Last September 30, the Freshman Afternoon warmly welcomed this batch’s seventh graders as they entered their first year of high school online.
Inspired by the 2006 Filipino movie, First Day High, students got to dress according to these categories: Athletes either got to wear a jersey or their varsity uniform; Gamers or Anime Fans get to sport their hoodies; Bookworms donned yellow clothes; Influencers or Vloggers get to flaunt their Pink outfits of the day; while KPop fans got to wear purple with pride. The event was packed with loads of fun games, an exciting show of talents, and a few messages to Southville itself.
“Let the Festivities Begin!”
By 2:30 PM, students and teachers entered the meet to start off the celebrations. Hosts Alexandra Bravo and Georgina Sucaldito from 7 Resilience, and Steph Brown from 7 Optimism, enthusiastically welcomed everyone.
Shortly after that welcome, K-12 Principal Dr. Marie Vic Suarez took to the floor to start off her welcoming remarks. She emphasized some important lessons from the popular Netflix Series, Squid Game: ‘unexpected kindness is one of the greatest gifts,’ and ‘the greatest relationships are the ones you never expected to be in.’
Considering that this was the second Freshmen Afternoon held online, the game masters and Sir Jude Cuntapay hosted a 10-question Kahoot game on geography to calm students’ bunched-up nerves. The scoreboard seemed to change every two questions, with someone parading as Oh Il-Nam from the show Squid Game. This lookalike managed to squeeze their way to Top 3 alongside two other winners.
After this, Ms. Zarah Velasquez gave a special welcome to the new students, giving them a joint welcome to high school and their time at SISC. She says, “We hope you all excel in your studies and make us all proud!”
To really start up the party, hosts Brown, Bravo, and Sucaldito held the game “Finish the Lyric,” where students have to listen to a part of a song, then, in 10 seconds, type the next phrase. Here, many people got to showcase their knowledge on music, new and old, and everyone was set up for a fun surprise. At the end of the game, everyone attending the event was Rick-rolled as Rick Astley’s highly popular meme song “Never Gonna Give You Up” played. The students and teachers had a laugh, especially the winner of the challenge, Dane Baniqued.
Playing up the musical turn of events was a short musical intermission, with the song “Turning Tables” as sung by the one and only Ms. Roselet Reynoso. From the comments of others on the call, she surprised attendees with her hidden talent.
Participants got to have fun with a second Kahoot game called “Is it Sir Jude or Brad Pitt?” where they must decide if a close-up photo of a person is a celebrity or a teacher. Not only was this a challenge in itself, but the game faced Internet challenges that forced Kahoot to restart four times. However, everyone had fun at the end, and the fun was doubled when players realized that there was not only one person, not two people, but four different people playing as Oh Il-Nam in the game.
After a photo opportunity thanks to Sir Jude, Gelo Buenafe and Gabbie Hermosilla from 7 Gratitude took the stage to present a wholesome message-giving activity where students got the chance to submit positive messages to their school, with the option of adding drawings, doodles, or photos of animals or Pop Culture icons, like characters from the game Genshin Impact or anime. Some memorable messages are:
“Thank you very much Southville for accepting me into your school!”
“I am so happy to be part of this family. Happy Foundation day and wishes for more years to come!”
“I love Southville! Everyone is super nice, and it’s easy to make friends. I am very happy to be here!”
Deputy Principal for Grades 6-9, Ms. Gladys Mintu, got to end this year’s Freshman Afternoon with some closing remarks. May this jam-packed and eventful opening to high school be the introduction to an exciting new chapter for all the freshmen of our school.
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