THE recent gathering we had with our City Central School batch mates reminded me once again of those days of youthful frolic. Elementary school recollections, because these are embedded deeper in the mind than those formed in high school and college, are rare and need to be dusted well and are therefore precious. Especially now that much has changed in the old campus.
The last time I was in City Central was years ago, or months after a fire hit a portion of the old school building. I remember asking a teacher for guidance and, after I told her I was from Batch ‘72, she told me they needed a sponsor for the reconcreting of the quadrangle. But that conversation got lost in the passing, forgotten because of my other pressing personal concerns.
Ahh, the quadrangle of the old elementary school building is, I reckon, the common backdrop of all the memorable scenes still embedded in the minds of the old graduates. The new building at the back was already there during our time but the old school building remained the base of the higher sections, the premiere area of the school with the flagpole fronting it. Now City Central is mainly the former “new” building, expanded and with a few floors added.
When I went to City Central, I went to the old school building, which already showed signs of neglect not only because it was hit by a fire and repair was slow but also because it already played only a secondary role in the campus scheme of things. That shift began when the Department of Education (DepEd) used the other new building during our time, the building we used for our home economics class, for its offices. With the newer structures at the back becoming the school’s main home, the old school building became dispensable. But DepEd could not tear it down because it is a heritage site, built in the 1920s. I reckon the Cebu City Government is now using it as a high school campus.
Only Grade 6-Sun and Grade 6-Moon, among our graduating class, held fort in that old school building, which is visible from the corner of Osmeña Blvd. and P. del Rosario St. I also had my classrooms there since Grade 2. Of that stay, two things stood out: that jump from the window facing the corner of those streets and the accident that almost broke my skull.
The first incident reminded me of the late Rommel, who became custodian of the key of the classroom door because he was bigger physically than any one of us. One time, some of us joked around with him until, exasperated, he left us locked inside. We had no other option but to jump out of the window. One thing that incident did was to test our daring. I was able to jump but only after several minutes of hesitation and trying to overcome fear.
The other scare was real for me and for my family. We were playing catch in the lobby when I stumbled upon the leg of a pupil who was scrubbing the portion of the floor near the door using a coconut husk. The momentum had me crashing to the concrete floor head first. I lost consciousness for several seconds and had to be brought to the hospital for further examinations. Thank God my injury wasn’t serious.