Last July 12, St. Paul University Iloilo celebrated its 2013 Acquaintance Party at the multi-purpose hall with a cosmic bang. The stage had a backdrop of stars and galaxies, but the fusion was clearly apparent in the loud joyous cheers of every department.

For this academic year, the University Acquaintance Party had the theme “Fusion: Emerging as One Paulinian Family.” Every student was required to wear green shirts with designs that represent themselves. Many were excited and tensed, especially the Common Freshmen Paulinian (CFP) who were officially acquainted with the Paulinian family on that day.

The program started at three in the afternoon with the paraliturgy. Competitions also took place like Parlor Games, Pitch Perfect, and Hip hop. The whole gym was filled with cheerful noise that one could hardly hear his neighbor.

The fun-filled event ended with a disco which everyone enjoyed and in which many CFP had a chance to get acquainted with one another and especially with the sophomores, juniors, and the seniors. “I am so glad to have my first experience of acquaintance party at SPUI,” Juna Marcelo, a CFP student, said. Surely many CFP students felt this way because everyone could feel the unity and the presence of a family among the students. However, the acquaintance party would not be possible if it were not for the officers of Paulinian Student Government who prepared the event.

Early in the morning, you would notice the busy Paulinian Student Government (PSG) officers preparing for the event, which was planned, discussed, debated and executed by the PSG officers. “Ang mahirap lang naman ay sa una,” said Karla Lopez, PSG President and a graduating student of College of Teacher Education. “Ang mag-gather ng mga officers ay mahirap dahil iba’t ibang courses kasi yung mayroon kami, at iba’t ibang schedule. But each of them was able to find time naman para mapag-usapan, mapagplanuhan at magawa naming successful ang event na ito.” In fact, Ms. Lopez also stated that preparations took three weeks to one month and that there were even times when they stayed in the campus until 11 in the evening.

This year’s Acquaintance Party is indeed a successful one and the effort of the PSG officers was not wasted because the event stayed true to its definition—everyone got acquainted.

Rholin Grace Bulan