Mid-afternoon, a lad clad in blue
cantered along Masterson Drive trailed by another in white. In front of
the Church of Gesu, like clockwork, the
lads made the sign of the cross without breaking stride. Their faces showed youthful exuberance, perhaps induced by endorphins from the run or buoyed by their natural
propensity for fun.
This was the scene witnessed as I went looking for my son
Marcel yesterday at Loyola Heights,
and surely, it brought a smile to my face.
High school kids are into running, too and my son is one of them. Early July, Marcel signed up for the Track
and Field Club at the Ateneo de Manila High School. There were many clubs to
choose from: Soccer, Basketball,
Debate, Photography, Frisbee, even Outdoors, and more.
But he picked the running entity.
Part of the activities of the
Track and Field Club is the weekly run on Wednesday afternoons. The club
members ran from the Tanghalang Onofre
Pagsanghan at the high school to the Lee
Irwin Theater at the grade school on the
other side of the sprawling Ateneo
campus, and then back. An Out & Back
run thru a road lined with decades-old acacias.
Sweet and delicious, just like the colorful and fruitful iced tea
awaiting at the school cafeteria.
It is admirable that the school encourages its students to
engage in extra-curricular activities.
It is part of the Jesuit ideal of
Development of Personal Potential.
Not just excellence in academics but in the various aspects that are
important to life. And certainly, having an exercise active
lifestyle, even at a young age, is all for the best.
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