UST Welcome Walk 2018

I miss my university. I miss University of Santo Tomas. Stayed there for nine years (from high school to college).

The traditional Welcome Walk for freshmen students was held at the university last  August 07, 2018. They passed  through the Arch of the Centuries as a symbol of ‘becoming Thomasians  because the same Arch was the doorway of the University when it was still in Intramuros. This is called the “Rite of Passage.” This tradition started in the school year 2002. Once you become a student of the university,  you are called a Tomasino.  An earlier mass is also traditionally celebrated by no less than the university Rector. UST students number anywhere between 42,000 to 44,000, where some 12,000 are freshmen. The walk is a symbolic act in their readiness to prepare for professional life later on.

A photo I took of the Arch of the Centuries years ago. I can’t help but take pictures every time I visit UST. You can see the main building centered from afar.

 

I was watching the early morning show today when they showed a video of the event held last August 7. I have to search some uploaded videos on YouTube to watch it in full.

Welcome to UST guys. I really hope you’ll enjoy your stay there.

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Campus Life (Remembering the Feast Day of St. Thomas Aquinas)

Do you remember your own high school and college days? Those days of new discoveries – having your first crush, falling in love (or you thought you did), meeting lots of friends, having a crush on one of your professors, aspiring to be a poet (because you want to remember everything  about your first love)  – you name it, perhaps those days are a little obscured now but they are not forgotten.  They simply fade in one’s memory and when you think of them, you smile and reminisce.

I remember the days when my classmates and I used to squat on these  same fields  while eating mani and kornik  laced with chili oil. Back in our time, this  cobbled walk way was simply cemented  and the century old trees had concrete benches underneath.

Ah, the familiar landmark and statue of Fr. Miguel de Benavidez,  OP the founder of the University. It’s the first thing that will greet you on your way to the UST Main building.  This bronze statue “rises on top of a granite pedestal flanked by four lions each bearing the coats-of-arms of the Philippines, Spain, Holy See, and the Dominican Order. He dons the rugged habit of the pioneer Dominican missionaries. His right hand is elevated in the preaching fashion, his index finger pointing to heavens. His left hand rests on his chest holding a book bearing the words Santo Evangélico on its cover. A skull-cap covers his head, and a pectoral cross hangs from his neck, the symbols of Episcopal dignity.”

I miss this place. I spent nine years of my life here, from the tender young age of 12 to a young lady of 21 when I left its doors.

And every chance I get, I take pictures of the place,  remembering those days – campus life – it seems so long ago but it is still achingly familiar.

The Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas, The Catholic University of the Philippines, in short, we, alumni and students alike, fondly call it it USTe.

Today, we are celebrating the Feast Day of St. Thomas Aquinas, the Patron Saint of UST. The university was named after him. And it’s the beginning of the neo-centennial year of UST.

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