Why am I a Prepian?
At the 60th General Reunion and Batch ’69 Sapphire (45th) Reunion in 2014, organizers distributed a questionnaire for a commemorative coffee table book. I don’t know how many of my classmates completed the two-page form, but I took it as a serious opportunity to take stock of why I feel so immensely proud to call myself a Prepian.
The questionnaire asked us to respond to two core prompts: Succinctly describe your experience at Prep, and What trait best defines a Prepian? Here is how I answered.
My dad, a deeply enlightened man, dangled admission to UP Prep as a reward for graduating as elementary school valedictorian. Both my sister, Leila (Batch ’67), and I achieved the honor, and off to Prep we went.
From the start, I knew it was an extraordinarily special place. Every applicant had to navigate a panel interview alongside a rigorous set of admission hurdles. Coming from a public school—Bonifacio Elementary in the modest city of Pasay—I found the process beautifully democratic and meritocratic. High-achieving students from public schools had the exact same opportunity to enter as those from wealthy, exclusive private schools.
When asked to name our favorite teachers, I listed Mrs. Lucban, who nurtured my love for the arts, and Mrs. Goseco, who sharpened my vocabulary through her relentless drills. They tapped into my natural proclivities, helping shape the person I became: a museum professional who helped establish the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), and later, a retiree who delights in playing Mozart, Chopin, and Beethoven on the piano while writing and blogging about UP Prep.
Like so many Prepians, the memories most deeply etched in my mind and heart are the educational tours. Designed to reinforce our classroom learning, they broadened our young, impressionable horizons while forging lasting camaraderie. On a more practical level, I also learned quite a bit about the "birds and the bees" simply observing life from my perch on a ledge between the majestic columns of Rizal Hall while waiting for my ride home.
I loved the rhythm of academic life—the constant drive to study, taking precise notes in class, last-minute review sessions at the Quadrangle, diagramming complex sentences, and catching hydra and paramecia in the PGH garden pools. There was almost nothing I hated about my time at Prep—except, perhaps, receiving the low grades in Geometry and Trigonometry that landed me out of the star (Azucena) section. But that was on me, not the school!
What left the most enduring impression was Prep’s unique ability to cultivate brilliant young minds while grounding them in both conservative and liberal ideals, values, and perspectives. In its brief 19-year history, the school gave the Philippines—and the world—an extraordinary cadre of leaders and productive citizens.
Prepians are, above all, remarkably well-rounded. A Prepian dies fighting a dictatorship; a Prepian heals patients across the globe; a Prepian inspires through the visual and performing arts; and, perhaps most importantly, a Prepian passes those exceptional genes on to a new generation of even sharper minds.
Riza Jose’s progeny, Dr. Charisse Baldoria
Summa cum laude, UP College of Music | M.M. & D.M.A., University of Michigan | Associate Professor of Piano, Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania
My daughter, Erica Sievert
Magna cum laude, Wellesley College | Phi Beta Kappa & Oxford University Scholar | Executive Communication Lead Manager, Google, Inc.
Ernesto Hilario’s pride, Jose Gabriel Hilario
Magna cum laude in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, University of the Philippines
In hindsight, perhaps it is a blessing that UP Prep existed only as a temporary educational experiment. Because it ended when it did, it remains untarnished in our minds—a place of fond, enduring memories, kept vibrant by our indefatigable reunion organizers.
