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| Photo from Michaela Tijam |
After almost two and a half years, the batch of 2020 was finally able to have their Solemn Investiture and give a proper closing to their days in the university. On June 10, 2022, the UST Faculty of Arts and Letters held one of its 2020, 2021, and 2022 Solemn Investitures. One of the graduates for BA Communication Arts is 2020 CASAn graduate Michaela Tijam of 4CA1, who is currently taking up her JD degree in San Beda, Alabang.
The biggest challenge faced during her last term and in the online setup
What was a supposed one-week suspension of classes became an abrupt goodbye and for the batch 2020, they had to finish their last term in an online setup. Michaela said in an online interview with CASA Chronicle that one of the biggest challenges was dealing with film production since they didn’t know what to do because of the suspension. By that time, they already had sponsors, already allotted time and money, and had already met up with the team that would supposedly edit their film. Everything was almost prepared but eventually, their film production was canceled and other major projects were consecutively canceled.
This brought on the disappointment of what could have been the last chance to collaborate with friends. “It’s what we look forward to as seniors yun na yung huling hurrah namin, and in film prod it's where we express ourselves and it's the time where you work with your friends—it's the last time as seniors to bond with friends. That was taken away from us because of the pandemic, so it was painful when it was taken away from us since we didn’t get to say our proper goodbyes, and experience it all to the fullest before we leave the university.”
According to her, another challenge faced during that time was finishing their thesis, especially communicating with her thesis partner because they were limited by the online setup. Before the pandemic, it was also easier to communicate with her thesis advisor to get their thesis checked, but they had to transition to relying on emails and Facebook chat to fulfill their requirements.
The disadvantageous part of the online setup that she is facing currently as a law student is the lack of satisfaction with reciting or doing activities. Because everything is confined on the screen, she shares that she can’t get the full experience as a law student. She mentions, “compared to being in a virtual classroom, there are so many mundane moments that I could've had with my peers and we would have enjoyed those moments but that was taken away from us.”
How she and her peers supported each other during unsure times
Having to transition to an online setup in their penultimate semester as seniors, communication was no easy feat for them, especially with the barrier that the online setup brought. Michaela shared that in communicating with her peers, “it was more of trying to imitate the way they’d we interact with each other all in Facebook chat, so yung mga asaran namen it was limited there. But before, we’d go to class and there would be banterings early in the morning and everyone would be laughing.” She shared that early on in the pandemic, there was this uncertainty if COVID was real, “but maybe I'm speaking on my behalf, but me and my blockmates were joking around and trying to make the situation lighter.” She shared that they didn’t know that a one-week suspension would go on for two years much like other students during that time, but seeing the numbers slowly rise in the news then graduation came and they didn’t have their ceremony, that was the time it sunk in “okay maybe COVID is really serious.” She also added, “I remember when the announcement for suspension came we were all jumping for joy. That slowly became 'oh this is the last time that we're gonna see each other.’”
The period after their graduation, the spirit of camaraderie never left her peers, she recalls during that time their batch group chat was filled with #MayOpeningBaDiyan and her batchmates would send out job openings to help each other out. The connections established pre-pandemic through the organizations that she and her batchmates were part of also helped a lot with opportunities. She added that their batch was very BS Org and the alumni helped them as well.
Her advice for CASAn undergraduates, given the current landscape that the Philippines is in right now
When asked about what advice she can give fellow CASAns who will become future media practitioners or will choose to pursue law like her, she answered “best advice I could give them came from my professor. Don't lose hope just because the government isn’t the government that you wanted, because you can still fight for a new government. He reminded us of People Power and as much as that sounds too idealist, it's still realistic because it did happen in our country and in our history so we can still do that.”
A message that she wants to relay to other undergraduates is to not give up on their dreams. “And maybe there is that fear inside of you that you might not want to take that extra mile for your dream because it might put yourself in danger. Know the risk that you have to take for your country. Beyond everything, beyond your dreams, beyond your passion, beyond everything that you’ve been learning in the university you have to put the people first, the country first, at the end of the day that's the people you're trying to serve.”
A question that she posed during the interview: As a media practitioner, what are you trying to do? She said, “you’re trying to tell them the truth, you’re trying to tell them what truths need to be louder than others. That’s why you need to keep persevering.” In this time of rampant disinformation, she stressed the responsibility for communication students to actually act on it. “If you choose to pursue media or law, at the end of the day when you try to do your best in it, it does change something. You have yourself to thank for that, you could tell your children or great-grandchildren that I was part of that movement. If you try to do something it creates a ripple effect, and you get to influence so many people. Do not lose hope in the future, tumindig lang kayo at ipaglaban niyo yung mga tao.”
