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Going to Bataan was a new experience for me. I slept through the journey not awareof the life changing activity that well be doing. As I stepped off the bus I heard thesound of children speaking. The bell is ringing, time for us to get going and startteaching our new pupils.

The pupils of 6thgrade in both Adamson Elementary School and Palili ElementarySchool were short and small for their age. I remembered my youngest sister who is ofthe same height as our pupils but my sister is plump compared to them. I miss both ofmy sisters and my parents. In Bataan, I am in a 10-hour ride away from home ascompared to the 12-hour ride from Manila.

One particular student caught my eye. Her name is Jasmine and shes fromAdamson Elementary School. I saw in her the eagerness to learn, the ability to graspnew lessons and the way she could talk to me about her dreams in life and her plans forthe near future. I recall what our NSTP facilitator said earlier 5 minutes before going out

of the bus; that these children usually after graduating from elementary will starthelping their parents in the livelihood. That most of them couldnt enter college andusually the females engage in early pregnancies. I thought of Jasmine, I hope her futurewould be bright and I hope her focus on her dreams would not decrease as she goesolder.

We were tasked on our first field work to teach Math, English, and Science to ourpupils. I am thrilled that my group mates had thought of giving lessons especially inMath that were a little challenging even for us teachers. The Thomasian value ofcompetency was applied there I suppose. I also noticed that every time we have our

fieldwork my group mates and I commit ourselves to finishing our tasks even thoughwe are the last to get on the bus going back to UST. Compassion was also evidentbetween pupils and teachers because they got along really well even though it was thefirst for both groups to see and interact with each other.

I am glad that my group mates had thought of giving our pupils figurines that couldbe painted on for the Art Workshop. Our pupils were very intent on painting thefigurines even though we urged them to have their lunch already. They are a joy towatch. Hey, maybe I could use this idea when I get home for summer vacation. I hopemy sisters would like it. I also would want to teach my sisters a lesson in readingcomprehension as Ive witnessed that most of our pupils still didnt have a wide rangeof vocabulary. I cringe at the fact that some do not even know the meaning of a nounand adjective.

We as Filipino citizens have the responsibility of taking care of our fellowmen. Ourpupils who have less opportunity to study because of insufficient materials couldbecome more knowledgeable thanks to this National Service Training Program andUSTs efforts to stay in touch and help these children. Through this Literacy Training

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Service, I hope that I could become more active in the community by helping outespecially to the least fortunate people who are also a few steps away from the walls ofthe university. And I pray that the best is yet to come for our pupils and that may theynot get tired of seeking knowledge and working to reach their goal of a better life.