What is or was your favorite place to hang out in UP (whether your own campus or elsewhere) and why?
On your campus, what place would you recommend for your visitors to see or to experience, and why?
What kind of place, facility or service would you like to see (or see more of) in your campus?
Administrative Assistant
Office of the College Secretary
College of Arts and Sciences
UP Manila
My favorite hangout place is the Department of Behavioral Sciences. Its bright green walls radiate positive energy and provide a pleasant and welcoming ambience. The smell of freshly brewed coffee usually fills the room and awakens the senses. There is also a simple but fun activity corner that helps us loosen up a bit, like the Smile Bowl which asks what made you smile today. There is also Momo, the unicorn stuffed toy that comforts us with its soft and warm embrace. The differences in the personalities of individual faculty members and staff members who inhabit the place enliven everyone, but respect for each individual’s political, religious or even gender orientation or status in life is a revered norm.
For our visitors, I would recommend visiting and taking a photo of the College of Arts and Sciences Oblation Garden, a small but well maintained garden where the CAS oblation stands tall in the middle.
I would like to see healthier food choices in the student canteen, especially fresh salads and fresh fruits, fruit juices and fruit shakes. Health-conscious individuals or those with health problems either bring their own packed lunch or snack because most of the time, the food served at the canteen is not among the healthiest. Healthier meals on campus would obviously benefit the CAS community. A regular serving of healthier lunches such as healthier sandwiches, vegetables, and fish would also be great.
I would also like to see a student and faculty lounge. In CAS, it’s normal to see students sleeping in the hallways. The Rizal Hall lobby and hallways are usually occupied by students sitting on the floor studying, doing their group work or project, or just hanging around with their friends. We know that the lobby and hallways are not conducive places to study or take a short nap in, but students are left with no option but to hang out in these places. An air-conditioned student lounge with comfortable furniture would help our students and faculty gather, relax, and study in-between classes.
A computer center and shop for school supplies would also be a welcome addition. Currently, we have one photocopying station in CAS. But it is just limited to copying and printing. Since it caters to the whole CAS, the queue is almost always so long that students or faculty have to go outside the campus, cross Taft Avenue or PGH and look for a copy station. I hope CAS will have a computer center that offers computer rental services, as well as printing, copying, binding, while also selling school supplies such as the “UP blue book,” bond paper, pens, notebooks, to name a few so we don’t have to go outside the campus to buy these needed school supplies.
Wellness activities for CAS faculty and staff will surely make a lot of difference in our everyday routine. I hope the CAS administration together with the Department of Physical Education will offer free and regular sessions of aerobics, zumba, or yoga classes exclusively for CAS faculty and staff during official hours. A sportfest would also be great.
