OLD is GOLD: UP Chemical Society Through the Years

Written in July 2020 by TET-TET PUA in collaboration with ALUMNI from DIFFERENT DECADES

Ballpoint pen and Scotch tape, photocopier and microwave oven, jeep and helicopter, Tupperware and Nescafe.

Believe it or not, UP Chemical Society is older than all of the inventions mentioned. The list goes on.

The organization also came first before several of the science topics we discuss in class today, including:

Discovery of neutron, Schrodinger’s cat paradox, Watson & Crick’s DNA Model, nuclear magnetic resonance.

Historic as it is, the now 90-year-old organization has seen many key events through the decades.

Founded by Jose Olivares and fellow chemistry students on August 29, 1929, UP Chemical Society is one of the oldest student formations in the university and in the country.

From having a list-your-name-and-become-a-member system to implementing a famously grueling application process, UP ChemSoc has surely evolved greatly.

The writer reached out to alumni from different decades to tie up a feature on the org’s evolution. The earliest UP ChemSoc memory obtained dates back to 1964.

UP ChemSoc gentlemen hang out.

1964

UP ChemSoc is the founding organization of the Philippine Association of Chemistry Students, Incorporated (PACS, Inc.). The association brought together various chemistry-related student formations from around the country.

Today, PACS, Inc. has 14 member societies and UP ChemSoc remains to be the only member from the UPD Institute of Chemistry.

UP ChemSoc ladies line up for a photo.

1970s

Members were a mix of students of BS Chemistry, BS Chemical Engineering, BS Food Technology and pre-medicine courses.

The UP ChemSoc tambayan was housed at Pavilion 2, second floor of the College of Arts and Sciences (Palma Hall now) before it was relocated to a room (a former bank branch) at the far end of Pavilion 1 (now the home of College of Arts and Letters).

Angie Lasala (1971) shares that she and her group BLACTJEM (derived from the first letters of their names: Bing, Angie, Ching, Teret, Josie & Mads) joined UP ChemSoc altogether. She became a member of the org’s own singing group, the Acids and Bases.

Meanwhile, Florenda Valera (1974) remembers that she had to collect signatures of members and alumni and do a talent show as an applicant then.

One of her fondest memories in the org is when it sponsored a theater play with Gloria Diaz as one of the cast. They sold tickets and acquired sponsorship packages for the play’s souvenir program.

The org’s activities then included free tutorial services and lending Chemistry books. Induction programs and parties were usually held at big houses of members.

Parties of the org used to be held in members' big houses.

The tambayan started to be filled with trophies won from sportsfests, quiz bees, Acids and Bases’ singing competitions, and more.

Members pose with the org's trophies.

1980s

Before she became a member, Ditas Valenzuela (1983) had to memorize and recite members’ full names and do tasks to get their signatures.

Applicants had ninongs or ninangs as their guides in the app process and sponsors in their inauguration night.

One of her unforgettable memories is mastering the card game “Bridge” because they always played it at the tambayan. She and fellow members also had fun writing personal musings and leaving messages in the org logbook.

Members usually bond via card games.

In 1986, when EDSA People Power 1 happened, Ditas and some other members participated in the march from UP Diliman to Makati.

Evangeline Amor (1986) treasures the opportunities she had: meeting students from other universities via PACS, Inc., and building friendships, chiefly with her batchmates, that endure to this day. She was also a fan of playing tambayan card games.

“We would be chastised when we became too excited and noisy,” she recalls.

Franns Maceda (1989) shares that in their time, UP ChemSoc’s preferred modes of communication were through landline phones and post-it notes on the bulletin board.

Also by then, applicants of most orgs had to go the extra mile to gain the members’ favor, via app processes that aimed to, in Franns’ words, “sow fear that will remain in their souls.”

Members then had fun joining lantern parades, choir songfests, and PACS, Inc. sportsfests and pageants. They also used to host a “Magic Show” where they prepared chemistry-related tricks (e.g. fitting a raw egg into a bottle).

UP ChemSoc members join a lantern parade.

1990s

Ninongs/ninangs were called sponsors in the 1990s, as told by Janir Datukan (1994). Their app process included a Hell Week: they had to don self-made costumes of different themes daily. “This was literally the hell week!” he stresses.

Today’s ‘buddies’ of the applicants were called ‘ninongs’ or ‘ninangs’ in the 1980s, and ‘sponsors’ in the 1990s.

The later stages, which he found “emotionally taxing”, included the pre-finals where they answered questions while blindfolded, and the finals where they underwent various tests on skills, loyalty, and trust.

“The process basically broke me as a person. But surprisingly, it made me whole again, after that ordeal was over,” he shares.

Members then became much closer via their overnights at the tambayan. They would sing, play games, walk around the campus in sleeping attires, and then sleep on makeshift beds. They would also dress up according to themes for the Battle of the Committees.

Room-to-room was their main option for recruitment and invitation to events. Internally, the logbooks remained to be a major communication medium.

