Going to Bataan was a new experience for me.

I slept through the journey not aware of the life changing activity that well be doing. As I stepped off the bus I heard the sound of children speaking. The bell is ringing, time for us to get going and start teaching our new pupils. The pupils of 6th grade in both Adamson Elementary School and Palili Elementary School were short and small for their age. I remembered my youngest sister who is of the same height as our pupils but my sister is plump compared to them. I miss both of my sisters and my parents. In Bataan, I am in a 10-hour ride away from home as compared to the 12-hour ride from Manila. One particular student caught my eye. Her name is Jasmine and shes from Adamson Elementary School. I saw in her the eagerness to learn, the ability to grasp new lessons and the way she could talk to me about her dreams in life and her plans for the 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 start helping their parents in the livelihood. That most of them couldnt enter college and usually the females engage in early pregnancies. I thought of Jasmine, I hope her future would be bright and I hope her focus on her dreams would not decrease as she goes older. We were tasked on our first field work to teach Math, English, and Science to our pupils. I am thrilled that my group mates had thought of giving lessons especially in Math that were a little challenging even for us teachers. The Thomasian value of competency 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 though we are the last to get on the bus going back to UST. Compassion was also evident between pupils and teachers because they got along really well even though it was the first 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 could be painted on for the Art Workshop. Our pupils were very intent on painting the figurines even though we urged them to have their lunch already. They are a joy to watch. Hey, maybe I could use this idea when I get home for summer vacation. I hope my sisters would like it. I also would want to teach my sisters a lesson in reading comprehension as Ive witnessed that most of our pupils still didnt have a wide range of vocabulary. I cringe at the fact that some do not even know the meaning of a noun and adjective. We as Filipino citizens have the responsibility of taking care of our fellowmen. Our pupils who have less opportunity to study because of insufficient materials could become more knowledgeable thanks to this National Service Training Program and USTs efforts to stay in touch and help these children. Through this Literacy Training

Service, I hope that I could become more active in the community by helping out especially to the least fortunate people who are also a few steps away from the walls of the university. And I pray that the best is yet to come for our pupils and that may they not get tired of seeking knowledge and working to reach their goal of a better life.