The Gift of Counsel & Taking a Leap of Faith – 4th Day of Senior Year

The past few days have been really jam packed and lightning quick yet these first few days of senior year have been simply amazing. Yesterday was a really bi-polar day that ended with my seeing of my SAT score. I was honestly a bit disappointed with the score I got but yesterday was yesterday and today is today. Everyday is a new start to my surprise, today was actually one of the best days of this year so far.

The day started off with the first mass of this school year. It was a mass of the holy spirit and it really gave me time to reflect. It’s really amazing though how the homily was related to a recent article that I wrote for Inquirer about the recent “Man of Steel” movie. I guess this just shows how movies are able to connect us humans and help us relate with each other.

What I really liked about this mass was that during communion, we were given a strip of paper that had one gift of the Holy Spirit written in it with a short piece of reflection. Here’s the one written on mine:

Today God gives you the Gift of Counsel (Right Judgement)

With the gift of right judgment, we know the difference between right and wrong, and we choose to do what is right. A person with right judgment avoids sin and live out the values taught by Jesus. The gift of truth that allows the person to respond prudently, and happily to believe our Christ the Lord.

This really struck me and made me pause to reflect and think about the past few days, weeks and months. Everything has been happening so quickly and there have been times where I didn’t know what to do. Up to this day, there are still some confusing choices and decisions that I have to make. However, after reading this, I remembered that I should always go back to the values I’ve been taught from the very beginning and whatever I do, I should always choose to do what is right.

After the mass, everyone was excitedly talking about the NBA finals and almost everywhere you went, you could hear people asking, “Bro, what quarter is it? what’s the score? who’s leading?” Basketball has become a renowned sport here in the Philippines and is getting even more famous by the minute. Just like movies, it’s really nice to see how basketball is able to bring us students together. It’s not a surprising sight to see several students huddled up in a group with one laptop projecting the play by play and stats of an NBA game.

Moving on to the classes I had today, I’m really happy to say that my teachers this year are really interesting and are able to summon a different energy from us students. I’ve never seen my classmates more excited for a class than today. I guess the heavens saw that it was last year already in High School and decided to give us teachers who will really be able to help us maximize our Xavier education in this final year of ours.

More often than not, all it takes is a leap of faith to achieve your dreams! Just like Superman, I took a leap of faith and it has been every bit worth it!

Aside from all that, I also received my batch rank today and I just couldn’t help but smile as I saw the number 1. I know that rankings don’t truly show who we are but at the same time, I was just happy to see all my hard work last year pay-off. A lot of people were congratulating me and it honestly felt so fulfilling. The journey isn’t over yet though. I still have one more year and I definitely will strive to do even better this year!

What really made this day so surreal though was the fact that I had my article published in a national newspaper, The Philippine Daily Inquirer, for the first time. When I got out of school, I just had to go to the nearest bookstore and grab a copy. Words just can’t describe how I felt seeing my name and an article I wrote in the newspaper. It has always been a dream of mine for my name to be seen in a newspaper and also for me to be able to write an article for a newspaper. I guess I can now check that off my bucket list! (check out my article at: http://lifestyle.inquirer.net/109433/taking-a-leap-of-faith-superman-did-it-so-can-we)

First time to have my work published in a newspaper….definitely going to treasure this for the rest of my life!

I’m thankful to God for everything that happened today. I’m truly blessed to be able to experience all these things. Senior Year has just begun yet it has already been such an incredible ride! I can’t wait for the upcoming days that will hopefully be even better!

To end, I’d like to quote a principle our Economics teacher showed us today from Greg Mankiw, a Harvard Economics Professor, “The cost of something is what you give up to get it.”

It’s actually quite a simple yet very powerful line. Everything in life has a cost whether it’s monetary or not. This senior year will definitely be full of costs and there will be times where I’ll have to decide whether the costs are worth the somethings. These decisions won’t be easy but with the gift of counsel, I can hopefully take a leap of faith and make the right choices as I try to make the most out of every single day of my senior year!

-DOitChoco

My Last Second Day – Maximizing All The Resources in Xavier

Today was my last second day in Xavier (hehehe are the “last” everything getting annoying?). Similar to yesterday, we had a few different orientations again. This time, we were oriented and given talks by our principal, assistant principals and student activity programs head about the different issues and things that we should keep in mind in our final year in Xavier.

They stressed the importance of making the most out of our last year and not wasting it by doing stupid things. They encouraged us to all be more involved in the different clubs and committees. As seniors, it is our responsibility to lead and be role models to the younger batches. Being a “senior” in Xavier hasn’t really sinked in yet. It seemed just like yesterday when I was a freshman looking up to the seniors and thinking that they were so amazing and that I wanted to be just like them.

A few quick years and here I am, a senior myself. This year, I will definitely try my best to step up, inspire my fellow Xaverians and simply leave a mark. Today was another chance to do just that. Just like yesterday, a few of my batch mates and I gave talks again to the lower batches and really tried to empower them to try out new things, take every opportunity, make the most out of high school and create lasting memories.

Something I really learned today is that we students pay so much to study here in Xavier that we should really maximize what the school has to offer and all its resources. We should take our studies seriously. We shouldn’t be afraid to ask questions and debate with our teachers. We should try out new things and join the different clubs and committees. We should use the different resources like the gym and library. SImply put, we should make the most out of our stay in Xavier.

The power of the internet has definitely changed the way we live but how has it also affected the way we think?

All these things are things that I wished I did earlier. I guess it’s never too late to change. I still have one more year and I really will maximize this last year. Aside from joining a few comms already, today, I actually visited the library and borrowed two books. Imagine that? Who actually still visits the library to actually read and borrow books in this day and age where everybody is so addicted and engulfed in their gadgets and in the internet?

It was only really last year that I discovered a love for reading books. Knowledge is power and instead of buying books, why not save money and borrow from the library? So this is what I’m trying to do this year. I’m going to try my best to read as much as I can and maximize the resources in our library.

The first book that I borrowed is titled, “Is the internet changing the way you think?” and the second book is titled, “In search of history.” From the titles themselves, these two books seem like very interesting books and from reading the first few pages, I’ll definitely be learning a lot more.

Excited to learn more about the transcending events in history!

Reading books about different topics helps you learn about things that you don’t learn inside the classroom. There are thousands and thousands of books in the library and I’m sure you’ll find one that will interest you. Knowledge is power and learning never stops, so the library is one of the best places you can go to in school!

To end this blog post, I want to share with you a quote that our assistant principal shared with us from the “Man of Steel” movie, “One day, you’re going to have to make a choice. You have to decide what kind of man you want to grow up to be.”

Senior year will definitely be about making choices and will play a vital role in helping all of us decide what kind of men we want to grow up to be as we enter college year from now!

Tomorrow will finally be the start of regular classes and I just can’t wait to meet my teachers for the school year!

-DOitChoco