Bessie’s school memories - STAR BYTES by Butch Francisco

Former fashion model-turned-TV comedienne Bessie Badilla is currently in town to attend the silver jubilee of St. Scholastica’s College Manila. (She belongs to High School Class ’76.)

As most of us already know by now, Bessie is based in Stamford (with an M) in Connecticut with her family: husband Bambi del Castillo (the president of an American firm in the East Coast) and their children – 19-year-old Isabel (Hilda Koronel’s daughter by Bambi); Blanca, 14 and Inez, 6.

Bessie may just be a plain housewife in the US, but she’s not necessarily idle. At the moment, she’s an active member of several civic organizations based in Connecticut.

Then, there are the ballet classes she religiously attends everyday. No – it’s never too late to study ballet, insists Bessie who is still in top shape at 42.

When she’s in the mood, Bessie accepts orders for wedding cakes. This could be a lucrative business for her since she can charge as much as $1,000 per order. But no thanks she’ll only make wedding cakes for friends.

To begin with, she wouldn’t have the time to go into business full-time since she has kids to look after. Isabel – although she’s based in Massachusetts where she’s taking up pre-med at the prestigious Holy Cross School – somehow is still Bessie’s responsibility since she looks after the young girl’s needs. "Nagre-reklamo na ’yung bata dahil ang hirap daw ng pre-med," volunteers Bessie. "I told her, she just has to study harder."

With all the things she has to do in Connecticut, it must have really been a big sacrifice for Bessie to fly home and attend this St. Scholastica College reunion.

Obviously, it’s not going to be just any ordinary reunion where everyone will have a chit-chat over bland hotel food. For this homecoming, the silver jubilarians are putting up a show tomorrow evening at the St. Scholastica College’s newly-renovated St. Cecilia’s Hall.

The other night, I went to visit Bessie at the St. Cecilia’s Hall to bring her some going-away presents: turrones de casuy, pastillas de leche and pastillas de ube for Isabel (it’s her favorite).

When I got to the St. Scholastica compound on Leon Guinto Street, Bessie and her former classmates were deep at rehearsals with their director, Audie Gemora.

Based on what I saw, it seems like the show they’re putting up is almost at par with those musicals being presented by Repertory Philippines at the Shangri-La Theatre.

I never got the chance to have a lengthy talk with Bessie since I couldn’t take her away from rehearsals. Apparently, she’s dead serious with this reunion business. Below, I’m yielding my space to Bessie Badilla so she can share with us her thoughts on how it feels like to come home to her alma mater after 25 long years.

As I walked through the once familiar corridors of my Alma mater, my 15 minutes of emotional nostalgia was cut short by my classmates’ screams and loud boisterous laughter. I knew right then, that I was back home, and that my 26-hour travel time from Connecticut to New York to Vancouver to Hong Kong, and finally to Manila was very well worth it!

Nothing much has changed in the last 25 years in St. Scholastica, except for a good number of new buildings that were once open spaces where we used to play all sorts of games from "patintero" to "taguan." I always had the best hiding place, the clausura or nuns’ quarters, which was off limits to students. Unlike my mother, Teresa de Leon, who is also an alumni of SSC (1954), I was never caught inside these "forbidden" hideaways. I guess over my 12 years at SSC, I know the campus like the back of my hand.

Nothing much has changed with my classmates as well. I could honestly say that they all look like high school students, acting like high school girls and still possess that unique gift of talking all at the same time, and simultaneously listening to everyone else’s stories. I have to mention that they all look DIVINE, if I do not want to get ostracized at our rehearsals. Even the personalities have not changed much over the years. We have a menagerie of personalities that can make any teacher pull her hair from confusion and probably frustration after her first class with us.

There are those who remained quiet but are good listeners, and there are those who can still open up and share their sorrows while a handful offer them their best advise. Then there are the serious ones who to this day, I am still trying to relate to, I also, always tried to associate myself with the shy and timid girls in our class. I ended up covering their voicing-out-quota becoming one of the most talkative in class and unanimously awarded the title of "class clown."

I am very lucky to be able to attend and perform at our 25th Jubilee on Sunday. There are many blessings I have to be grateful for. I am blessed with a husband who understands the importance of this event, who gave me a chance to take off from my daily routine as homemaker. For my mother who had a dream for all her daughters to have a good Benedictine education, my sisters Bing Magsanoc (1987) and Marites (1991) are alumnae as well.

Our class is grateful to have a very responsible leader in the person of our president, Sony Jalandoni. Without her, and her dream team of board members, our reunion would not run smoothly. We are grateful to our choreographer Rani for being so patient with us, and BRAVO to our super talented director, Audie Gemora who is not only inspiring but also very resilient to the 40 or so wanna be’s, all trying to get his attention.

Of course the event will not be complete without the most important people... To the St. Scholastica’s CLASS of ’76. YOU ARE THE BEST! I SALUTE YOU!