Jessica Hermengarde

This House Believes. By Jessica Hermengarde

THBT BJ is God’s gift to mankind.

Ladies and gentlemen, let me speak to you about the wonder that is BJ! He or (she) is God’s gift to mankind.

Mankind defined as UP debate society, as only those of superior intellect deserve to be called human.

Gift defined as a beautiful parcel waiting to be unwrapped.

God defined as the mystical force that created BJ.

Let us discuss the nature of a gift. A gift is hardly a gift unless it’s a fancy package. It has to have un-grepa wrapping paper, and ribbons that frame the box as wonderfully as yang’s hair frames his face. BJ clearly meets this standard, Madam Chair, as he is evidently good looking and aesthetically pleasing to the eyes. His hair is amazingly clean cut, leading others to believe he is heterosexual.
His eyes pierce right through you, whether or not he intends it to do so. His smile brightens up any place, that’s why they don’t bother to turn on the lights in the Econ walkway when we debate. If BJ were straight, he’d have a long line of chics waiting for their sigsheets to be signed and their sorry asses asked out on a date. Hahaha.

But more than the fancy package, a gift has to be of use, and for it to be of use, it has to be unwrapped. BJ is being mercilessly unwrapped by the application process. His repetitive adjing for countless tambay and graded debates, his precious time spent in front of his laptop poring over applicant requirements, his endless need to sign this and sign that, his efforts to organize everything, show us ladies and gentlemen, that he serves his purpose in debate society, that he is a gift to them-- unwrapped all too harshly it’s almost like stripping. ;)

THBT the MAC committee is the anti-thesis of power tripping.

Frankly, I expected the members of the MAC committee to be scary, applicant-eating, people whose end goal is to make all of us cry like motherless babies.
Instead I met wonderful, even-tempered upper classmen who spent their time getting to know us, and encouraging us to improve all throughout the application period.

Thank you to BJ, Yang, Biboy, Celeni, Jovan, Nico, Pluto, Dimple for not giving us hell… well not yet at least. Haha.

TH does not regret applying.

I remember asking my fellow applicants one day if they feared the idea of not getting in after all the hard work (because I certainly did). I thought they would immediately nod and vent out their feelings; instead, I got such mature and objective answers, which reminded me once again of how one should handle oneself in the world that is college.

They told me that ‘of course it would suck,’ but that they think the application process is its own reward. We learn a lot of things merely by applying to UPDS. We learn to speak constructively, to matter load and actually ANALYZE and USE the matter, to work with different people, to listen and filter ideas, and above all, to be patient and persevering all throughout the application period.

We were also able to test ourselves, to see how far we can go. On my part, I never thought I’d face such a long and tedious process in my first semester of college. Surprisingly, I actually enjoyed the things we had to go through as debsoc applicants. I felt I was investing my time and effort in something worth it, something I can always look back on as a once-in-a-lifetime learning experience.

Above all, I cherish the friends I’ve made, both members and co-applicants alike. I remember sulking during the early part of the school year, because unlike my friends in other universities who had blocks to regularly hang out with, I only had random acquaintances from classes. When I started applying to UPDS, I took comfort in the fact that I could go to their “tambayan” if I had nothing to do or no one to stay with. I liked that I was able to build relationships, beyond a simple conversation or a class-related question. If ever I don’t get in, what would suck the most about it is the fact that I’ll miss everybody.

Overall, I say the application process is worth it. I wouldn’t have chosen any other way to start off my life in college. =)