Student Voice Father’s Day :::::::: by Jaime Santos
F
Father’s Day 2018,
Photos courtesy of AMS
Dads Dads Revolution! :::::::: by Kyle Reiner Pineda
Father’s Day 2018 was
defined as record-breaking and unbelievable. Simply put, Dads Dads Revolution, the theme of this year, lived up to the hype and produced an event that will be relieved in Southridge history for a long time. The Father’s Day for the school’s 39th year centered around going back to the roots and revisiting the 90’s generation games such as Pacman!, Donkey Kong, Super Mario, and others! Players or shall we say, students must “PRESS START” to get the festivities going! Games, bands, events, and sports were aplenty and definitely satisfied every goer in Southridge on that day. As the sun rose, many students were already gearing up for what was going to be an action-packed day. People stayed as late as 11 pm the night before and some arrived as early as 3 am. Proceedings officially started at 7 am wherein the Holy Mass in the chapel was held. Likewise, the students from all grade levels started arriving in bunches at 8 am. All students gathered at the covered courts and were separated by house, Helm, and Vinta. To kick start the day, the morning parade proved to be a memorable one as this year had the longest dance numbers between both houses. Certainly, students still danced their hearts out despite the heat of the sun. Once the dances concluded, a prayer was led by Fr. Johnpaul Menchavez, the School Chaplain, and the day was officially opened by the Executive Director, Mr. Ferdie Cruz. Right after the Morning Parade ended, merchant and food booths were likewise opened to everybody. In the field, the traditional tug-of-war for every batch was held. Students from the two
houses pulled as hard as they could as they wanted their house to gather as many points to win this year’s Father’s Day. Right after, the “Great Games” was held in the field which was a new addition by this year’s organizers. At the same time, varsity vs alumni games for both basketball and futsal were ongoing. Food eating contests were also held in the other court. As for the booths, visitors and students alike were treated to a variety of booths ranging from food to merchandise to carousel games, you name it. There were booths ran by both outsiders and students so those who wanted to try out the business world were able to experience it first hand at this event. Batches had their own booths as well which included the annual horror booth and jail booth. From the sand court to the courtyard to the Main Building, the school was filled with activities everyone could entertain themselves with. Once the clock hit noon, a series of performances from school bands started to perform. The “Variety Show” paved the way for the students of the school to showcase their talent in front of a larger crowd. Performances by the Broken Infinities, Joey Tha Boy, and Paolo Sandejas capped off this portion of the program as the day was just getting more exciting! Performances by Oh Flamingo! and IV of Spades followed right after which pleased the crowd. The latter would go on to perform in Wanderland the following week so everyone started tuning in when the bands from the outside started performing. As the sun started setting, the much anticipated Night Parade rolled in. Batch Unity and Pride were at stake for everyone
leading to a very competitive fight for all divisions. All batches pulled out all the stops to make sure they would get the W from cars to dragons to arcade machines. In the end though, only one winner per division was crowned. As hard as it was to accept, some batches were left contemplating the things they could have improved on to get their hands on the prize. Before the High School division started, the Woodrose Dance Crew performed first during the intermission. This was a landmark moment because this was the first time a Woodrose led crew performed in Southridge. Truly remarkable! As the night ended, the announcement of Night Parade winners was done as well as the overall house winner for the year. Helm was victorious for the second year in a row though they will need a lot more if they are to catch up to Vinta’s win count. The night was capped off with fireworks and performances by a star-studded line up featuring Basically Saturday Night, The Ransom Collective, and Rivermaya to close this year’s Father’s Day. Dads Dads Revolution in total broke the record for highest attendance, the highest amount of sponsorship funds earned, first multi dance-performances in the morning parade, first parentsponsor table scheme, first time Southridge had an arcade on campus, and most number of alumni playing in the Alumni games. This year’s edition of Father’s Day has set the standard for the future batches to match or even best. We’d like to give thanks to everyone who put their blood, sweat, and tears to make this event successful.
athers’ Day should stay as Father’s Day and never ever change to Family Day. This has been a constant debate and stigma of many Southridge students. We have been celebrating Father’s Day for over 30 years and personally I never want to change the name Father’s Day because it is one of the most unique events our school ever has. A big event like Father’s Day, with all the work and grandeur can never be remade in any school here in the Philippines. It has to be Father’s Day because the school’s goal is to make men of integrity. A man learns how to be like a man from other men, and the man of the family is the father. We have to give our fathers everything they deserve and we have to celebrate them for everything they have done. They lead the family. Father’s Day is a celebration of the Fathers, where the whole day should be centered around them. The events, the company, the games, the food, and many more elements should help create an atmosphere centered for them. Over the years, the atmosphere has changed. Fathers’ Day has been becoming less focused on the fathers. The family and friends have taken the spotlight which has pushed many to change the name of Fathers’ Day to Southridge Family Day or Southridge Fair. This would be similar to almost any school in the Philippines that have these types of events; they are great and may even be grander than Father’s Day. It would be the peak of the year, the climax of fun and celebration. Yet Fathers’ Day cannot be the climax of the year, it may be the most grand but it cannot be the climax. The school year has to be the climax. Fathers’ Day is for the fathers, the best way to honor the fathers and celebrate their role in the family is with the family. They have to be the center even if every year “Fathers’ Day” is big and complex. The whole event at its very core needs to be simple: honor the father with the whole family, then the friends come after. For some it may be hard to accept this, that Fathers’ Day can’t be a big fair or a music festival run by big names. This direction focusing on a simple core is what allows people to truly see what Southridge values. Fathers’ Day with all the big names performing and big brands selling should not be the end goal. If we constantly push for more money to spend more on Fathers’ Day, the school ceases to be the school the founders wanted it to be, as stated in the school’s mission-vision. We had big sponsors and performers. These were the things that made Fathers’ Day great as many people would say. There were so many people in Fathers’ Day. This made the Father’s Day one for the books. The design of the school during that day made it something truly memorable. This made Fathers’ Day unforgettable. Then why make it Fathers’ Day if what makes it great are the attendees, the performers, and design? Then we shouldn’t even call it Southridge Family Day. With a jam-packed schedule, we might as well call it a music festival. To generate money and fun are of course good things but we should never forget what we are as a school. For Southridge to be the focus, the fathers have to be at the center.