#NEWS | Batch 2021 celebrates PSHS Humanities Festival 2019
by Rafa Escareal and Jersey Gutierrez
Last November 12 to 15, PSHS Batch 2021 had their fifth Humanities Festival celebration. The theme for this year’s festival was “Stronger at 55”, which emphasized on the growing strength of Pisay and its community through the years, with the help of the humanities.
For this year, Batch 2021 went through a series of essays and debate contests, as well as a talk on grit, all relating to how Pisay students can be better people — both in and through the humanities.
Photo Essay
This year, the Filipino Unit held a photo essay contest for Grade 11. Groups composed of a maximum of 3 students each were tasked to take a photo and write an essay depicting Filipino as an intellectualized language.
The winning group was composed of Stephen Guerrero, Zuey Carles, and Kamillah Yap from Block A.
The group portrayed the perceived success or intelligence of Filipinos as a result of being able to speak English. They showed the nearby San Roque community and the Triangle Park development of Ayala — two communities of the same race, but of differing success.
“People from the upper classes believe that success can be achieved when you know how to speak English, but that isn’t the case for those living in Sitio San Roque,” said Guerrero.
“We emphasized that a country should be able to develop using their own language, and shouldn’t rely on a foreign country’s language to develop and be successful,” he added.
Tocz Laurenio and Sophia Medina from Block B garnered the second place, while Adrian Guanzon, Mai Martinez, and Laela Sanchez from Block C garnered third.
Championing Personal Excellence Talk
On the third day of the festival, a personal talk was held at the 4th floor auditorium. The talk, given by Allen Saraza, a professor at De La Salle University, tackled “grit” and how one should go through life, in pursuit of one’s long-term goals.
Saraza discussed on how to discover one’s problems, improve, and to accept valid feelings of tiredness. He also taught how to face one’s parents when one’s interests may not align with theirs.
Students found the talk relevant to their personal and school lives, especially on the aspect of mental health. “The talk helped a lot in getting me back on track,” said Dona Marabe of 11-E. “It gave me a push to think straight again, especially since I’ve been having a hard time thinking why I even try doing things anymore. It basically made me hopeful again.”
In the talk, Saraza also talked about and encouraged self-love, as only oneself can give self-love and dreams for themself. Through this self-love, one is able to give back to others as well.
“It helped me accept more of my emotions and realize just how proud I should be of myself and all the things I achieved,” said Niena Mabeza of 11-G. “It made me remember that I can still improve, and [it] gave me the energy to continue in this very exhausting environment. If ever things get overwhelming, break it down and tackle each small task!”
Debate Open
One of the new events introduced during this year’s Humanities Week was the Pisay Debate Open (PDO). Hosted by Invictus, Pisay’s debate club, the PDO is a contest open to SYP students wherein students were pitted against each other in various debate motions.
Prior to the debate, Invictus held a debate workshop named Debasics, which oriented the students on the basics of debate. Aira Decena, 9th best speaker in the contest, said, “A lot of my misconceptions [about debate] were disproved during Debasics, so everything I do know about debate is just everything presented from that day.”
The debates followed an Asian parliamentary format. Groups of three were randomly matched up and assigned either the government or the opposition side. Two elimination rounds, one semifinal round, and one final round were held on the second and third days, respectively.
The motions discussed include social media stances on political advertisements, the role of men in feminist organizations, foreign investment in the Philippines, and Vice President Leni Robredo as (then) co-chair of the ICAD.
“[I was] shocked and also really encouraged to continue trying for debate. Going Invictus next year! It was a great learning experience and my reaction to the announcement really summed up what I learned,” stated Wil Ang, on how he felt finding out that he was awarded 10th best speaker.
Essay Writing Contest
During the festival, the traditional essay writing contest hosted by the English department was held. The goal of this year’s essay contest was to strengthen the idea that the humanities are still essential up to this day. Essayists were asked to defend the role of humanities in the fields of science, especially in the workforce.
Vaughn Ramos of 11-E, the defending champion of the essay writing contest, mentioned that the humanities are present even in the biggest corporations, especially in marketing and management. “It matters because in the grand scheme of things, I personally do not believe, that this, or any company will survive, much less thrive as a business without a touch of the humanities to guide it,” wrote Ramos.
Ramos was not expecting the win, as he felt his essay was “nothing special.” He continued, “I guess medyo nagka-confidence na rin ako sa writing skills ko after CreW and winning din last year.” Ramos’ win was followed by his former classmates in the Creative Writing elective, Caitlin Pascasio of 11-A and Liv Licardo of 11-G.
This year’s Humanities Festival for 2021 comprised of essays, debates, and talks; however, some wish for a greater lineup. “It wasn’t very clear for SYP, since all that was in the schedule — other than the parallel sessions and the self-development talk — was the debate, which was only required for one round, and the instructions were not clear as to what you would do for the other days after watching one round,” remarked Guerrero.
Regardless, this year’s Humanities Festival provided great experiences and learnings for 2021. For Decena, the festival, particularly the debate, “… taught me to really think more critically, which is something that I’ve low-key forgotten how to amidst the whole Pisay workload.”
In the four days that spanned this year’s Humanities Festival, Batch 2021 learned new insights and gained new skills in embodying the humanistic spirit as Pisay students and Filipino citizens. As we can see in their activities, events, and contests, we can say that the Pisay flame does continues to ignite. Indeed, the humanities are alive and stronger at 55.
