The Unstoppable Me

          Hello everyone! I am Alvin Pajaroja but you can call me Vin, or Pajaroja if you want it to be complicated. I am 17 years coming from Payatas, Quezon City. Many have said that the place where I belong is a chaotic place but for me, it depends on how you handle your emotions or outlook in dealing with some places. My father named Carlito Pajaroja Sr. is working as a regular cook at a restaurant located at Angono, Rizal. Sometimes, I could adopt his skills regarding this but the way he cooked, the way he chopped every single ingredient for a menu were really amazing. My mother named Alicia Pajaroja is a plain housewife. For me, nothing compares to the efforts and sacrifices coming from my mother as if it's bounded with love. When I was in high school, I graduated from a private school as 6th honorable mention and it was really delightful as well as honorable. I am a passionate person, I really don't want to spend my days and nights doing nonsense things. I love writing, I used to write all the happenings in my life, whether good or bad, in my library. In addition, I came to a point where I became a campus writer when I was in high school. Singing is also one of my passions, music for me is not just words having variety of tones but, it a connection between me and God. Four months ago, I started singing in front of christian people volunteering as a worship leader. Also, I became a part of the NSTP Chorale of Quezon City Polytechnic University. Now, as an ordinary student, I'm dealing with life although is its bounded with challenges. I am a competent person, I really don't want to be defeated by problems.

GEARING UP TOWARDS SATISFACTION AND PRIDE

Between student and his school, who is really the molder of the individual’s identity or the builder of success? How can we say if a particular university fits in our taste, and that we could establish a good life here? Yes, we can’t escape from the reality that the identity of the school is oftentimes compared to the student. Popularity of a specific university is the basis of some of us if we are going to enter or not to enter that school. As an ordinary student, my mind is wide-awake in this matter. In other words, I am not that kind of person who judges anything according to its appearance and how people viewed it but, it is necessary for me to experience it and that will be the time that I will make my own opinions. Although not popular, there are things that could make you realized that not all things can be based on how others make a bad impression to it, things that will absolutely fill your satisfaction and determination. Those are the things that Quezon City Polytechnic University had justified to me.

The Quezon City Polytechnic University (Pamantasang Politeknikal ng Lungsod Quezon in Filipino and commonly known as QCPU, QC Poly or KYUSI Politeknik) is a Local university founded by Quezon City government. QCPU was established on March 1, 1994 and formerly known as the Quezon City Polytechnic.

I am Alvin Pajaroja, a student of QCPU in Batasan Hills. I first took an admission test last year, April 2013. I was so nervous that time that my heart could even explode anytime it wanted to be. Many of the examinees were confused while taking the exam because of the time limits. On May 2013, I got the result and I definitely passed the exam. My friends were so blissful because they’ve also passed the examination. After that, we truly suffered in enrolment processes. It was so hard because there were so many enrollees and the weather was really hot. One morning, I prepared myself going to QCPU Main Campus and when I got there, I was shocked. It was just like a line-formed in LRT/MRT station during weekdays. But, the most funny about the processes is that it took one week to finish.

The next month, the first day of classes was started. I was filled with excitement that time expecting that there would be new faces that I could be interacted with to make new memories, friendships and relationships bounded with love. In the first semester, I used to go to the main campus rather than in some satellite campuses because it could be really hard for me to cope with the oddities that I might encounter in the future so I tried it because I want to know QCPU more. The first day of classes was even my worst day, when I traveled going back into our house, I was lost. I didn’t even know where I was and I found out that I got a wrong ride. Three weeks later, the audition for the university’s Center for Culture and Arts (CCA) was conducted by the NSTP Department. There were three categories: group of singers, dance troupe, and theatre arts. I love performing especially in stage plays but it was really awkward when I got an audition for a group of singers. I thought that it was a tryout for theater arts but I was wrong and I found it out lately. I sang “Magpakailanman” by Wency Cornejo during the trial and gladly, I was being qualified.

One time, when I was going back to home, I had taken a bus where some students coming from popular schools here in Quezon City were aboard that time. I thought to myself, “Are these students really educate themselves?” For me, uniforms, the appearance of the students outside, and the popularity of the school they are coming are not basically the bases of a good education. It is not about the outside cover, it is about the heart of the students, their determination to go through the highest slope of the mountain of success. QCPU would be celebrating its 20^th anniversary this coming March 1, 2014. As the time goes by, I’m pretty sure that the pride of the school where I belong, the school which absolutely widens my horizon will go further and determinedly reaches its higher liabilities in the name of pride as well as love. Before I end this composition, I want to inform all of the intended readers that I want to lift up the identity as well as the name of QCPU by unity, by strengthening it through the help that I could receive from my schoolmates because it’s where my college life started and it’s a pact that I shall be graduating here as a successful industrial engineer.