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4/3/2008 - HOW SOUTHRIDGE CHANGED MY LIFE FOREVER
By Wilfredo Nefalar (Southridge NS, Batch '94)
On 29 Nov 07, I graduated No. 1 in a class of 33 students of the Naval Officer Candidate Course (NOCC) Class 06 at Naval Education and Training Command (NETC), San Antonio, Zambales
I received the following awards: Plaque of Distinction - from Navy Chief VADM ROGELIO CALUNSAG AFP Philippine Navy Saber - also from Navy Chief Certificate of Merit - from Dean, Academics Group
The hard work, passion for learning, study habits, values and virtues that I learned from Southridge had a great influence in achieving this feat. At the back of my mind I know that Southridge helped me develop into what I am now and somehow that made me feel I was a lot different from everybody else.
The Real World, especially the military world, is nasty. You fight a lot of battles and everyday is a struggle. It really tests the kind of man that you are. Still, the virtues kick in. Self-denial tells me I don't have to get all of the pie, just a piece is enough.
There have been a lot of set backs but that too you have to accept as part of everyday 'sacrifices'.
Outside of Southridge, people don't have a lot of those values and it may come in handy to know how to use your 'fist'. It's a dog-eat-dog world. People tend to abuse you if they know you're the good guy. You know charity but you also should know its limits. I've experienced being lied to and lied about, cheated, stolen from, bruised and literally battered. What does a Southridge gentleman do about it? You have to be strong physically and mentally.
My almost two years of stay in the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) made me physically and mentally strong. It also gave me a lot of good values and virtues, foremost of which are Courage, Integrity and Loyalty. We also have a strict Honor Code system that one can never find in any other university. It is also one of the best schools in the Philippines as Southridge is, as well as the toughest. You're in a grinder in PMA. They will mold you in the swiftest and most effective way, even forcibly. Not all educators will agree with that, but as to the effectiveness of training, it's a rather fool-proof way of molding young people. Then the real world starts to kick in again.
Southridge and PMA point to the strong development of values. Students take these values with them even long after they have left the school. However, you would have to be in a specific environment to perpetuate the values that you have. It is in how strongly these values have been imprinted in the students that matters in the long run.
