Who Can Ever Forget
by Jung Del Barrio
Who can ever forget Fr. Jerome Calcagno... He was our (Special Class) English/Religion teacher during my first year at SVS. Talking about fond memories, i have both bad and good ones. I'd start off with the bad then.
Remember Ronald "Bagyo" Bona? The monicker bagyo was actually for the volleyball serves Ronald had in his arsenal of volley skills which almost ended up in a fight during an inter seminary sportsfest. No libero would dare accept Ronald's serves. hehehe!
Anyway, Ronald then had a wound on his left leg which grew to around 50x when he had it topped with penicillin. He was seated in front of me during one of Fr. Jerome's lectures when, accidentally, I nudged "the wound". Ronald then erupted into a scream which also resulted into a scream from Fr. Jerome. Ronald tried to explain but to no avail so we were both sent out of the room. I also tried to, since I was the culprit but Fr. Jerome was too insistent. After a mouthful of prudent "what-nots" we decided to leave the room. Ronald went out first but when I started to turn my back I was again given a mouthful, telling me that i am very disrespectful. He said that I wasn't suppose to turn my back while I am being given those mouthfuls. Being the promdi and the fact that I was not able to speak for what I thought should be shrugged off since it was an accident, I cried... This was one of the many times that I used the chapel as my refuge whenever I succumbed to the usual homesickness of the newbies in the seminary.
Tough as he may have appeared to me, I learned something about Americans. They have to stand firm to what they believe is the right way to form a seminarian. Pinoys will always be pinoys. We sometimes get to be guilty even if we know for a fact that we are not. In short we visited Fr. Jerome in his room. Thankfully, we were able to deliver our prepared speech of apology. Apologies accepted. End of story. We got to see again the smile on Fr. Jerome's face whenever we see him in class.
The good one was when we were asked to memorize the poem "Who is Jesus Christ?" ..and mind you, we were also asked to recite that poem in front of the class... and you know what? To this day I can still recite the poem. It really pays when you memorize a poem by heart. and to top it all, to get even, I now ask my students to recite the same poem. During the time that I was reciting the poem I have always asked myself: "What good would this poem do to me?" ..except of course for the fact that we were taught the proper (American) pronunciation of every word not to mention the pauses and the breathing...
Fr Jerome, wherever you are, you are part of the foundation of every Special Class student you handled. You taught me a lot of things which a Pinoy formator can never teach. This may be too late but I really would like to thank you for sharing the gift of wisdom, the smile which launched 999 ships (second only to Manong Leva).. The same smile which pushed and will continue to push me to follow the footsteps of Lolo Enteng in my chosen vocation...
by Jung Del Barrio
Who can ever forget Fr. Jerome Calcagno... He was our (Special Class) English/Religion teacher during my first year at SVS. Talking about fond memories, i have both bad and good ones. I'd start off with the bad then.
Remember Ronald "Bagyo" Bona? The monicker bagyo was actually for the volleyball serves Ronald had in his arsenal of volley skills which almost ended up in a fight during an inter seminary sportsfest. No libero would dare accept Ronald's serves. hehehe!
Anyway, Ronald then had a wound on his left leg which grew to around 50x when he had it topped with penicillin. He was seated in front of me during one of Fr. Jerome's lectures when, accidentally, I nudged "the wound". Ronald then erupted into a scream which also resulted into a scream from Fr. Jerome. Ronald tried to explain but to no avail so we were both sent out of the room. I also tried to, since I was the culprit but Fr. Jerome was too insistent. After a mouthful of prudent "what-nots" we decided to leave the room. Ronald went out first but when I started to turn my back I was again given a mouthful, telling me that i am very disrespectful. He said that I wasn't suppose to turn my back while I am being given those mouthfuls. Being the promdi and the fact that I was not able to speak for what I thought should be shrugged off since it was an accident, I cried... This was one of the many times that I used the chapel as my refuge whenever I succumbed to the usual homesickness of the newbies in the seminary.
Tough as he may have appeared to me, I learned something about Americans. They have to stand firm to what they believe is the right way to form a seminarian. Pinoys will always be pinoys. We sometimes get to be guilty even if we know for a fact that we are not. In short we visited Fr. Jerome in his room. Thankfully, we were able to deliver our prepared speech of apology. Apologies accepted. End of story. We got to see again the smile on Fr. Jerome's face whenever we see him in class.
The good one was when we were asked to memorize the poem "Who is Jesus Christ?" ..and mind you, we were also asked to recite that poem in front of the class... and you know what? To this day I can still recite the poem. It really pays when you memorize a poem by heart. and to top it all, to get even, I now ask my students to recite the same poem. During the time that I was reciting the poem I have always asked myself: "What good would this poem do to me?" ..except of course for the fact that we were taught the proper (American) pronunciation of every word not to mention the pauses and the breathing...
Fr Jerome, wherever you are, you are part of the foundation of every Special Class student you handled. You taught me a lot of things which a Pinoy formator can never teach. This may be too late but I really would like to thank you for sharing the gift of wisdom, the smile which launched 999 ships (second only to Manong Leva).. The same smile which pushed and will continue to push me to follow the footsteps of Lolo Enteng in my chosen vocation...
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