Record-holder

Record-holder

I was never a dull student.

Since I started my career as a student, I never imagined having malfunctions – failing grades. In my opinion, it was stupid to study and not learn anything at all. A failure grade was yucky for me.

I remember being one of the top students in my class on my elementary and high school years. Those were my days of reckoning, because I seize high remarks after every school year – always. My record: I was a six-time second honor student (Grades 1 – 5; 2^nd Year High School), two-time Salutatorian (Kindergarten & Grade 6), and a first honor (1^st Year High School); though I wasn’t recognized on the honor roll during my 3^rd and 4^th years in high school, I still managed to be ranked 2^nd on all students; plus the fact that I never ever got a line of 7 grade.

With all those medals and ribbons I’ve collected from the past, I thought I was geared enough and prepared for college – unfortunately, I was wrong.

PLM was a challenge for me – new school, new environment, new classmates, new teachers, and new curriculum. I was culture shocked. This is not what I’ve expected. I remember my high school teachers’ saying “…college is like reviewing… college is easier than in high school…blah, blah, blah…” and other stuffs like that. But when I first experienced hell in this university, I can’t keep blaming them, and I even wanted to confront them and tell to them straight to their faces “hey, thanks for the advice… #?@$!”.

That particular hell I’m talking about happened only last year, on my first semester for my 2^nd year here in college. I received a wheelchair – a 5.0! Yes, the worst among worst grades! It was on my Economics class – 7:00 to 8:30 AM every Tuesdays and Fridays, GL502 – where hell breaks loose. And yes, it stained my career record as a student.

Of course, there are consequences alongside it which I have to face – almost-kicked-out-turned-final-probation on my college, series of quarrels among my parents, hush-hush judgments of people around me, and (the worst of them all…) lowered self-esteem. I admit, I lived in the dark because of that certain event.

But I regained my strength. Eventually, I began to grow as a person because of that experience. I realized, again, that everything really happens for a reason, and that reason leads to a certain purpose. On my case, the purpose was not to stain my record, but to test my individuality and credibility as a student.

It was my first major failure being me as a learner, and it happened here in PLM. But I guess it’s worth it. It stained my record I guess, but it can never stain me. And at least I could still add something on my record: a one-time failure, but still never a dull student (2^nd Year College, 1^st Semester).