2023 EACC SAS Orientation: When Stars Finally Collide

"Look at this family, a perfect constellation — so many stars, and everybody gets to shine."

Have you ever heard of this line of "The Family Madrigal" song from Disney's Encanto? It perfectly describes what I had in mind towards my home, the Emilio Aguinaldo College - Cavite School of Arts and Sciences, during our General Assembly and Orientation held last August 25, 2023, at the EACC Gymnasium.

If I were to name one thing about us humans that the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the most, it would be interpersonal communication. We all know that due to community quarantine restrictions, everyone was obliged to stay at home and distance from each other. Eventually, our lives in terms of education have changed dramatically. We relied on Google conferencing platforms to aid our gatherings in the past three years — and even general orientations were no exception to this change.

Now that the virus is near-endemic and face-to-face classes are finally back, we no longer have to settle for Google Meet and Messenger icons. At last, we can now put our gadgets down to interact with each other in person - and that is precisely what we did as the physical SAS orientation returned post-pandemic.

MINI VLOG: Snippets of the 2023 face-to-face General Assembly and Orientation last August 25.

The three-and-a-half-hour-long program began with an invocation, followed by the singing of the Philippine National Anthem and EAC hymn consecutively. At that moment, my stomach was actually grumbling for I had not eaten lunch yet. Despite this, I was hyped by the opening remarks of our dean, Dr. Jeanneath Velarde. She did a roll call of all students, faculty members, council advisers, and program heads of the three courses of SAS namely: Communication, Medical Biology, and Psychology. It actually felt nostalgic how we used to just put our names and sections on the Facebook live stream comment section of our virtual events before. That day, we all cheered with pride and excitement together as our respective programs were called.

Afterward, we had a series of discussions on different school-related policies and topics. Our department invited several school administrators to talk about existing library services, registrar concerns, learning management system information, especially on BrightSpace, and updates on student affairs. As a senior student, it was more like a refresher for me. I was reminded of the things I need to consider and follow as an EACC student.

Truly, the assembly is concrete proof why SAS is and always will be the EACC's "Home of the Stars."

To cut through the serious matters, we thankfully had some jamming in between. As what my classmates and I jokingly described as "concert na may konting orientation", the event was also filled with amazing intermission numbers from our very own fellow department members. We sang along to the amazing musical performances of SAS faculty Mr. Jerome Caldo, as well as students Juliana Yambao, Beatriz Rosaluna, Metzy Dalondonan, and Lhyrics Apelacio from APSY. They wowed us with their musical instruments and great voices.

Truly, the assembly is concrete proof why SAS is and always will be the "Home of the Stars."

IN PHOTOS: My ABCM 4-1 block mates taking groupies during the first few moments of the program.

Furthermore, the department took the assembly as an opportunity to recognize its student officers. I was humbled to receive medals and certificates of appreciation as the Public Relation Officer of the Communication Society and Communication Society Representative of the SAS Student Council. It felt like the culmination of all my endeavors as a student leader in SAS. But while it is great that our contributions to our department were rewarded, to me they are just bonuses.

I am glad to have enjoyed my first and last face-to-face general orientation experience with my SAS family.

What matters to me is how we tried our best. Despite the challenges that tested our teamwork and relationships, I am still grateful for the overall experience with them. Our term instilled various life lessons that I will bring with me, even as I leave the doors of our institution come graduation day and face the real world afterward.

SLIDESHOW: A photo of me, my certificates, and my CommSoc and SASSC families with our program heads, advisers, and dean during the awarding ceremony

As a pandemic freshie (a coined term I call myself and my classmates, the now ABCM 4-1, for spending our first year in college online due to the pandemic), I am glad to have enjoyed my first and last face-to-face general orientation experience with my SAS family. Amidst our busy academic lives, we are happy to have spent even a single afternoon when we can just sit back, relax, and enjoy each other's company. Moreover, it allowed me to finally bid goodbye to my SAS student leader era and celebrate the milestones I had with my fellow student leaders through the years.

All in all, this general assembly has got to be one of the core memories of my college life, especially as an SAS star. May it help our community burn brighter as we further collide.