From January 20 to January 24, St. Paul University Iloilo celebrated its University Week with the theme, “Paulinians Moving Towards ASEAN 2015.” SPUI University Week is celebrated every year within the week the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul is celebrated. This five-day affair provides an opportunity for Paulinians of different colleges engage in a healthy competition through the showcasing of talents and skills. The entire event is supervised by the Paulinian Student Government (PSG) with Mrs. Mary Con Ederadan as adviser.
The entire week celebrated the Paulinian spirit of love and camaraderie. Everyone hid their books and notes for a week and enjoyed the numerous activities that constantly occupy the University Gym where the events took place. Paulinians were engaged in numerous literary and musical events, sports activities, and other fun-filled endeavors.
The entire SPUI community was divided into five teams, namely, the College of Nursing (CN), the College of Physical Therapy (CPT), the College of Accountancy and Business (CAB), the Common First-Year Paulinian (CFP), and the FOUR C (4C), composed of four colleges, namely, the College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Hotel and Restaurant Management, Tourism and Dietetics, the College of Information Communication and Technology, and the College of Teacher Education. These teams competed with one another to earn points and the team with the highest points is named the University Week Champion. For University Week 2014, the Champion is, once again, the College of Nursing, whose winning streak has never been broken for a long time. In fact, no one seems to remember a time when they ranked second for they have always won U-Week after U-Week.
University Week Highlights
January 20. One of the most interesting events that started the University Week is the HEMOLYMPICS, a competition on the highest number of blood donation with the Red Cross to facilitate the entire process. This event took place in line with the Paulinian advocacy, PRO-LIFE since the University Week is also a venue for Paulinians to be aware of and act on the Paulinian advocacies. The College of Nursing had the highest number of donation and won the event. At the end of the day, the Red Cross was able to gather 58 packs of blood of various type.Other events included Wellness Exhibit, Job Fair, and Preliminary Games.
January 21. The entire day was all about preliminary games which include numerous sports events and board games. The major sports are basketball and volleyball (both have male and female categories), table tennis (mixed doubles), badminton (mixed doubles), and swimming relay. The minor sports are swimming: 50 meter backstroke, breast stroke, butterfly stroke and freestyle ; and racket games which are table tennis and badminton. All of these have both male and female category. Another minor games are the board games which include chess, games of generals, scrabble, and word factory .
Here is the list of champions in all sports events: MAJOR GAMES. BASKETBALL (M) CPT; BASKETBALL (W) CN; VOLLEYBALL (M) CPT; VOLLEYBALL (W) 4C; TABLE TENNIS (mixed doubles) CN; BADMINTON (mixed doubles) CPT; SWIMMING RELAY CAB. MINOR GAMES.SWIMMING: 50M BACKSTROKE (M) CN & (W) CPT; 50M BREAST STROKE (M) CAB & (W) CFP; BUTTERFLY STROKE (M) CPT & (W) CFP; 50M FREESTYLE (M) CAB & (F) CAFP. RACKET GAMES: TABLE TENNIS (M) 4C & (F) CN; BADMINTON (M) CPT & (W) 4C. BOARD GAMES: CHESS (M) CPT & (W) CAB; GAMES OF GENERALS (M) CN & (W) CN; SCRABBLE (M) CPT & (W) CN; WORD FACTORY (M) CN & (W) CPT.
January 22. The day started with the opening liturgy facilitated by the Christian Formation Office, after which, the opening ceremony took place which included a parade of escorts and muses of each team; moreover, each team represented one member-country of the ASEAN. The morning activities continued with mob dance, banner raising, and two dance competitions: bring it on and dance sports. The afternoon meanwhile was all about literary events which include extemporaneous speaking, oration, binalaybay, character impersonation and just for laughs (a seven-to-ten-minute comedic act).
Here is the list of champions: MOB DANCE CN; BRING IT ON CN; DANCE SPORTS (Latin America) 4C & (Modern Standard) CPT; EXTEMPORANEOUS SPEAKING (ENGLISH) CN & (FILIPINO) 4C; ORATION (ENGLISH) CN & (FILIPINO) CPT; BINALAYBAY 4C; CHARACTER IMPERSONATION (CFP); JUST FOR LAUGHS (CPT).
January 23. In the morning, championship games on major and minor sports took place. The afternoon meanwhile was filled with musical events like vocal solo pop, vocal duet pop, show choir, folk dance, and contemporary dance.
Here is the list of champions: VOCAL SOLO POP CFP; VOCAL DUET POP CN; SHOW CHOIR CPT; PHILIPPINE FOLK DANCE 4C; CONTEMPORARY DANCE CPT.
January 24. The last day of the U-Week started with stress busters and band craze, a boy band competition. Moreover, parlor games were conducted which are Shoot it, Talas Tagisan, Catch my Egg, Fill it Up, and Tug of War. The afternoon meanwhile started with the presentation of videos which are the music video and university promotional videos. After the presentation of these videos was the Paulinian Got to Dance (a hip-hop competition) and the awarding ceremony. To properly end the event, a eucharistic celebration was held.
Here is the list of champions: MUSIC VIDEO PRESENTATION CPT; UNIVERSITY VIDEO 4C; SONG WRITING COMPETITION CN; BAND CRAZE CN.
The over-all champion is the College of Nursing, followed by the College of Physical Therapy, in third place, the 4C, followed by the Comon First-Year Paulinian and in last place, the College of Accountancy and Business.
The five-day event has truly been fun-filled, resulting to strong relationship within each college and among all colleges. The goal has been reached and everyone has memories to remember by.
The Love of Christ Impels Us!
Photo Courtesy: Angelica Naciongayo, Nadine Divinagracia, and Joshua Dy