Dr. Mechael Angelo Marasigan may not sing with all the voices of the mountain nor paint with all the colors of the wind, but he certainly braves the unknown of what’s in store just around the riverbend as he tackles each day with a newfound conviction as a frontliner in the midst of this pandemic.

Starting his journey as a student in Quezon City Science High School, he was the former sports editor of the Electron, as well as the editor in chief of Banyuhay. He graduated from QCSHS Batch ’84, went on to finish his pre-med of BS Psychology at the University of the Philippines Diliman, and later on, he moved to the Far Eastern University of Manila in order to finish his medical studies. He was a post graduate intern at the East Avenue Medical Center, after which he finished his residency of Community and Family Medicine in Quezon City General Hospital in 2001. After working there for four years for his training, he now works at the Quezon City Health Department as a physician for almost 17 years.

With the effects of the pandemic in full swing, he says that work certainly became a lot more difficult compared to how it used to be. From meeting with anywhere from 50 to 80 patients a day in order to conduct consultations, immunizations and provide assistance for family planning, the number of face to face interactions were reduced in order to lessen the chances of spreading the virus. Although the patients he has to see each day have reduced in number, the demands of their work continue to grow more challenging as each day passes. His routine now consists of coordinating with various barangay officials for the sake of contact tracing, conducting swab tests together with his team every Wednesday, and switching from handling two health centers due to a shortage in doctors.

In line with this, he chooses to take precautionary measures whenever he has the luxury of getting back to his loved ones. He mentions that once he arrives home, he immediately takes a shower before getting any closer to any of his family members in order to ensure their safety. Living with people who are high at risk of getting the virus, he makes sure to constantly follow the necessary protocols like wearing a face mask and a face shield, as well as following the rules of social distancing. In addition to this, he says that his faith continues to strengthen his reserve and is primarily one of the things that keeps him going. Although the fear of exposure to COVID-19 looms over his shoulder, he valiantly continues to persevere against its threats in order to fulfill his duties.

According to Dr. Marasigan, the lessons he learned within the four walls of his classroom in Quesci helped him a great deal once he was faced with the trials brought about by college and even the hardships he encounters as a physician. He recalled how his teachers taught them the concept of self-discipline alongside their academic lessons and how he and his classmates learned how to develop the trait through observing one another. This proved to be one of the driving forces that kept him going all throughout medical school and is a trait he carries with him even to this day.

Being a Scientian, he naturally developed a competitive spirit and learned early on that perseverance and determination are the keys to success. Aside from this, he also learned how to become an all-rounder; encouraging himself to excel in matters beyond academics. “I learned not to compete with others, but with myself,” he said when asked about how his experiences in the school currently help him.

Furthermore, he expresses his gratitude towards Quesci for helping him develop his communication skills; allowing him to go an extra mile for his patients. He talks about how he notices the way their eyes seemingly light up whenever he gives them words of encouragement, even if it is only done through a computer screen whenever he does telemedicine. All in all, he says that he could not have pursued his career in public health nor survived medical school had it not been for the lessons he learned in Quesci.

He ended the interview with a message for Scientians saying, “Scientians, you have the discipline. You have the brilliance. Persevere and you can make it through these difficulties”. Above all, he says that faith and the support brought about by those around you are two of the most essential things to hold on to in order to get through these trying times.

He serves as a reminder for everyone that with self-discipline, cooperation and integrity, we can brave this new normal together and tackle what’s waiting just around the river bend head on.

Ayuda from the Art is a “a private Art Auction in collaboration with our featured artists to help raise funds for the beneficiaries under the Ayuda Pang Eskwela Program.”

There is a Kisay flavor in this Art Auction. One of its pillars, organizers and administrators is no other than Attorney Joel Lloren of Batch 81. Joel himself is an accomplished artist. One with a big heart and a “man for others”, Joel has done these charity art auctions several times — once, for one of our own teachers.

Joel is responsible for getting art loving Scientians to participate in these auctions. There are several of us bidding, commenting or merely enjoying the magnificent art contributed by the masters.

What is remarkable in the Ayuda is the participation of Kisay’s homegrown artists. A Lloren is of course a constant but now we have pieces from Nereo Racela (Batch 81), Victor Austriaco (Batch 81), Dr. Grace Gonzales-Martinez (Batch 79), and Engr. Nyong Lazo (Batch 78).

Nyong is currently the Vice President for Internal Affairs of the Alumni Association. He donated Goldfish #2, a painting he did in 2016.

It started as a side bet between Mafe Arlegui-Tayag (Batch 78), Dennis Legaspi (Batch 79) and Joel. For how much will Nyong’s Opus go for? The nearest guess wins, with the losers donating P500 each to Ayuda. Nyong did not know about the bet. As the three of us were having fun, and with the prospect of getting funds from it, we decided to invite other Scentians to join and 15 called the bet.

