You still have a year to go before you get your first experience in receiving a Palanca, but I heard you needed a letter, so here it is in my most humble thought to give you one.
I see that you need to hear the word “Congratulations” for surviving Freshman Year. Don’t think you’ve gained enough knowledge already; there’s more to come and much more to go.
Hardcore subjects can be so exhausting, with the many units it burdens you with. You’ll know what it’s like to be stressed, with so many requirements piling up behind your back as the days, weeks, months go on. You’ll have Advanced Algebra, Geometry, Biology, English, Filipino – El Fili (in Sophomore Year? Yeah.), then your Electives: CAD, EnSci, Arts, TechSkills. What else? Music, PE, Health, ValEd, Physics, Chemistry. Why bother to count how many you’re taking? Just do it, and go with the flow. Don’t think about the way you could have done better when you’re not in a science high school named after your country. This is your struggle, but there are people willing to help as long as you let them.
Join clubs. Apply. Get accepted. Try to paint. Dance. Act. Don’t say there’s no time – for goodness sake, you have all the time in the world. It’s up to your what to do with it. Grow in your studies, especially in science and math, but also grow in your other aspects. Use your talents as you have somehow hoped that your were a prodigy in your younger years, because they might fade by the time you would want to use them. Spread it, as if it can be laid out on a table, and plan your journey in life with it. Those are your tools to survive the world that never seems to rest.
Sing with the national anthem and school hymn with all your heart, even though your voice does not agree with the tune. Try to reach that high note of the DOST Hymn. Squeal when you need to when you finish expurgating yourself in the middle of the heart after the PSHS Hymn, but respect the song. Enchant yourself whenever the flag waves at you and believe that you are a work-in-progress of your country. Until such a time comes you are ready to serve back the taxpayers who funded your education, learn as much as you can. The world needs you, so give it your best shot.
And then, you will fall in love. And this time, for real. You will watch the Juniors and Seniors ask their dates during Prom Season. You will be told to get ready because it’s your turn next year. You’ll probably get excited or just shrug it off. But in the meantime, relax. Because you won’t find love in the premiere science high school of you country. You will find desperate moments of trying to understand your subjects, stress in finishing every requirement, frustration in pleasing your parents for your achievements you’ve been trying to keep up since elementary, and sadness for thinking that you were not giving your very best. Don’t find love. Instead, let love find you. And when it does, let it fill your heart.
Being a Sophomore seems like a cavalry of your high school life, but nobody stops there. Especially not a scholar of the nation like you. So good luck and here parts of these letters get repeated in your mind from other people as well.
