BY EDISON MARTE SICAD
ALLOW me to share with you dear readers the insights of a student in joining school competitions. We can also call this learning by doing — as well as by writing. May we, parents and educators, continue to guide and support the passion of our learners in every step of the way.
***
Pasundayag was fun
(By Levi Fernandez)
The Pasundayag is very exciting, no one can deny that. But what makes it even better is that it’s a yearly event. So theoretically, you could participate in various fun activities for twelve years straight. That’s something to look forward to. Because of this, you can train for a specific activity. You can also view this event as a break from regular, exhausting activities (sixty percent of school). For this year and the last, I joined in the Character Interpretation.
Character Interpretation can be explained by the title itself. You choose any character from a piece of literature, be it from The Lord of the Rings or from a deteriorating library book — and you act as that character. You basically impersonate that character. You interpret your understanding of that character: Character Interpretation.
For the first year of my experience with this activity, I chose Willy Wonka: known as the world’s greatest chocolate maker (in the world of literature). He was also slightly insane (but we ignore that). Actually, we didn’t ignore that. We embraced it and implemented it into the character. For the first year I got second place, which I saw as an absolute win.
For the second year I chose him again thinking “there are two books, why not move onto the second one?” For both performances, I was trained by my mom (which proved to be incredibly effective). The script was also crafted by her on both occasions. During the second year, I was only able to practice a week and a bit more before the event due to some major exams. But that didn’t affect my performance in the slightest (I think).
It was the day of the event and I had already gotten into character. A few hours before, it was actually my turn. While waiting, I got more nervous. It just dawned on me that I could make a mistake onstage, with everyone seeing it and the judges deducting a point. I went backstage, getting a smidge more nervous. My mom actually accompanied me, assisting with my microphone. And then she went back to her seat to watch. “Mic check…” Nothing. Well, this doesn’t sound good. Actually, it quite literally sounded like nothing. It took a lot more troubleshooting to get the microphone (lapel) working. This was it. I walked onto stage and started my performance. A few seconds into the performance the microphone briefly stopped working. I froze, noticing the brief quietness when the sound of me mimicking a splashing noise was supposed to come out of the speakers. I tested the microphone again, this time it worked. I continued performing. But two to three seconds later it stopped working again. I kind of panicked a bit. The MC gestured to me to exit the stage.
When the mic malfunctioned and stopped working completely, I was extremely glad that I could restart later on. It was decided that my turn would be moved. There was one more event before I could perform. I was very glad I could watch my class/grade perform. I was also a lot more glad that I would get a second chance. Also, my classmates got first place for their event. They’re Grade 7. Their competitors were Grade 8 and 9. Incredible.
In the end, I got second place. I was one point away from the winner. But honestly, I was already proud about my performance. And this isn’t even mentioning that I got fourth place in essay writing out of twenty-four participants, including Senior High School students. Even the first three spots were Senior High students.
In summary, I am deeply passionate in acting and writing. I enjoy both these activities and I enjoyed the Pasundayag.
***
Pasundayag is the equivalent of the Cultural Contest for other schools.
***
Levi is a Grade 7 student in Iloilo who, according to him, “strives to be a creative entertainer.” He dabbled in video editing since he was in Grade 4. He enjoys giving speeches onstage when given the chance. And he recently discovered he has a passion for writing./PN