Goldfish #2 was finally sold for P11,500 with the full proceeds going to Ayuda Pang Eskwela Program. The group decided to donate the pool to SCIENTIANN2020 instead. We were expecting to collect P7,000 but some of our kind hearted schoolmates donated more than what they were supposed to give. Even the eventual winner, Dennie Estolas-Vista (Batch 80) sent her share, despite the rules saying she does not need to. We made P10,500 for our beneficiaries for the fun nights we had following the bids amidst the pandemic.

Thank you, Nyong. Thank you Mafe, Joel, Dennie, Sarah Belle Somera (81), Ditas Pinili-Yutuk (78), Nes Cueto (81), Jopay Bustamante (78), Estella Legaspi-Umali (81), There (78), Jessica Acala-Binayug (78), Bethia Acala (76), Bobbie Mortel-Fuerte (77), Gloria Calido-Patungan (81), Grace (79), Susan Luna (78) and Dr. Neal Torres (78).

I strongly believe that each fleeting moment of my life is an opportunity for growth. I still remember that night when I just kept on staring outside the window lingering in a desperate silence, telling myself “What should I do? Should I just lay here and let myself be eaten up by boredom and loneliness?” Then a holistic thought struck me that this is the perfect timing to channel my concentration into doing something useful, that this is the perfect chance to upgrade myself to a better version.

The following days, I noticed my daily routine gradually change. My boring and stubborn living inch by inch became an energizing and productive life. Instead of laying all day around my bed, I do some physical activities to improve my health and physique. And Instead of checking my phone and scroll 24/7 on social media, I participate on some online competitions on the internet. Whenever I get bored, i’ll just get a piece of paper either I solve some general math problems or practice my writing skills. I also dived on learning new fields such as gardening, painting, and structure designing. I always keep myself busy and productive, but sometimes my concentration is disturbed with the sufferings arround me — people are dying, frontliners are extremely exhausted, and other people are suffering from hunger. So each night as i lay in my bed, I offer a simple prayer especially to those frontliners who are nonstop doing their service for the good of our nation, to those people who are ill and to those families struggling to put food on their tables.

This lockdown truly transformed me into a voracious learner and molded me to be a grateful person at all times. It taught me that we should not stop learning and growing, it deepens our character and makes us more inspiring to the others. This lockdown made me realize that we, humanbeings, are just like seeds either we keep ourselves as it is or we start watering and grow into a wonderful tree with flowers and fruits.

University of the East Guidance Director Dr. Dr. Leonila Vitug-Urrea themselves during the mental health awareness webinar strongly recommended to Quezon City Science High School (QCSHS) students to be kind to one another.

“Be kind to others, and be kind to yourself,” Vitug told the participants of Hi, Hello Kumusta: Teen Z Navigating through the Pandemic held via Google Meet and streamed live on the school;s Facebook page, August 18.

Dr. Vitug encouraged students to be kind to themselves by recognizing their emotions and realizing each type of emotion – fear, joy, disgust, anger and sadness, has a purpose.

She also shared the difference between stress and anxiety, by explaining that stress is a negative feeling about the present situation while anxiety is that extraordinary about “what if” matters.

Tips to address stress and anxiety shared by Dr. Urrea include talking to people one is close to, being hygienic, eating well, sleeping well, and taking a break from the online. “You should have time to do offline activities,” she noted.

Dr. Urrea further mentioned that part of taking care of one’s self is to do self-care practices, such as the butterfly hug and square breathing.

With this school year being more focused on online learning, Dr. Urrea also gave the students tips on adjusting to this set-up. These are keeping track of one’s daily schedule at home, knowing one’s morning routine, balancing time for studying and relaxing and having a set study area.

The webinar was attended by about 700 Quesci students.

Quezon City Science High School (QCSHS) Principal Remedios P. Danao congratulated Batch 2020 Invictus at the 3rd Senior High School Virtual Commencement Exercises “Sulong Edukalidad: Championing the Nation’s Future.”

Mrs. Danao greeted the graduates with a warm congratulations and praised them for their hard work during their stay in QCSHS, saying that the new chapter of their life is just about to begin.

“As you begin a new chapter of your life, it is very important that you take charge of your future not being swayed by circumstances but staying strong in mind, body and intellect,” Mrs. Danao stated.

The principal further expressed her gratitude to QCSHS teachers, parents and the Alumni Association that have helped Batch Invictus 2020 through the years and have molded them to the students they are today.

“Quezon City Science High School will always be committed to empower minds and to strengthen character, Xientia et Virtus,” she added.

