Welcome to the cool and wacky Nerdland

When my niece Nikki took the entrance exam at Canossa School, a highly reputable Catholic institution in Sta. Rosa City, as an incoming high school freshman in 2007, the school guidance counselor told me she aced the test with an almost perfect score. The aptitude test also showed that her mathematical skills were excellent. Her score in the exam plus her acumen in numbers made the school decide to put her with the other 48 equally talented students in a science-enriched class, the first time the nun-run school was conducting such an advanced class. From then on, until they graduated last March 27, their pilot class (which was trimmed down to 37) was known to be the Nerdland. Of the 199 graduates of the batch, I proudly say that Nikki successfully secured the Top 5 slot.

Before I go on discussing about the Nerdland, allow me to print first the names of the members of this “braniac landia.” Here goes: Moira Gail Pavino (valedictorian); Kathleen Grace Maniago (salutatorian); Kim Ong-iko (first honorable); Lizette Joan Daluz (second honorable); Patricia Dominique Tenorio (third honorable); Patricia Mae Pereda (fourth honorable); Maria Catherine Cabrera (fifth honorable); Angelica Pauline Cruz (sixth honorable); Krizchiel Emmanuelle Alvarez (seventh honorable); Mary Kris Joy Aguilo (eighth honorable); Diane Clare Tiongco (ninth honorable); and Jan Darryl Montesa (10th honorable).

Students who graduated with honors are Maila Angelica Medina, Alyana Gaile Garcia, Abigail Joi Sedaria, Almeine Edalece Castaño and Ian Gabriel Fajardo.

Those who received academic awards include Inna Kyrene Parde, Anna Charly Maine Jose and Eunice Patricia Cruz.

Other members of the highly intelligent science-enriched class are: Janerro Paul Britanico, Jose Erwin Escal, Samuel Ilao, Gerard Immanuel Lopez, Aaron Bernard Mangahis, Kristopher Marasigan, Adelbert John Paje, Jose Lorenzo Luis Pascual, Aron Shantih Ramos, Aeysol Rosaldo, Lorenzo Miguel Soriano, Zeus Dave Virtusio, Anne Lemcy Mae Abellanida, Reisee Red Arayata, Kristelle Diane Batin, Maria Paulina dela Cruz, Angelica Joyce Garcia, Martha Isabel Garcia, Ma. Carolina Hermoso, Christine Joyce Malinao, Patricia Bianca Mengullo, Maria Isabella Therese Rosales, Viktoria Nicola Tobias, Zarah Gayle Tuazon and Andrea Dominique Yaptinchay.

For now, they are just names. In the future, without reservation, I’m sure they will become accomplished individuals in their own chosen fields. Meanwhile, as they all know, they will start first with dreaming a dream. After all, it is expected of the youth to all glow with dreams.

* * *

The graduates of the first-ever science-enriched class of Canossa Sta. Rosa. Their class is also happily known as the Nerdland.

For the members of the pioneering science-enriched class of Canossa, well, their class was indeed a Nerdland. Nikki told me all of them — under the guidance of their very competent teachers — endured and enjoyed extra subjects like Earth Science (when they were in first year); Advanced Statistics (second year); Advanced Biology, Advanced Trigonometry and Scientific Research 1 (third year); and Advanced Chemistry, Advanced Calculus and Scientific Research 2 (fourth year). On top of that, they would attend seminars and join competitions outside the school.

I once teased Nikki about her growing love affair with Mathematics that she would even risk not taking a break on Saturdays so she could attend her Mathematics Trainers Guild class where she learned how to mentally solve an equation in a school in Biñan City — even if it meant taking two jeepney rides and a tricycle ride from our house in Gulod. That experience to take public transportation on her own taught Nikki not only the shortcut to proving that “sin + cos=1”; it also boosted her confidence as she learned joys of juvenile independence.

Their extra academic load, however, did not deter the members of the science-enriched class from enjoying high school life. Though I have personally met some of Nikki’s classmates, it was only when they asked me to copyread the write-ups of each of them for their yearbook that I somehow got to know them all. More than being “brainiacs,” the members of the class are wacky, cool, and yes, soulful, too. They are well-rounded students who have various interests in life aside from perfecting their “high school thesis paper” and seamlessly solving that Good-Will-Hunting type of mathematical problem.

This much I gathered from copyreading their well-written short stories about the 37 “nerds” of section St. Francis of Assisi. Most of them are “kenkoys” and they love to laugh even at the silliest and corniest jokes. They seem to have a joker’s club, a group of boys and girls whose alacrity for telling funny stories surfaces during break time. Many of them love to sing and dance. Some love to sing and dance, too, except that, according to the write-ups, “lakas ng loob” is all they have.

Many also love to act that one classmate of them is so determined to conquer the performing stage and take up Theater Arts. Others are musicians in the making. They love to play musical instruments, too. If it were not for the beautiful write-up of Gayle Tuazon on Nikki, I wouldn’t know that my 15-year-old niece has expertise playing the native instruments like the gong and kulintang. At home, she only plays the guitar and occasionally tinkers with her flute. She also has a keyboard at home that is now gathering cobwebs.  

Many are budding graphic artists who do not only know Photoshop but also know how to criticize what a good film is. One of their classmates, Gerard Lopez, is a 3D movie buff that he can tell which 3D films should go to the trash bin and which ones should be kept in his library forever. Therese Rosales, another member of SFA, as they fondly call their class, is their resident “otaku” because of her almost obsessive interest in manga and animé and everything about Japanese culture. She is also the editor-in-chief of their school paper called Lily.

Each of the members of SFA may have his or her own best friend but they can sincerely say that they are genuine friends to each and everyone in the class. They know how to extend a helping hand to those who need a lift — either a moral boost or an academic tutorial.

Nikki found a seatmate and a best friend in Maila Medina, who, according to their soon-to-be published school yearbook, is a very good singer with a Soprano 1 voice. Nikki and Maila will get to enjoy more their “sisterhood” when they become roommates at Westbrook Dormitory in UP Los Baños where Maila will take up Computer Science and Nikki, Chemical Engineering.

What caught my attention in the 37 short write-ups that I read was the intact moral mooring of each member of the class. They all love to pray. They all believe that theirs is a God-given talent that they have to harness even more and share with others in the future.

That trait, for me, is a characteristic of truly gifted, intelligent students.

(For your new beginnings, please e-mail me at

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Have a blessed Sunday!)