These college students reminisce areas in their high school that will soon be renovated

We make the fondest memories of our adolescent years in high school! It’s a fun trip down the memory lane not only when you view memorabilia from your those years, but when you visit the school itself.

Bana Bascuña and Chester Batiforra, batch 2013 graduates of the Philippine Science High School – Main Campus felt nostalgic when they returned to their alma mater to say goodbye to areas in the school that will be renovated – to pave way for new facilities and buildings. They came up with a concept of them bidding their bittersweet farewell to areas in PISAY they hold close to their heart – by photos of then and now in one frame. These photos were captured from freshman to senior year, along with a visit to PISAY most recently.

WHEN IN MANILA has reached out to Bascuña and Batiforra for further details.

“Chester’s always been the guy who takes photos of people in our batch, meanwhile I only had my phone as a camera back then, but we both liked taking pictures in general. I haven’t visited PISAY in years, and when I heard the news that they were renovating the front lobby and cafeteria, I knew I just had to come back soon,” Bascuña, now a third year student in UP Manila studying Medicine, shares. “Recently, my batchmates were posting about their #FavFrontLobMemories and #FavPisayCafMemories on Twitter as a tribute to the said places. I decided to browse through my collection of HS photos and I realized there were so many. I guess the sentimentality inspired me to come up with the project, and I immediately messaged Chester about it.”

“Yeah, I have lots of pictures in high school especially when I took a photography elective in my 3rd year,” Batiforra, a BS Chemical Engineering senior in UP Diliman, agrees. “I still keep an archive of all of my pictures. When Bana started the idea of this project, I looked for pictures taken in the front lobby and the cafeteria as we both knew that there were going to be renovated.”

Renovations began last Monday, January 22. According to one of Bascuña’s former teachers, the front lobby will be demolished and will soon be an admin building, while the cafeteria will be converted into a 5-floor science building.

The photos contained memories of different areas of PISAY, which include the front lobby (with picnic style-tables), the open field and the Grandstand.

Bascuña shares how she felt a mix of emotions upon returning to PISAY she regards to as ‘home’.

“Happy – that some things did not change, and reminders of good memories are still there. Sad – that I will probably be sitting on that picnic-style table one last time. Jealous (a bit) – that we did not get to experience using one of the newer facilities and equipment that students get to use now. But most importantly, proud – that even at the expense of sentimentality, this place has changed, improved, and evolved over the years to better facilitate future scholars,” she says.

“It’s a sad, hard truth that PISAY doesn’t stop for anyone, and it’s actually great that it doesn’t. The way we took our photos prove just that. No matter how hard we try to superimpose our own memories, we all knew in the end that PISAY did not mean for us to stay there. Years will go by, and maybe one day it will become a whole different place. No matter how big the changes or how the new buildings will look like, PISAY will not stop trying to produce, train, and cultivate scholars the country envisioned them to be.”