Story By John Cyril Alpay, CST-R Batch 2018
Photos By CST-R CMO
When I was still in elementary school, I dreamt of studying in CST-R because some of my relatives are Thomasians. Then, I knew that some of my friends would enroll in this school. Due to financial challenges, my family couldn’t afford to pay for private school fees. Plus, my home town is at least an hour away from my dream school and I did not have the confidence to live alone in San Carlos City. I decided to settle for the town highschool.
As one of the students of the first batch of the Philippine’s senior high school curriculum, I initially decided to enroll in a GAS strand in that same town highschool but my bestfriend/ math tutor, John Angelo Buscado, decided to specialize in STEM. It was a strand not offered in our school. Months passed and our classmate reported that CST-R offers STEM strand. This was good news but again I worried of the schools fee. Then we all learned about the government’s voucher program for transferees from public to private school. That program was my ticket to CST-R. I passed the admission test, processed my papers and found a boarding house together with my friend.
Getting to CST-R felt like a huge step for me. I had to adjust to new standards and ways of learning and, of course, to the culture of my new community. During the first month, it definitely was intimidating. I couldn’t really forget how I was shaking for more than a week since the beginning of Madam Ando’s English grammar class. But toward the end of the first semester, I already felt like being in that class boosted my brain power and confidence.
For one who was used to reading the textbook in front of the class during reporting, I struggled to improve my techniques. I was scolded by the teacher but I still didn’t have a clue on how to report appropriately and confidently.
Despite my struggles, my social life was surprisingly going well. I gained many friends from different senior high school sections; all of us united by the fact that we were the “pioneers.” My classmates used to introduce me to their friends and that made it easier for an introvert like me to gain new buddies. My old friends who were already Thomasians such as Casipong, Kyamko, Hino-o and Rios remained, too. Eventually, these friends became my family in school. Even though there were bullies, I did not get hurt, instead I laughed through them. We laughed a lot, shared different kinds of bonding, ate together in the canteen, joined in school activities, played music on stage for class participation, talked about football and, of course, came up with thesis titles.
But the exams were far from easy. There were strict proctors and my far sighted eyes, lack of study habits and cheating gave me an even bigger problem. At the end of my eleventh grade, my grades did not quite match up to the payments we made in school, except for my maths.
On my 12th grade, I was excited to focus on physics. Perhaps I was the only one who got excited about physics. I also became closer to God and became fully acclimated with the CST-R community. I was sure that it was going to be my best and last school year in CSTR. I decided to try and match up my grades with the payments. Plus, I started feeling hungry for that honor student title. The knowledge from physics and philosphy became the fuel to my confidence and finally I had a clue how to masterfully report in class. It was like knowledge power. It changed my life and the object of my fancy inspired me even more. On the opposite side, it turned out that my last school year was a lot of pressure as I wanted to learn a lot to be able to help my classmates and friends and to get the final award.
Our most unforgettable moments happened during thesis presentations, feast day, science exhibition, work immersion, retreat in CICM with the entire STEM boys, and lastly the SHS ball. After all that we have been through, I confronted my happiest but also the saddest moment—practicing for graduation. I was happy for I made my parents proud after becoming an honor student. But I was sad after realizing that I focused too much on my academics and missed on spending half of my time with friends. I may have been ready to go to college but I was not totally ready to part with the friends-turned-family that I gained while in CST-R.
Even as I put together my little “Istorya sa Sto. Tomas,” my friends were beside me, helping me to revise and revise and revise. Angel Mar Casipong and Adie Carmona, thank you.
To sum up, life in CST-R was a dream come true for a small town boy.
