“ARSA OrSem” is a phrase that not many people outside the Ateneo know. The contraction sounds youthful and somewhat exclusive, which, to an extent, it is. For the most part, however, it is a rite of passage for freshman dormers, which some say is life changing and completely unforgettable.
The Ateneo Resident Students Association Orientation Seminar (ARSA OrSem) is a much-anticipated weeklong yearly event that has become a tradition ever since it was first organized back when ARSA was still called CERSA (Cervini-Eliazo Resident Students Association). Its aims to welcome the freshmen into the ARSA community and to instil three values into each freshman: relationship, discipline, and leadership. These are the three pillars of the ARSA OrSem. This is what being an ARSAn is all about.
In anticipation for the Pre-OrSem General Assembly (POGA), the first official ARSA OrSem event, the freshmen were picked up one evening from their respective rooms by upperclassmen they had never met before. They were then formed into groups composed of two rooms from Cervini (the freshmen boys’ dorm) and two rooms from Eliazo (the freshmen girls’ dorm), two Heroes (a male and a female junior) and at least two Heroes-in-training (sophomores) per group. These groups are known as Freshman Care Committees and are the family units for the duration of the ARSA OrSem.
The 22nd of July was not an official ARSA OrSem date, but that night stands out in many of the freshmen’s minds because of the shock they received. First, their respective Heroes and HITs picked them up from their rooms and ushered them all into a narrow hallway in either Cervini or Eliazo. The freshmen sat straight and still, hardly daring to glance at the people beside them, as a short but very highly intimidating girl or boy screamed out simple instructions on how to make the ARSA ID boards, which would be worn during every ARSA OrSem activity, starting with the POGA. Quite a few people were put off by the screaming. “I really think that the authorities’ yelling at us was unnecessary. They were so angry with us, when we didn’t do anything wrong. They were just telling us how to make our IDs; they didn’t have to yell,” said Rachel Nocom, a freshman.
Any person walking near the Blue Eagle Gym on the afternoon of the 26th of June would have seen a sea of people wearing yellow shirts, flooding into the gym. This was due to the POGA that took place during that time. During the POGA, the freshmen sat according to their FCC groups and listened to important announcements regarding the ARSA OrSem week. It was a diverse mix of things; there were the Heroes dressed up in costumes to show the freshmen what was expected of them during the ARSA OrSem week, and the authorities made a surprise appearance and once again left the freshmen in a stunned silence.
The ARSA OrSem week was kicked off by a welcome dinner. The girls wore dresses, the boys, button-downs, and were served by the upperclassmen in the Gonzaga cafeteria. The freshmen were bewildered at the sight of the food they were given per table: two saucers of meat, two saucers of vegetables, two whole tomatoes with a saucer of salt, one cup of rice, and two glasses of iced tea. The puzzled freshmen made the most out of it, however. They all made sure everyone had a little bit of everything to eat, sharing with each other freely, even though they didn’t know each other very well yet. As it turns out, this was the whole point of the dinner; to see if they would act as a family. Much to the freshmen’s delight, full plates of food plus dessert were served soon after a short speech by one of the members of the OrSem Core Team.
The next day held one of the most dreaded yet anticipated events of the whole OrSem week: the Amazing Race. All eighteen FCC groups competed with each other to go through all the stops and get back to the starting point as quickly as possible. The most memorable stop: the infamous mud crawl. Everyone had to crawl on their elbows and knees in a shallow ditch filled with muddy water. That whole morning may not have been the most pleasurable experience in the world, but it indeed heightened the sense of camaraderie within each group.
The most distinctive ARSA OrSem event was the five-day long “sigsheet” signing. Every morning, the freshmen would wake up at six and their heroes would give them sheets of paper in which names of upperclassmen were printed. It was the freshmen’s task to get as many signatures as possible from eight in the morning until four in the afternoon. To get a signature, they must first find out the person’s home province, year and course. Most upperclassmen simply sign the sigsheets and let you go, but others make you perform your bang (for boys) or clap (for girls), which is a short song you work on and personalize beforehand. The bangs and claps were a source of great amusement for the freshmen and upperclassmen alike.
While having their sigsheets signed, the freshmen wore specified costumes according to the theme for the day. Some of this year’s themes were “song titles taken literally” and “billboards come to life.” These costumes were only worn while having their sigsheets signed in the Cervini driveway, due to the Ateneo administration’s request two years ago that the freshmen dormers do not wear their costumes in the Loyola Schools. This change surprised Joel Gallarde, who had his OrSem back in 1998. “I can’t believe you guys didn’t have to wear your costumes to class! That’s part of the fun, because it’s embarrassing!”
The whole ARSA OrSem ritual ended with Salubong, where the freshmen were officially welcomed into the ARSA community. The freshmen were blindfolded and led out to the Cervini Quadrangle, and when the blindfolds were removed, an unreal sight unfolded before their eyes. All the heroes, hits, the dorm council members, the ARSA OrSem core team, and the other active upperclassmen were there, cheering, and in the center was a magnificent bonfire. It was there that the signature sheets, the cause of much stress during the ARSA OrSem week for the freshmen and upperclassmen alike, were thrown into and burned. “[Salubong] marks the end of the ARSA OrSem and the start of being an ARSAn,” remarked Crystal Balili, a member of the ARSA OrSem Core Team.
The hardest part about being a dormer is that you are living away from your family. The best part about being a part of ARSA is that in getting to know your roommates and batchmates, the homesickness slowly melts away. Through the ARSA OrSem, each and every freshman becomes a part of not just a community, but the ARSA family.
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