Junior High School (JHS) Day is a fun day for SISC Monarchs to take a break, de-stress, and unwind from their academics after a long week of studying. It is an opportunity to engage in enjoyable activities and spend time with friends and family.
Teacher Marie Vic “Avic” Suarez emphasized this in her opening remarks last February 17, 2023. To boost the morale of the students. She reminded the division that it was a safe and supportive environment for everyone to enjoy the day and express themselves without fear of being judged by others, whilst making friends and showing sportsmanship amidst the competition through the acronym ‘JSF’. The acronym stands for the Juniors, Sophomores, and Freshmen: j for judgment-free, s for self-expression, and f for friendship—meaning that it is a day for the three divisions to come together.
The three grade levels followed color schemes: purple for seventh grade, red for eighth grade, and green for ninth grade.
Flow of the Program
To start off the JHS faculty-organized event, students entered and paraded the Monarchs Gym donning their respective batch colors. Each batch shined whilst carrying balloons, pompoms, flags, and pride. The Freshmen wore a purple ensemble representing one of SISC’s symbols — stars. While the Sophomores wore red to represent hearts and the Juniors wore customized green jerseys and civilian attire to represent laurels.
After the good sportsmanship oath-taking ceremony, the welcoming remarks of Teacher Avic, and the zumba energizer—a relay of the school’s torch from one batch representative each, ignited the energizing atmosphere of the event.
Moments later, hundreds of students stood in support of their batch’s muses and escorts, who were dressed in blue, red, and green dashing sporty attires to symbolize their own batch. In front of the panel of three judges, they briefly danced, modeled, and spoke for themselves with great elegance and confidence.
Later during the day, the Cheer Competition began. Each batch had their very own chants and cheer performances, showcasing their incredible dancing abilities, leaps, kicks, and tumbles.
Leaping from one segment to the other, the competition was amplified with an impressive game of Chinese Garter. The height of the garter increased along with the intensity of the atmosphere, with some players falling on their knees or landing on their own 2 feet. The JHS players then took part in a game of dodgeball. The crowd watched intently as each volleyball was thrown and each whistle was blown.
In a span of 5 minutes, the students went from sitting down on the gym’s floor to standing up closer to the field. Lastly, the awaited Amazing Race was held during the event’s final hours. Divided into different teams and stations, the Monarchs engaged in 10 games such as Hula-Hoop Relay, Landmines, Blindfolded Straw Insert, and Pledge Arrangement.
JHS Day Winners
Now, the question is…which batches brought an award home?
The Junior’s representative, Tyler Martinez from 9 - Generosity, won as the escort, while the Freshmen’s representative, Shakira Lang from 7 - Resilience, won as the muse.
The Sophomores triumphed in the competitions for Chinese garter and 5S model. Because of their victories in the Chinese Garter, Dodgeball, Amazing Race, and Cheer competitions, the Juniors emerged as the overall champions.
Interview Section
The first student we interviewed was Freshman, Gwendolyn ‘Lyn’ Margaret G. Tangog, who played in a popsicle game where the participants had to color code popsicles with haste.
Lyn regarded the event with great positivity, sharing that, “JHS day was a very fun experience.” A highlight for her would be the cheer dance performances, where she watched entertaining and admirable talent brought to light. She fondly remembered the laughter she shared with her friends upon the impressive feats of the other batches. She conveyed, “I do hope I can participate in JHS day annually.”
In reflecting on the day’s team building nature, she shared, “I think JHS day helps strengthen and form friendships because it forces you to work together with your peers and batch mates,” and emphasized its significance in saying, “There is a need for camaraderie-building events because it is important that we build positive relationships and trust among each other.”
Looking back on the moments she had spent relishing the day with the people she cared about, she expressed her appreciation over her observation: people were making memories that would go on to be reminisced.
Freshmen’s Friendships: ✅
The second Junior High School member we interviewed was Max Brown, a Sophomore who participated in the cheer and a station game where the game’s objective was to shoot a straw in a water bottle whilst blindfolded. Brown joined Southville during the pandemic, and so to them, this academic year wasn’t only an incredible introduction to the campus, but also a great introduction to the face-to-face experience building camaraderie in events like JHS Day.
To Max, there were many memorable moments during the event, but the one that stood out the most to them were the cheer performances. “The dancing from Grades 9, 8, and 7 were beautifully made and I loved all of it,” Max strongly affirms.
“Even if my class didn't win, it doesn't mean that I didn't have fun,” they add. Max definitely had so much fun; seeing friends and being able to help their batch. As for the atmosphere? They said it was great! Max loved the feeling of the environment where they could just be themself yet still remain safe—not just on events like these, but truly everyday.
Sophomore’s Self-Expression: ✅
The last Monarch we interviewed was a proud Junior of the school, as well as a participant and observer of several activities. As a long-time student of SISC, this would be the first event since A.Y. 2019-2020 that would emulate their Grade School Intramurals experiences. They preferred to remain anonymous with their responses.
To them, the benefits of JHS day were the memories they made with their friends. They got a chance to bond with their fellow VOLT classmates, reconnect with their friends, take photos, and simply have fun.
We asked for their take on JHS day on whether it was a judgment-free zone or not. “Quite so. I mean other than the judging part of the cheer dance, I felt quite ‘un-judged’,” this Monarch states. The one aspect, however, that made them feel like it was a judgment-free zone was the social environment itself. “Everyone seemed to have fun with their friends, and that made me feel like I could freely have fun with my own [friends].”
This Monarch believes that being free of judgment-related pressures influences one’s behavior by making them be more honest with themselves. The Junior stated that, “If a person feels like they aren’t being judged, it’ll give them more confidence in the things they want and do.”
Junior’s Judgment-Free: ✅
With all the acronyms checked out, we can definitely conclude that this year's Junior High School Day was a successful event and a breath of fresh air. In addition to having fun, students will remember this day for a long time to come. Junior High School Day will undoubtedly be back in the upcoming years. The school year is not over yet, so look out for more J-udgement-free, S-elf-expression, and F-riendship moments to come!
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