FYI for Freshmen: The Taft environment

As a new batch of freshmen students set foot into DLSU, they face different apprehensions adjusting to the Taft environment and the lifestyle demands of a college student.

Office of Counseling and Career Services (OCCS) Director Dr. Susana Estanislao says that adjusting to a new environment is the hardest step for college students. She elaborates that a student’s adjustment to university life touches three areas—academic concerns, personal-social concerns and career or course indecisiveness coupled with uncertainty of the future.
Honing newfound freedom

Estanislao says, however, that the immediate trouble a freshmen experiences is homesickness. “For the first few weeks or months, homesickness is very prominent. Eventually, you get immersed in the new environment and learn coping skills. You get to have new friends and meet the new community,” she explains.

As time passes, students are equipped with newfound freedom and are confronted with an unfamiliar environment, unlike their lifestyle in high school which is often relatively stricter and controlled. Estanislao explains, “You get the freedom to choose. You can cut class without really being caught. You can just get out of the campus anytime.” She stresses that responsibility should come with such kind of privilege.

During this phase, Estanislao highlights the simple actions such as crossing the street, riding public transports like the LRT or MRT, and even answering to strangers become significant stressors.

Hosea Salazar (II, BSA) shares, “The positive side of living away from home is the maturity that comes within you as you become more and more independent. The negative side of these liberties is that these decisions often are misguided since the transition to independence is a long, tedious process.”

With a desire for exploration, freshmen are eager to walk around the campus and its numerous surrounding establishments. However, for majority of the respondents, though the campus lets them feel a sense of security, the frequent stories of civilian robberies in the campus perimeter raise significant concerns among freshmen.
Taft tradeoffs

Freshmen complain that the surrounding Taft area is full of heavy traffic jams, noise and air pollution, and congestion due to frequent crowds. Freshman Ysabel Magno from Quezon City comments, “It`s easier to adjust [to the campus] but when you get out of the campus, it [gets chaotic].”

CLA student Sachi Go adds, “[Taft] is naturally more chaotic and unkempt due to the heavy traffic and numerous pollutants.”  Hannah, another CLA freshman from Cavite, remarks that due to her asthma, the Manila air poses a threat to her health, and perhaps many others as well.

Granted that Metro Manila remains one of the most polluted areas nationwide, Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Secretary Ramon Paje in recent news reports observed a downward trend in air pollution levels late 2012.

According to Paje, the Total Suspended Particulate (TSP) level – solid pollutants mixed with moisture in the air – in the National Capital Region (NCR) was recorded at 106ug/Ncm (micrograms per normal cubic meter), down from 166ug/Ncm in 2010, yet 16ug/Ncm below the acceptable standard.

Respondents also believe that strong rains and typhoons such as Typhoon Ondoy in 2009, and Pedring and Falcon in 2011 have resulted to worse damages because of the lack of trees and abundance in garbage clogging along Taft Avenue.

A question of safety

Freshmen students generally express nervousness regarding the safety and security of the surrounding Taft environment, referring to rampant stories of unreported pick pocketing, holding up and snatching.

In a survey conducted by The LaSallian consisting of 52 freshman respondents, 77 percent of the respondents choose to live in a condominium or dormitory near DLSU because of proximity and convenience. 54 percent regard safety as a reason, to minimize risk during daily commutes.

On the other hand, freshmen perceive security as tight inside the campus. “However, outside the campus, there are suspicious-looking people, especially those near the Vito Cruz LRT station,” says Karenina Carado, CLA freshman.

However, incidences of theft and trespassing are not isolated outside the campus. Previous reports from The LaSallian in the last few months cover cases of theft of valuable electronics, such as the cases of students Kristjan Bayle (III, AB-OCM) and Joaqui Flores (III, AB-CAM) who lost a Macbook Pro and a Dell laptop respectively, after momentarily leaving them in-campus.

In an interview with The LaSallian last February, Security and Safety Office (SSO) Director Dionisio Escarez assures that although there are certain technical and funding problems with DLSU’s CCTV cameras, the security personnel and facilities are undergoing assessment and improvement.

As of press time, Associate Vice Chancellor for Campus Services (AVCCS) Josemari Calleja has yet to respond to an interview with The LaSallian.

Meanwhile, Escarez and Estanislao recommend that practicing personal vigilance, such as knowing how to take care of one’s belongings can greatly aid in a student’s ability to learn about and ultimately cope with the Taft environment..