Good news!

By Cheeno Luang

(Vol. XXVII No. 24, Editorial Cartoon)

Good news!

On a cold morning of February 1, a different euphoria enveloped the whole Main Campus I of Negros Oriental State University (NORSU) after everyone was greeted with the good news written by the university president himself on the bulletin board. It was a news that immediately contained in forwarded chain text messages and social networking shoutouts of most Norsunians. It was a news that instantly became a talk in the university. It was a news that again, made every Norsunian proud of being enrolled in this university of poor but deserving students.

The good news is: NORSU’s BS Nursing (BSN) and BS Pharmacy (BS Pharm) pioneering graduates registered a very impressive performance in the recent Nurse and Pharmacist Licensure Examinations. It is beyond what was expected.

In the November 2009 Nurse Licensure Examination alone, NORSU registered a 100 percent passing rate after all of its 17 pioneering graduates successfully made it. This is too impressive and remarkable considering that the national passing rate of the licensure examination is only 39.73 percent, having only 37, 527 passers out of 94, 462 takers.

Moreover, in the January 2010 Pharmacist Licensure Examination, five out of the eight pioneering BS Pharm graduates of NORSU successfully passed the exam gaining a 63 percent passing rate which is 20 percent higher than the national passing rate. The national passing rate of the said examination was 44 percent with 1, 091 takers and only 481 passers. Adding to the good news, NORSU is now the newest pharmacy school in the Philippines after it ranked eighth nationwide and third in the Visayas among the top performing pharmacy schools based on its overall performance in the licensure examination.

Such achievements, especially from first time takers of both professions, are truly unexpected and remarkable. It is something that deserves a standing ovation paired with continuous applause from every one of us.

But like what is often said, good fruits shall only come from good trees. Therefore it is only proper that our ceaseless congratulations be extended to the entire College of Nursing, Dentistry, Pharmacy, and Allied Health Sciences (CNDPAHS) for such a job well done. Kudos to the dean, assistant dean, faculty and staff, and students of CNDPAHS for bringing such an overwhelming pride to every Norsunian. Our only hope is that you continue to impress us every year.

At any rate, if there is one thing that this good news tells us, aside of course from the goosebumps it brings, it is the very fact that we, the poor but deserving Norsunians, can absolutely do more with less. It is the fact that although our university is still young, its graduates can also do what graduates of long-established universities can. It is the fact that albeit NORSU is a state university, its graduates are not far from the graduates of private universities. And our latest achievements in the Nursing and Pharmacy professions as well as being hailed as the newest pharmacy school in the country are more than enough evidences to prove such claim. As what University President Henry A. Sojor succinctly states: “the poor can rise up through this university.”

Moreover, another lesson learned here is that the less equipment and facilities that this university has, is not a hindrance for anyone to succeed—although it will be of great help if the university can provide more. After all, if we can do well with less, we can, by all means, do better with more.

But otherwise, let us rejoice for this good news. Kudos NORSU!

Be cautious

By Ren Angelo Elevera

(Vol. XXVII No. 23, Editorial Cartoon)

Be cautious

With the kind of era we are in today, it is without a doubt that we can easily find an instant friend. With just a single click, we can immediately find a date. Even with just a simple text message, we can easily make friends with someone we barely even know. But with everything easy for access, we should all be extra careful, especially in meeting new people because we might not know that that someone could be the very person who will send us to our graveyards.

Just weeks ago, Jayfel Rayoso, a Mass Communication student of Silliman University, was reported dead after allegedly meeting with his textmate. Reports said that Rayoso brought with him an amount of P20,000 which he just withdrew from a local bank before meeting his textmate-friend. Five days after he disappeared, his body, which was allegedly dumped, was found in a creek near Barangay Isugan, Bacong on January 12.

We do not really know what happened before Rayoso’s death. We do not know whether his textmate-friend knew that he had brought a big amount of money with him. We do not know if he happened to mention about the money to his textmate. We do not know how his corpse reached Bacong. Yes, we do not know about these things, but only one thing is clear at the moment: we should not trust people whom we only met through phones or internet.

