credit

the question is still unanswered but it led to another question. what happened to tradition?

in my years in the college of pharmacy, i noticed a pattern of some sort. after every board exam, i'll receive a text message "UP did it again!" forwarded to me by a number of friends indicating another 100% passing percentage for UP Manila College of Pharmacy. i never really give a crap about it then; i was still 2-3 years away from my board exam.

after the text messages, a banner will be put up at the building entrance congratulating the successful examinees with all their names on it. again it was nothing to me. i passed over it almost everyday like it was just a shade from the sun.

next up was the celebration. the college will have a thanksgiving party, inviting the board passers for some food. i remember going downstairs after finishing a class, a friend would hand me a plate of spaghetti, pancit, or any excess food from the party. free snacks for today, then tomorrow will be just like any other day.

now it's our turn, i have the checklist on my left hand and a pen on the other.

BANNER: "x"
i went to the college more than a week after the results but saw no banners. instead i saw a piece of white paper with our names begging to be noticed on the bulletin board.
TEXT MESSAGE: "x"
i was eagerly awaiting the text message from the school wondering if we passed or not. but the "UP did it again" message was nowhere in sight and i found out the results by myself.
THANKSGIVING: "x"
it has been almost a month since i took the exam and i'm still waiting for that cheap pancit and ketchup spaghetti.

okay, so UP Manila did not have the top 1 in the recent board exams and only 2 are on the top 10, get over it! i just want my fair share of college pride. they didn't even bother to know if other students made it in the top 20. hey, i could be one of them. i don't think they're even planning on spending less than a thousand pesos to feed the successful examinees. UP Manila College of Pharmacy, proud to be no.1 but can't be seen or felt otherwise. go UP! crap.