As recounted by Louie Agnir-Paraan
There’s nothing like a walking tour through SSC Manila, guided by HS 1979 Becky Padilla-Marquez and SSAFI VP Internal, Mariasun “Charlie” Azcuna (COL 1983 MA 2000, former Dean of Liberal Arts), to open your mind and hearts to the past and the future, all in one glance. Charlie and Becky bring a nostalgia founded on historical facts about the school, its denizens, and the world they moved around in from 1906 to the present.
But, the greatest surprise is what kind of memories going through the physical buildings and courtyards draw out from our psyches as we: smell the woody, musty essence of old books and card catalogues; oooh and ahhh at the upholstered red chairs at St. Cecilia’s that replaced the old rickety ones which cracks caught our thighs in their painful grip; the classroom and blackboard settings of victory and despair; the stairwells that echoed the dragging of wheeled heavy school bags while teachers always reminded us to “lift your feet, girls!”; the stuffing and clearing of lockers with smelly shoes and hefty textbooks replaced with Individualized Instruction Manuals; the twirling of skirts as we caught falling acacia leaves (minus higad, hopefully) so that we could make a wish on each of them, and the carefree role-playing at the sandbox beside the little house in Sr. Gratia’s preschool haven. The depth and breadth of emotions – tears, happiness, regret, pride, inspiration – is totally unexpected.
A few batches, notably HS 1976 (Tata Estaniel), HS 1986 (Melanie Cera), and HS 1973 (Kissa Ocampo), have gamely tested out the prototype walk with us, suggesting improvements and inclusions in future tours. We have tried to simplify the walk and created a specific number of stations to make the story flow easier to absorb. Stopping at the stations also helps us catch our breath. Who ever thought climbing up Sta. Maria Building’s steps to the Little Theater would cause shortness of breath? But oh, the smell of the theater, the stage, the memories of countless plays, concerts, even oft-repeated movies for 25 centavos entrance ~ why do I remember that and not where I put my keys?
Watch out as we do a formal launch of the Memory Walk in all its glory in 2024. We will also open to alumni informal training to become docents/tour guides for this. Abangan….
