unsung heroes

“unsung heroes”
Faye Hazel R. Douglass, UNITASS DOA assoc. head and KKP-SIO volunteer

Enrollment has always been one of the major dilemmas of an ordinary Atenean. The heat of the sun or the cold drops of water from the rain, the unmoving lines, the slow releasing of grades and ID (and so on and so forth) have none the less described the experiences I have had during June 1-6. Not only have these days make me not want to continue my loyal service to the school, but they have only made me want to be a better volunteer.

Enrollment scheme was very simple this semester. Just get the grade, green form, go to the department for evaluation and encoding, back to the registrar for validation and picture taken for the ID. The only agonizing thing about the process is the line as if it was made to test the patience of the dear students.
Luckily, I’m not one of them. I’m a volunteer working for the student council and for KKP. I teach NSTP and I also tutor kids. I help out any way I can. It’s not like I am counting everything I have done, but I’m just being blunt about the things we do as volunteers to the students who do not know what being an SV really means.

First of all, SV does not mean servants. It means student volunteer. it also means we had a choice whether to go on schooling without any extra-curricular activities and have more time for fun or to serve our fellow Ateneans and Filipinos. And it means we chose the latter. We chose to sacrifice our valuable time that could have been spent on other things. We chose to serve.
Second, SV’s follow only one rule: serve. In any way, we all have done our unsung parts for the school. We aren’t paid. In fact, the only motivation we have is the snack which we also pay for. and most of the time, we pay for our own leadership training and fare for wherever we need to be. We help out those who need and don’t need us. Service has always been the reward for us.
Third, the only reward we ever get is to not wait in line like everybody else. We are given ID’s so people can identify us. After all, once we’re done getting ourselves enrolled, we help out with the enrolment so that people won’t have to wait in line longer.
Fourth, we do not get any credits. We do not get any units off so we can pass our subjects or that we can be better volunteers. We made the choice, so we have to constantly remind ourselves why we still want to pursue our passion even if at times we lose our time for ourselves. And on certain occasions, we lose ourselves in the process. But because we love to serve, all that doesn’t matter anymore.
Fifth, we are not supermen. We can’t do everything, but at least we’re doing something. And not only that, we sv’s get tired too. We get hurt, we run out of time, we get fed up. But here we are, serving as usual.
Finally, the purpose of the student program is to serve the school, teachers, and fellow students. It provides an ample and easily accessible opportunity wherein students can put forth their dedication to the school through facilitating the institution with even the smallest help to the larger objectives of this school. Being an SV can definitely boost any form of application process post-college, but in the long run, surely the experiences of willfully serving this school will give us and others a much better insight of our character, and also an improve sense of self-satisfaction for what we have accomplished for others' needs and others' demands.
The reasons why I have chosen these six major concerns is because it surprises me how many people question our intentions. It surprises me how some people feel that it is unfair for us to just cut in line. It surprises me how some students are upset about how we get privileges. And it astonishes me how some students still do not understand our work.
It was my final step on June 3. All I had to do was go to the registrar. So I went to the side of the line where the SV’s showed their ID’s and passed through. I fell in line for my turn and tapped a friend’s shoulder and told him that I’d wait for him after I’d get enrolled. When I went ahead, he screamed violently, “what the hell?!!!!” mortified, I just smiled and winked at him and lowered my head in embarrassment. I wasn’t shy about me being a volunteer, but it was the feeling that I was being unfair. I just sat down on the bench near the registrar’s office with a face as red as a tomato. It wasn’t what he did that made me feel hurt. It was where he placed me with his words that tarnished my spirit. It had disturbed me how I was so against people who abused their power only to find I was only doing it unconsciously.
But after talking about it with a few professors and friends, I felt like it was only fair. We deserve whatever little reward we get. In fact, we get the smallest of all. We don’t have time for a lot of things that ordinary students neglect to appreciate. We wake up early on days we don’t have to. We sometimes forget to eat lunch just so we can finish our goals for the year. And for a single thing like getting ahead of line, that is no longer acceptable?
I don’t think it is fair for some people to scrutinize our role in school. I don’t think it’s fair how we have to bear in mind that we are students and heroes and if necessary, public enemy. I don’t think it’s fair either that we serve people but people don’t help us to help them. even superman needs help. We sometimes never get the respect we deserve. But don’t get us wrong, we don’t demand respect. We believe that it is something to be earned. We work despite and in spite of people disrespecting us and abusing us.
One time in an nstp class, a student of mine got in at 10 am. But still being so kind hearted because his brother was in the hospital, I let him in even if I heard the previous reports of his classmates. He was playing his mp3 (even when he knew that he was not supposed to do so), he slept inside class, he didn’t pay his contribution for the class Christmas party for the kids. There was a time I even caught him smoking within the perimeter of the area work. He didn’t have a workbook. He made no contributions to the class. But being so tolerant, I ignored them all. i admit that there was a time I smoked near the perimeter, but he lied to me and that was wrong. If he admitted it, there was no problem. I would have understood.
So I decided to reprimand him after he incessantly tried to distract me from teaching a few kids. After a few exchange of words, I ended up pointing out his faults and that I had been nothing but tolerant. Until he gets to the point of telling me, “sv raman ka” as I was walking away from him. I came back and told him, “if you can afford to do that to your friends and your girlfriend, don’t do that to me.”I don’t know whether I deserved that. But for every sv who would be insulted like that, it was totally uncalled for. After a few weeks when I lost my anger, I decided to say I was sorry. But he decided not to forgive me. I admit I turned something professional into something personal. But when my dignity as a person is on the line, I have to stand up for myself. Sv or no sv, I had to defend myself.
Sometimes in being a volunteer, we arrive at the fine line between our selves and professionalism. We tend to forget that we are serving when people forget to remember that it is for them. we are human too. And it is so upsetting that we are sometimes treated as unimportant. But here we are, serving anyway. Regardless whether we get respect or not, it just simply comes with the job.
But don’t get me wrong. I love my work. It is my reason for waking up every morning. I feel excited when I get to help people. I find a sense of fulfillment whenever serve others. I feel happy when I get to do more than what I can for others.

We feel like superman when we live out the spirit of service. And that is really why we are student volunteers.