It has been two years that the COVID-19 pandemic has drastically affected our lives and morphed it into a different reality. We embraced living in the bubble of our homes while lurking in the digital world. Hence the transition to online learning brings immense challenges that significantly impact the students and educational institutions. Not everyone has the luxury to avail spontaneity and easy access to the digital sphere, let alone paying for mobile data packages. The role of educational institutions becomes crucial in ensuring quality learning despite these hurdles. Though these turbulent challenges were strong, are we strong enough to conquer them?

The campus grounds were emptied in the past years. CFOS park is now dead silent instead of the noises coming from vehicles and the students’ typical chismis and chikahan while eating under the shade of the big acacia tree. Due to the university’s revised admission qualifications, the newest batch of students could not experience what it meant to become an Iskolar ng Bayan. There were no cheers across the court and drum beats with fancy costumes accompanying the jive of welcoming these new students. It was a challenge socializing through our digital screens and pretending we were online, but we were asleep every synchronous class. These challenges were abrupt due to the transition in delivering lessons. Nevertheless, it was the only option to use and continue our education.

CFOS embodies its empathetic leadership and passionate service to the students by providing activities and programs with the student council, such as tutoring services, the Aklatan ni Diwata, the webinars for mental health, and the free USB and printed materials sent to the students upon request. These may not be the “end all be all” of the students’ problems, but they alleviate the circumstances for a while and makes it feel better. The college is also home to faculty members who give leniency to deadlines and submissions, so long as there is a proper walkthrough of communication. The college’s plans for the safe reopening of laboratories and facilities were carried through weeks and months of preparation and consultations. These were the ultimate reasons why graduating undergraduate, and graduate students were able to finish their thesis manuscripts and graduate on time. For now, the gates are slowly embracing more students as third years also experienced bridging exercises before being deployed at their practicum. These were ultimately among the proactive ways to bridge the skillset that the lab alternatively replaced at home set-up; then again, it is what the students need.

The forts of Mother Diwata will always tell us that turbulent waters are reminders that we are not alone in the challenges that we face; we have our friends, families, and even the faculty members who are interested in helping us swim these hurdles together. The ocean will always be wide and the turbulence can come across in different forms; as a CFOS student – are you willing to go through it all? And we say, “yes!”