John Romelson Concepcion

This pandemic has brought forth many challenges to all individuals. However, for us, students, our biggest challenge yet is coping with online learning. For the student body organization vice president, John Romelson Concepcion, it has been especially difficult after not being able to physically see close friends for long periods of time. John, who is now 23 years old and a third-year physical therapy student, has found ways to live alongside the pandemic in the comfort of his home.

During in person learning, John’s highlight of the week had always been meeting with his friend group to either study or for leisure time. It is clear that online studying with peers and studying in person have two completely different vibrations, “I relied so much on group studies; that was basically the center of my social life during my first year and then it just disappeared,” says Concepcion. He had no choice but to stay home to help decrease the spread of the virus. It is hard to transition from doing most of the things with your friends to being alone and working by yourself for many days a week. When the pandemic hit, John was just starting his second semester of his sophomore year at Liceo. His class had been the trial batch for online learning and PBL; problem-based learning. They had to handle everything by themselves when thrown into a new category of learning styles. It felt challenging to him as he was still figuring out the materials.

The emotional aspect of being by yourself for long durations can be hard to combat. In January, John faced one of the hardest moments in his life. His depression had resurfaced, “Back then I just stayed inside my room. So I just wake up, do school work, go to the kitchen real quick then come back to my room and basically I didn’t talk to anyone all day and all week” (Concepcion). Being deprived of social interactions causes individuals, such as John, to fall into a pit of desolation. Fortunately for him, he realized that he needed to bring himself out of the state. He learned that he needed to talk to people to battle this distressing time, “I needed to talk to my family, talk to my friends, and basically just talk to people. That’s why I kept going to my friend's house,” John stated. The comfort of being in the presence of someone close brings a sense of calm and joy to someone who may have felt an immense amount of loneliness and just having someone be there for you can ease your mind. His group of friends, now, helped him overcome his mental challenges and survive the pandemic. They had “met” up two times a week through video call platforms to review and prepare them for classes or to just bask in each other's company, online.

As the SBO vice president, he has to balance his life between his duties, school work, and social life. He states that he schedules everything and list down priorities, “One thing I learned from my high school time is that you should schedule your procrastination time. Even your procrastination time isn’t totally procrastination because you have that in your schedule”, a good tip to those who may have a hard time getting work done due to procrastination, as long as you follow through and do not over-procrastinate. Some of his duties as the vice president are to manage all the committees in the CRS department, support the president for any of the needs that she may have, manage meetings, and more.

Stated earlier, John’s fondest memory during face to face learning had been enjoying time with his friends. “We usually treat ourselves with a good meal after modular exams”, shared John. It was a reward system and stress relief after a long day of school. He misses the times when they were just able to bond and share the knowledge they learned. When asked with the question of whether he preferred face to face or online, he answered right away with face to face. As a PT student, he prioritizes hands-on learning rather than gaining the experience online.

On the brighter side of the pandemic, Concepcion was able to revisit his hobby of painting. Through this, he also found other mediums of art, such as creating portraits in different ways. His art can be found on Instagram; @artolioo. John also learned to play songs on the ukulele and cooked many dishes.

No one is alone through these tough times and no one should feel like they are the only one’s going through it. John’s advice to all of the students everywhere is “To make sure you rest, because sometimes it feels like everything is just piling up and then you feel like you have to do everything all at once. Don’t forget to rest, eat and prioritize yourself. The most important thing is that you are healthy. You can’t function if you’re not healthy”. Students spend many hours in front of a computer and sometimes, even when classes are over, it can feel like it has not ended because your comfort space might have become your work space as well. Always put your needs first above all else, like John stated. For his fellow PT underclassmen who have yet experienced the joys of being a first year college student, he advises that they make sure they are completely dedicated to the course, “Be sure that you’re not going to do this just for fun because PT is serious stuff.” Do not force yourself to do something that you might not like in the long run. He also says to start familiarizing with anatomy as it is very important, “It’s basically our bread and butter”. John’s last advice is to have a good relationship with your classmates as you will be working with them for the rest of your college years and it prepares you for a collaborative future, wherever life may take you. “We are trying our best for this school year to not have students feel lonely and without support, like we did during the last few months of our second year [when the pandemic hit]”, says John. This year he encourages students to reach out to everyone whenever they feel that no one is with them.

Writer: Kissy Chyne Zaportiza, CRS Newsletter Writer