Invictus is the first batch of Scientian graduates to experience a virtual graduation ceremony because of the current pandemic.

My last year in Quesci led me to a lot of expectations.

I expected the first day of school to be a blast. After all, this would be our senior year. What happened in reality, however, was I had to drag myself to go to school. I do not know if it had something to do with the fact that my friends and I are still tired from the month-long college entrance exams review classes. As the trike dropped us off in front of the gates, I felt my stomach churn, knowing that this was our batch’s last year of being a student of this school, and this might be our hardest year yet.

I expected the school year to be hard. What happened in reality? Boy, it was tougher than tough! The first half of the year was one of the hardest months of my life. The raging workload and hard lessons, plus the constant episodes of anxiety and burnout, made me come to school drained of energy and of motivation. In fact, our entire section was like this, that even our teachers began to remark how passive and fatigued we all looked. We just could hardly keep up with everything that is happening, especially with the impending doom of having to take our college entrance tests soon. The first half of the year ended with most of us tired and burned out, that we wished the year was already over.

I expected the end of 2019 to be more relaxed because of the holidays. The reality was each passing day became more and more bittersweet, knowing that the year was ending. We had our last Christmas party in Quesci.

I expected January to be exciting since college entrance results will start coming out. The reality was my batchmates and I were nervous. We spent most of our time pacing around anxiously, checking Twitter, and the occasional scare that the results were out. The first wave of results arrived mid-January, and I felt proud of my friends and classmates as they would cry out shrieks of joy knowing that we finally had somewhere to go to after graduating. We spent the last two months of the year preparing and reviewing for our final exams, one final battle before graduation.

Of course, I had my March expectations – the best (the most stress-free) month of the school year. The month where we will just be doing graduation practice, then hanging out and having sleepovers with friends after. I expected that happy graduation day which would seal my life in Quesci. Then a family trip to Korea would serve as my reward for those six years of hard work.

The reality was everything went haywire. A pandemic which began in the province of Wuhan, China began to wreak havoc in all parts of the world. People began appearing with masks plastered on their faces, their minds filled with fear and confusion, knowing well that our country is not fit to face a crisis of this magnitude. Exams were canceled, gatherings were prohibited, and entire countries were put under lockdown. There is a sliver of hope, wishing that this will all come to pass soon. However, this was not the case. This would never have been the case. Eventually, the graduation rites and balls were cancelled as well. The disease not only ravaged the lives of those it infected, but also the hopes and dreams of everyone all around the world.

As of writing, 4.7 million infections had already been confirmed in 188 countries all over the world (Aljazeera.com, 2020). In our country alone, 12,513 cases have already been confirmed, with a 6.5% fatality rate. These statistics are extremely alarming when compared with the progress of our neighboring countries, some of which have already flattened the curve greatly and have been experiencing zero new cases for the past few days. As students of science, it is our duty to serve our country in the future, especially in times of crisis like this.

While many of my expectations for this school year were far from what happened, I am glad to the realizations that came with the unexpected turn of events. I realized our graduation’s value lies not in the grandeur of the celebration. Instead, it symbolizes that after years of sleepless nights spent on burning our eyelids off, we finally have grown and are ready for the next phase of our lives. “Scientia et Virtus, Knowledge, and virtue.” I understood that the values our school taught us in the past six years are what would help us greatly when we step to the “real world”.

For the next days, I would rather not expect. Instead, I will dream. I will dream to have a great journey – the kind of journey that is not free of challenges but one that will mold us to be even better people. After all, I once dreamt to be a Scientian.

It’s a time for lasts: last outings, last finals, and last days. Unfortunately, all of these lasts came a little too soon. NCR, and in extension, the entire island of Luzon, is in lockdown.

COVID-19 has been the biggest scare of the decade so far—and we’re only three months in. I see the need for the lockdown, no doubt about that, but it’s hard not to be frustrated.

Plans get cancelled or postponed left and right. Things as simple as a final meal out with friends to graduation now exist in the intangible confines of our minds (and jokingly, in video games such as Minecraft).

Perhaps we’ll never get to wear our togas and toss our hats, maybe we’ll have no opportunity to dance and celebrate to music, there’s the chance of us never getting to say and hear a proper goodbye to and from our high school barkadas. The world still turns and we’re still here, we simply have to persist.

Maybe what we need now is to breathe. It’s already a time for change for us seniors, with the flurry of activity from both school and college application work at the forefront of our minds. This storm will pass.

March is still many things for us all, maybe just not in the way we expected it to be. We may not be marching on the stage, but hey, we now know how it feels to be given marching orders . And just like how we’re not tossing our hats yet, we’re definitely not tossing any ounce of hope that things will be better.