Chants and Cheers Competition

Every term here in Asia Pacific College, during every School's English term, The Cheers and Chants Competition is held to make a stronger bond within each block and to enhance our skills in English in a fun way. 

In this competition, we need to compose our own cheer that will represent our block, choreograph steps and make a beat that will match the lyrics of our cheer.

Wednesday, February 5, 2016, The School of Multimedia and Arts and The School of Engineering cheered their hearts out and fought for the title of being this terms champion.
For weeks of practicing and preparing for this competition, finally, there we are inside the APC Auditorium, we were in uniform with our pink shirts which was the color given to our block, with the name of our section in front. Although, deep inside we were nervous, everybody was excited and we were a 100% ready to show what we got. Luckily, Sir Nomer Yuzon, our Professor in Public Speaking, prepared a short presentation for us that broke our nervousness down for a while. A great singer he is, I must say!

Then the competition began. Excitement and nervousness rained inside the Auditorium. We were the first to present and without even noticing, we were done. Our mixed emotions were washed down. As we watched and waited for the other blocks to finish their performance, which were great by the way, it was finally time to announce the winners of this competition.

We came in 2nd place. Everybody was happy and excited to receive the award. Out of all the sections in The School of Multimedia and Arts we were the only ones who were announced as winners. As for the 1st place, CpE won the title while ECE came home as champions for this competition.

Everybody gave their best and performed well. The winners truly did deserve the titles. The contest ended and we went home with a trophy in our hand. Exiting the Auditorium, we were going back to reality where eventually classes will resume. That was indeed a day that we can consider as one of the happiest moments of our block.

APC Anti Smoking Campaign

According to the internet "Seven out of 10 smokers say they'd like to quit and many may already be struggling to stick to their resolution to make 2015 a smoke-free year. If quitting were easy, after all, chances are good that nearly 20% of adults wouldn't still be smokers, a figure that hasn't budged a much in several years. Smoking is such a familiar health hazard that some experts say it doesn't get the attention it deserves; the focus is often on other lifestyle-related conditions, especially obesity. But smoking is still the No.1 cause of preventable death in this country. "

Everybody knows that smoking is bad yet why do they still continue using, advertising and making these little sticks that kills a lot of lives? Come to think of it, what is the good in smoking? Well, some say it relaxes you, calms you, it makes you look “cool” and helps them deal with their personal problems. These are absolutely insane reasons! Smoking is not the only solution or should I say smoking is never really a solution!

Smoking for me remains a particularly awful habit because it directly harms people who don't even touch it. All they have to do is be in the same vicinity as a smoker. It is very unfair because we refuse ourselves to do that awful habit but still we get sick by just accidentally inhaling the gas the smoker releases.

Now, how can we put an end to this madness? Or at least lessen this to make a change. Basically, saying that “smoking is bad for your health” or “hey, smoking kills you” won’t change anything because they will still continue. It is not enough to change their minds.

In other countries, to discourage smokers from smoking, they put images of the effects of smoking on the cigarette packet. They put images like lungs of lung cancer patients who smoked and people who lost their toes and fingers caused by vascular disease. Like I said, you can’t simply tell people to stop smoking by saying it could kill them. But make them put into their heads those images so that their brain can finally process the fact that it will really kill you and this will happen to you if continue this awful habit. In addition to that, smoking will kill you slowly but surely and that it will leave you in pain.

In Asia Pacific College there are a lot of smokers, especially in the open parking area where the sheds are. That's why most of the people who don't smoke won't go there. Maybe because their thinking that they could be influenced, maybe because they are thinking that they could inhale the gases releases by the addicted smokers, and lastly maybe they are thinking that they could be bullied because they don't want to smoke. I will be very thankful if the project APC's Anti-Smoking Campaign would be established. Positively speaking this is for the sake of the campus either you’re a non-smoker or a real time smoker.

Filipino Authors

One of the great Filipino Authors that I'd like to talk about is Jose Dalisay, Jr. I don't know him much, but he is familiar to me because of my old books back in elementary. His nickname is Butch. Butch means a baby boy name, a person with deep inner desire to create and express himself, and also a good public speaker, actor, singer, and writer.

Jose Dalisay, Jr. was born at January 15, 1954. He is currently 62 years old. According to Wikipedia, he won numerous awards for fiction, poetry, drama and etc. One of his great lecture is about "Teaching the Young Filipino Writer". He gave this lecture in UP Mindanao on December 13, 2013 to Creative Writing students. He said "Writing is more than a field of study, that it is an art and the loftiest of human endeavors that serves to enlighten the mind". I was surprised that he was a professor back then, teaching English subjects.



He achieved plenty of awards like, he won 16 Palanca awards in five genres and was elevated to the Palanca Hall of Fame in 2000. Palanca awards is one of the Philippines' longest-running awards program and is organized by Carlos Palanca Foundation.





Because of this, I was astonished about him that I would want to learn more about him and this could help me for all of my English subjects. I was able to read his few lectures and background. I relate to his topics. He is good at delivering and bringing students to their best. I can say that Jose Dalisay, Jr. is now my favorite writer and public speaker. To end this post, I'd like to share a sentence from his book. "Huwag kang magreklamo kung may ibang bagay kang kailangang isuko para sa katuparan ng iyong mga pangarap sa buhay, dahil may mga taong sarili mismong pangarap ang isinuko para lang mabuhay."

Plagiarism

Copying and borrowing someone else's idea. Is it okay or not?. Well, in a serious matter, it's not. Nowadays, plagiarism is still growing and growing. Mostly this problem occur in schools. Copy and pasting homeworks ,copying someone else's poems, essays, and etc.

I admit it that I too is guilty with this because, I'm afraid. You know why? I'm afraid of my own idea and my own work that might flop. I see that other people can do this better. So, I go to the internet to copy. I can't also think of my original work sometimes. It's hard. 

In my experience as a multimedia arts student, it's a lot harder to think of your own original art. I cant't make something beautiful if I don't look someone else's work. I think it's okay just to look others work and think of something better that sorta alike to that work. But copying the whole thing is illegal.

 

I know that we think plagiarism is not a crime or some offense, plagiarism is illegal if it infringes the original owner's property rights. So, in this case, I want to know what is the effective ways to prevent this problem as a student. I searched some insights in the internet, and I found great examples for this. 

How can I prevent plagiarism as a student?. First, come up your own idea, even if it's corny. You can get some ideas from your insights, comments, experiences for that particular matter. Second, discuss that idea to others. So that you'll know their feedback. If they gave you a bad feedback, it's okay! actually it's good! to know it. It could make building your ideas better. Third, have other witness and confirm the authenticity of your work.

That's it, from my given examples you can effectively prevent plagiarism by creating your own ideas and work. 

My references of plagiarism: 

https://www.legalzoom.com/articles/plagiarism-what-is-it-exactly

https://www.cmu.edu/teaching/designteach/design/instructionalstrategies/writing/preventplagiarism.html