Spirit Week 2010: Leading with Honor

by Alyssa Chua and Ikka Adriano

  Messiah College’s Spirit Week has been a great opportunity for the school to give the Freshmen a warm “kick-off” at establishing meaningful friendships with the other batches. It has also been a good time for the upper-classmen to bond with the newer students, as well as a time for all the students to get their mind off paperwork, relax, and enjoy the fun and games.

  ”The uniqueness and excitement of this Spirit Week was really fun! It evolved from one-day activity to a two-week event full of a lot of different activities, games, and surprises!”
 –Luis Pelea (Junior)

  Games in Messiah College’s Spirit Week include tagging members from other teams, eating contests, fear factor tests, chess, and riddle races, among many other fun and challenging activities. Students learn to strategize, plan, and focus their attention on their assigned tasks in each team.

  “One of the things I’ve learned in war games is that you cannot do what you have to do if you are preoccupied, actually paranoid, that someone might tag you. Focus on what you have to do.”
-Paula Lopez (Freshman)

  Nevertheless, the family atmosphere of Messiah College remains. In spite of the competition, the friendliness and closeness between the students continue to develop. Students learn what it means to lead with honor by playing the games with honor and treating each other with honor even if they are in opposing teams. They learn to embody a Christ-like attitude even in fun and games, as well as to develop trust, accountability, unity, and faith with their teammates.

  As Messiah College’s Spirit Week draws to a close, the challenges continue, as do the fun and the games. When it’s over and the halls become quiet once more, as students’ exclamations of having been tagged will no longer be heard, this 2-week experience will be something each student is least likely to forget. As the excitement dies down and students go back to their regular routines, the Messiah College Spirit Week will remain fresh in their minds, as a time of bonding, fun, games, and challenges, as well as a time of learning the important lesson on leading with honor.

Messiah is not for Everyone - By Lyqa Maravilla (Senior at Messiah College)

  Once in my twenty-one years of life, I sat on one of those seats and listened to people who listed all the privileges and benefits of going to the colleges they represent. I remember representatives from four major colleges try to persuade me that their university was for everyone, including me. That’s something you probably heard from the ones who went before me and you’ll probably hear from those who will follow me. That, however, is not something that you will hear from me.

  Messiah College is not for everyone.

  We are not the highest ranking university in Asia, or in the Philippines, or even in Metro Manila. That’s something we are still working at. We are not the university with the most number of students. In fact, we’re on the running for the lowest number of student population. We are not the university with the largest grounds. We don’t have a soccer field. We don’t even have our own building. We don’t have fancy television commercials with choreographed jingles or a widespread reputation to boast about. The truth is, when people ask us where we study and we tell them Messiah College, they respond with big question marks written all over their faces. That’s why we always have to be ready for a quick introduction of our college.

  I told you. Messiah College is not for everyone. Messiah College is for someone, for a chosen few who believe that their college education is more than just earning their degree or getting through the prescribed number of units to get some school’s letterhead on their diplomas and transcripts. Messiah College is for students who believe that their college should build up not only their reputation and credentials, but their character as well.

  Messiah College may not be the top-ranking university in the Philippines, but we are the one and only Christian College with secular courses that are tailor-made for people who are ready to take the world for Christ. We don’t have hundreds and thousands of students, but that gives the professors more time to mentor the students personally. We don’t have a big campus, but our famous lobby couches bear witness to friendships that would not exist if our campus was big enough to allow students to have anonymity. We don’t have a reputation yet. But that is something that we are asking you to be a part of. Messiah College’s reputation is not based on how famous our professors are or on how grandiose our college is. It is on the shoulders of each and every graduate that walks out of our glass doors. It will be built on the fact that the graduates of Messiah College are competent, able, and willing Christian influencers whose ultimate goal is to change the world for the Christ.

  Do you want to be defined by the college you go to? Or do you want to help define your college by the person you will become after graduation?

  You will have to choose. As I told you before, Messiah College is not for everyone. 

Rev. Clem Guillermo

"Messiah College has a family environment and focuses on developing godly character and academic excellence. It's the choice for students who are serious about their faith...who want to change the world for Christ!" - Rev. Clem Guillermo