Fusion, a members' night.

Some of the org events then were Open Tambayan (free food for guests), Tagisan sa Kapnayan (an inter-block Chemistry quiz bee) and its junior division (for high school students), Fusion (members’ night), and Chempany (a factory tour).

The org's chemistry quiz bee used to be called Tagisan sa Kapnayan.

Also, they had to start throwing away some trophies (except their markers) as they crowded the tambayan.

The late ‘90s introduced the org’s popular ice cream eating race, Brain Freeze, with Magnolia and Selecta as its usual sponsors.

UP ChemSoc's Brain Freeze, an ice cream eating race, is still held at present.

UP ChemSoc generated good revenue via its sale of the university-renowned Budget Pack (set of Chem lab materials) and renting out of lab gowns.

“Girls (and gays) would crowd the front door when some cute guy would rent a lab gown,” jests Janir.

During the impeachment rally of then President Joseph Estrada, Janir and some other members went together to the EDSA Shrine.

In 1999, UPD chemistry graduates, including several UP ChemSoc members, boasted a 100% passing rate in the chemist licensure exam.

2000s

By the 2000s, applicants started organizing sportsfests as part of their app process, says Richardson Billones Jr. (2005).

The Hell Week became Festival Week, which instilled in them the org’s core values. Buddy dates began as the term for members who assisted applicants changed to buddies.

SMS was one of the members’ best communication media, mainly through text messages sent to many (GMs). Later on, when more people started to have internet access, they also used Yahoo Groups.

The org’s Chemistry quiz bee was renamed into Battle of the Bonds. UP ChemSoc also consistently won big at College of Science events, even forming a friendly rivalry with the UP Molecular Biology and Biotechnology Society.

UP ChemSoc, a consistent winner in College of Science events.

Richardson and other UP ChemSoc members marched in the UP Centennial Graduation, the commencement exercises held in 2008—University of the Philippines’ Centennial Year.

2010s

This decade started with a fire, literally, as the Chemistry Pavilion 2 got burned, stopping Chemistry classes for a while.

Kyle Adrianne Benito (2010) says that UP ChemSoc activities that time were not gravely affected since the tambayan was in Pavilion 1.

As applicants then, Kyle and his batchmates had to complete 120 tambay hours. Besides wearing costumes for the Festival Week, they prepared presentations, decorated the tambayan and paraded around Palma Hall while cheering loudly. They donated a clock and a water dispenser to the org for their batch project.

By 2013, buddy tasks and org dinners, which the applicants have to do, started.

UP ChemSoc's mascot wins in KaSCIyahan, a college-wide event.

When the new Chemistry buildings (the Institute of Chemistry today at the National Science Complex) were opened, UP ChemSoc’s tambayan also moved. Around 2014, the members then started using the new tambayan: a corner at the Teaching Building second floor.

Battle of the Bonds used to be in ChemSoc Week, but in 2014, when classes began to start every August, it was moved to later months. Since the BOTB topics are Chem 16, participants would not have been ready yet by August. BOTB was replaced by the Chemistry career talk Exergonic in the anniversary week line-up.

In 2011, a Facebook page was created. This caused the centralization and greater reach of the org’s publication materials and announcements. A Twitter and an Instagram account followed later, magnifying the org’s online presence more.

Members and beneficiaries in Chemistree, an outreach program.

2016-2019

When K to 12’s senior high school started in 2016, few to no new freshmen entered college. This affected orgs in terms of recruitment of new members for two years.

Moises Eleazar Ubungin (2015) remembers that only nine chemistry freshies entered UPD during his term as the Controls Officer in 2017.

Also by then, discussions on mental health care and clamors for more progressive recruitment processes boomed. As a response, Moises and the Membership Committee started revamping the org’s orthodox app process known for its severity.

The approved new app process scrapped the Festival Week, the final rites, and other stages deemed harrowing.

Year 2018 came and the org was left with only 16 members. Recruitments got revived when the K to 12 pioneers began college. UP ChemSoc then enacted its revised app process.

By 2019, most of the members were newly inducted. Newcomers were handed over the running of the org as there were few senior members left. (read full story: Newcomers Run the Org)

2020

The world was surprised by the turnout of the first year of the new decade. By March, as the COVID-19 pandemic began, community quarantines took place and social gatherings were banned. Some of the org’s events were cancelled.

Members now study and work from home and meet via online applications (read full story: The New Normal: How's UP Acad and Org Life in the COVID-19 Pandemic?).

Now, 23 out of the 24 present members are all BS Chemistry students.

Some of the UP ChemSoc present members during an Org Fair.

The rest of the 2019-2020 issue of The Nucleus details the UP ChemSoc current events, application process, and other happenings.

This is the old and gold UP Chemical Society, continuing to progress with time. Members and activities come and go, but its legacy keeps on.

(Photos are not necessarily in chronological order. Years in parentheses indicate the alumni's UP ChemSoc batches.)