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.