Perhaps, most youths will not agree with this idea of not trusting persons they have known via cellphones and internet only. Nowadays, teenagers most likely prefer the idea of having textmates and callmates because they think that it would be fun befriending someone whom they have not yet met in person. Indeed, the idea is exciting; it implies a sense of mysteriousness in it.

In fact, not only the youths find the idea exciting. Even those who are of right age also get hooked to it sometimes.

Most, if not all, seem to be under the spell of the present technology. We all get hooked to the things that technology offers to the point that we even get to depend our short-time happiness to it. Many of us, especially the young ones, depend on cellphones, being the most common communication tool among teens (according to research), in looking for new friends and most of all, love ones.

The recent incident that happened to Rayoso is one proof that meeting people whom we only know through text is not safe. No matter how sweet a person may sound in the phone, it is still not an assurance that he is a good person.

Rayoso is just one of the thousands of students who finds technology a tool for building a relationship. He may not be a Norsunian, but his passing is one big proof that strangers are surely not to be fully trusted. Perhaps, what happened to Rayoso will serve as a lesson for all of us.

Befriending new people is not a bad thing, yet it is also not a bad thing to be cautious in meeting them, especially if we only know them through phone or internet.

Let us not wait for the same incident to happen to a Norsunian before we become extra cautious.

The Norsunians’ year

By Christian Edu Villegas

(Vol. XXVII No. 22, Editorial Cartoon)

The Norsunians’ year

Weeks ago, every one of us in this planet, welcomed the year 2010, the Year of the Metal Tiger, with optimism and high hopes. It’s been already weeks since we started our respective journey on this new year – new stories, new adventures, and new pages to fill another chapter of history. It’s been already a while when we finally left and closed that chapter which was filled with eye-popping surprises – the year 2009.

Looking back, the year 2009 had been another healthy chapter in the history of Negros Oriental State University (NORSU) as a young and budding university, struggling to be a dynamic higher education institution of preference in the Visayas and Mindanao. In the year that was, NORSU had another period of commendable transformation.

NORSU-Mabinay Campus was opened; new teachers and faculty members were added to the university’s teaching and working force; IP cameras were installed for tighter security; the ground floor of the College of Nursing, Dentistry, Pharmacy and Allied Health Sciences building was opened for the students’ use; a Doctor in Dental Medicine course was offered; the university grounds were beautified; the mock ship for the College of Maritime Education students was finally furnished and was launched for students’ practical hands-on; more foreign students enrolled here – these were only some of the remarkable improvements embraced by the Norsunian community last year.

Along with these transformations were achievements that added significant pages to the history of NORSU. The year 2009, just like in the past, was another year of achievements for Norsunians, especially in topping national licensure examinations. It’s a year of adding laurels to the university and extending the long list of Norsunian achievers in the history.

To recall, Childrico Caingcoy, a graduate of BS Marine Engineering, landed in the second spot of the written phase of the Marine OIC Examination with a score of 87.75 percent. Jessie James Lasconia, a BS Geology graduate, ranked 9th in the August 2009 Geologist Licensure (Board) Examination. Another remarkable achievement was that of Dan Jerome Saycon Barrera, a graduate of NORSU-Bais Campuses, who ranked 3rd in the September 2009 Criminology Licensure Examination.

These accomplishments which highlighted the year that was are pages of history that surely each Norsunian will be proud of. It is very inspiring that despite the evident lack of facilities and equipment in the university, Norsunians excel as one of the best and finest across the nation.

We finally bid adieu to those pages and those are nothing now but parts of history. The chapter had ended and here goes the university and the whole NORSU family paving pages of another chapter to NORSU’s history. As we look back to last year and continue journeying, it is not bad to hope for this year to have an increase in the record of achievers. It is not bad to cross our fingers that this year, like last year, would be another chapter of remarkable achievements for Norsunians.

Moreover, it is not bad to hope that somehow, some longings of the students for equipment and facilities would finally be realized. It is not bad to pray that hopefully, the students’ concerns would be the main priority this year because if Norsunians did more with less, they could do more with adequate facilities and equipment.

Norsunians are known as the Tigers. May this Year of the Metal Tiger be the Norsunians’ Year!