The Best Things
Kaika!
It was the word that everyone’s been using for the past week. I hear it everywhere and I even say it to other people. What has been going on in the world right now? Are we dominated by extraterrestrial beings and speaking their tongue?
Last April 7-10, 2011, the record-breaking National Youth Science, Technology, and Environment Summer Camp was held at the beautiful Sarabia Manor Hotel and Convention Center, Iloilo City with over 1100 participants, students and teachers, the biggest ever in PSYSC. Can you imagine that?
Being one of the new members of the Philippine Society of Youth Science Clubs, Inc, I was fortunate to have been picked as one of the facilitators in the tremendous 2011 NYSTESC event. It was my first national event attended in PSYSC and it was also my first time to attend a camp being one of the 32 facilitators or the Guardians (as the camp Lexicon calls it) that takes care of more than 32 villagers.
The experience was memorable from Day 0 to the last day of the camp. Day 0 was a tiring and fun day. The whole day was allotted to practicing our routines, a dry-run of the events, and the preparations of each committee. I was assigned to the programs committee which helped decorate the stage. It was the start of a camaraderie and friendship in which I get to know a lot of people who will be my companions in other PSYSC events and probably for the next four years.
Day 1 was the registration day. I was tasked to help for the auditions, and then I was a part of the team who will guide each school into their different assigned rooms. The day was so full, tiring, but in a way fun because I got to meet some participants and had the chance to talk to them. That night was the opening night. The story of Chemopolis and the Oracle was introduced and everyone from the BOT, the NEC, the camp core, and the staff were introduced. The guardians (us) were dressed like gods and goddesses and danced for the production number. We then introduced ourselves to the villagers. We had the satrape congregation where we were tasked to meet our villagers with a BANG! It was the time for us to make first impressions, ask about them, know more about them, know their food restrictions, their PSYSC history, and a lot more things.
Day 2 was the official start of the sessions and workshops. As early as 5:30 in the morning, the guardians were ready to go outside and gather all their villagers and get them ready for a “jam-packed” day. The first thing we did was to teach the villagers and practice the camp dance entitled “Dalandan Shake”. After that was the first lecture followed by an exciting workshop and then lunch. During lunch, guardians were to eat with their villagers and bond with them. We ate like one huge family. Another set of lecture and workshop followed. When it was evening, we had a socials night where all of us played games and socialized with everybody. We wore green and orange polo shirts with suspenders that made us look like kids. And then it was time to sleep.
Day 3 was another “jam-packed day”. A new set of lectures and workshops, and then there’s the satrape quiz bee. On the afternoon, we had the over-all workshops. An amazing-race type workshop where each guardian was given a station to man and watch their villagers move through each station. The day was tiring since the whole afternoon was spent on the event. Later that night, we had the entertainment night where villagers are tasked to wear masks and dresses and watch presentations from different schools who auditioned and the FACIKLABAN. The FACIKLABAN was the time where the guardians show what we’ve got to all the audience. We danced a lively dance and were given the chance to impress the audience. It was a fun experience for me and that surely was the dance where I gave my all.
The last day was Day 4, Field trip and awarding ceremony. This day really tested my ability as a guardian to attend to my villagers and make sure that they are all intact. I was assigned in a bus where I was the only guardian watching over 51 students. I had a staff and an LTS participant with me but all in all, every stop, every turn, it was my job to count and recount the villagers and make sure no one gets lost. We went to four different locations which took us the whole day. When we get to a location, my villagers would become 26 in number and none of them must be lost or wander to another bus. It was a tiring, voice-draining, energy-taking day but it was the most memorable and fun-filled one. At the end of the day, none of my villagers were lost and all of us were tired but contented. Later that night was the awarding. Our satrape was shocked, even me as their guardian, to have won the award of being the most obedient satrape. After recovering, everyone was so happy then, that it was visible in their faces.
We had our (fair?) share of intense days, sleepless nights, 8-minute showers, eye-dropping meetings, mind-boggling workshops, hot weather, and cold rooms. Sigh. But wait, there’s more! We must never forget about the hyper villagers, cheery guardians, smiling staff and core, blissful times, nice poses, super bonding, fun getting-to-know-each-other, happy faces, perky dance steps, and the wonderful camp itself.
Everything about the camp was the things I have never done and never had before: the tears, the smiles, the sweat, the eye bags, the pimples, and most of all the friends that I will surely remember in the years to come. The four days was literally short but enough to build friendships and camaraderie. These things I could never get hold of if I haven’t made the perfect decision: PSYSC.
The best things in life aren’t things, they are memories, friendships, and bonds, and the ones I got from Iloilo will surely be treasured and kept in a special place, my heart.
Hannah Shamina O. Cosiñero
Facilitator, CAMP 2011
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