IT’S NOT every day that a student can tell Fr. Adolfo Dacanay, SJ of his “terror teacher” status right to his face.
It’s even more unusual for it to happen in an event organized by a Loyola School that has always been stereotyped as the nerds of campus.
But this is just what happened in one of the many events during the School of Science and Engineering (SOSE) Sanggunian and Council of Organizations of the Ateneo (COA) Science and Technology Cluster (STC) week.
According to Matthew Lee, Equinox promotions head, they wanted to break the stereotype that “people from SOSE are nerds” who do not organize fun activities because they mainly study.
“We’re here to show everyone that as much as we study hard, we also party hard, we play hard, [and] we work hard.” Lee said.
Equinox is the week-long celebration’s culminating night. The SOSE-STC week was held from November 19 to 26.
Collaboration
SOSE students can have fun, too. This was what SOSE students were set on proving when the SOSE School Board (SB) and the STC collaborated for week-long celebration.
Titled “Paradox: Bridging the Gaps between Concepts and Realities,” the SOSE-STC week was a pioneering collaboration between the two groups.
Prior to the collaboration, SOSE and STC had their individual week-long celebrations.
Since majority of the students in SOSE are also part of the STC, it was decided that it would be better to have one large week instead.
The SB and the STC split the load of activities within the week. While the SB handled “Incendio: Harry Potter 7 Movie Night”, “Collabosquabble: SOSE-SOH Family Feud” and “Equinox: Culminating Night.”
Meanwhile, STC oversaw “Siyensaya: Amazing Race”, “Freebie Day” and the “Science Film Festival.”
Fun the SOSE way
A screening of the latest installment of the Harry Potter movie series kicked off the celebration on November 19 at Gateway Cinema 5.
STC Cluster Head Geoffrey Matthew Tan explained that the STC was responsible for majority of the events held in the Ateneo during the week, such as the Siyensaya: Amazing Race.
SOSE’s Collabosquabble, meanwhile, was an activity patterned after “Family Feud.” It pitted teachers, students and prominent professors from SOSE and the School of Humanities against each other.
One of the event’s highlights, SOSE SB Chairperseon Drex Oarde shared, was when Dacanay was the guest and the question was about the most feared Theology professor.
She recalled how the contestants were all pointing at each other so they could choose who would answer. “When someone finally had the courage to answer, he said, ‘You Father… you’re the most terror Theology professor,” said Oarde.
Pulse of the students
Preparations for the SOSE-STC week began during the summer but only materialized around mid-June to July.
To find out what the SOSE students wanted, surveys were conducted. The SOSE SB and STC determined that students wanted a movie night, a party and a team-building activity.
One difficulty the organizers faced during the planning stages, however, was mounting a project as it was a huge endeavor.
Thinking ahead
One of the objectives of the SOSE-STC week was to create avenues where SOSE students could bond and have fun.
Gio Alejo, sophomore SOSE central board representative, also said that he hoped that events such as the SOSE-STC week would shape the culture of SOSE and that this would be made visible to SOSE and non-SOSE students alike.
Meanwhile, the organizers, happy with the turn of events this year, hoped that the SOSE-STC collaboration would continue the following year.
Oarde said, “[Collaborating] would still be better. As the saying goes, two heads are better than one.”
