance I would like to say in advance before it’s too late, Thank you ‘cher! TEACHERS. MORE FUN IN XAVIER.

It was in Highschool when I realized that our teachers weren’t just ‘teachers’ they were my friends, parents and someone you could trust. They were one of the reasons why I really started to appreciate school. Though, they may get mad a lot at times but we must all know that they are doing this for our own good. Teachers know what’s the best for each student so they’ll tell us to do what’s right whether we like it or not. Our teachers may seem like superheroes because of their job and very busy schedules but nevertheless we must always be aware that they are humans too, who have problems to solve. Therefore, it is not right to disrespect them and shout at them just because of our own selfishness

Tips to having an AWESOME freshman year:

1.Never cram!

Cramming is the source of all failures, this is when you do everything in a rush in a certain amount of time, or simply peer pressure. If you want to have good grades never think of cramming and do your works as early as possible to have more time in the future and relax.

2.Be sociable to everyone around you, even school faculties

There’s nothing wrong in being a sociable person, an advantage of being one is that you have friends to help you in sad and hard times. You should not only be sociable to your fellow batchmates, but also to the school faculty, they are living persons too and we shouldn’t just judge them because they are teachers but we should treat them equally as our friends, but with some sense of respect for they are older than us. We might even get extra encounters with them to help us in our lessons!

3. Time managing

Always, no matter where you are or what you do, you should always have a certain amount of time dedicated for the certain activity. It is never bad to have a certain amount of time for what you do especially when it comes to finished your assessments

4. During “Hell week” be on “study mode”

During this time being on a “study mode” is best, do all you need to do first and make sure it is worthy of an A+ , then just mind about the other things later after you have finished your assessments.

5. Be optimistic

Being pessimistic will not get you anywhere except make your grades go down for you will not feel motivated. However if you are always optimistic you always see to it the you reach higher than your expected goals and thus giving you a better grade, it also helps you motivate yourself in the subjects you have a hard time coping up with.

Freshman Year is a new start, new beginning, a new way of life. You gotta take your opportunities and step up. Don’t be shy! Be what you want, be who you wanna be, BE YOURSELF! Give it your all and don’t forget to LET YOUR LIGHT SHINE!

-Paolo Sumulong