The students in SMA were either called "outsider, villager or commuter," because they stayed in a boarding house outside the campus or commuted daily from home, and "dormitorians" when staying in the school-owned dormitory inside the campus, because home was too far for commuting on a daily basis. Many of the those in the dormitories were children of SDA pastors who were stationed in Davao City - like my sister and I, and about 15 to 20 others during our time. This meant that on long weekends, right after the last class on Friday afternoon, we would all be lined up by the highway, just outside the school gate waiting for the bus. The bus companies that went by SMA were Minrapco, Villa Bus, CBC and Cotranco - which was our favorite ride, because it was fast and stopped only at stations - "stationary." After the weekend break this batch of kids would be in the station in Davao ready to board the 5:00 AM bus to SMA in time for the first period class. Our bags at this time would hold our supply of soap, shampoo, toothpaste, etc, enough to last until the next break. Canned goods, pastries and other yummy stuff would also be neatly packed too. If our parents' had time they would drive us back to SMA or sometimes pay as an unannounced visit.
Dormitory life in SMA for a skinny freshman like me was trying to get accepted by the bigger and older occupants. Bullying existed very much in those days and it was not uncommon to see a kid crying and wanting his mommy while the rest of the boys laughed at him. Joel was a rather funny kid who was the butt of the jokes of the older boys. Even if I laughed at him sometimes, I also had to watch out for myself. It is in the dormitory where I learned how to box using towels as gloves.
Falling was something that always happened in SMA during my time. Shirley fell through the ceiling of the audie while we were practicing for the piano recitals, Ethel - my sister, fell down the stairs of the dorm resulting in blue-black and painful shins, Inday May fell from the kalachuchi tree and hurt her clavicle... and Jerry fell in love with Joy under the blossoming fire tree.
The fourth year of my high school was spent in MVC Academy in Bukidnon, because my parents were taken by the school as administrators. The class that I was a newbie to was composed of some intelligent and naughty kids and was actually a bunch of anarchists who made one teacher abruptly end the class out of anger and exasperation. On another day it was a senior college practice teacher crying, because we laughed at the way she pronounced some english words. In retrospect I can see that the unusual alignment of the planets had something to do with bringing this batch together. We had one mind and that mind was bent on mischief. A day of suspension from class so all of us could clean up some part of the campus as punishment fell short of making us regret and reform.
High school had it's ups and downs, but all in all, these years were memorable and fun.
This is how the buses looked like back then.
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