THE BOYS OF IV-I

we were a rare breed.

borne out of two traditions, the laboratory school and the pilot school there were differences among us. the former spoke the bicol of old albay, the latter daragueno. we were a little sophisticated, reserved and proud of our heritage, the other was outgoing, straight-forward and down-to-earth.

but, there ends our differences.

we excelled in academics without exception. in fact, our boys belonged to the top five of the class. no matter what we do after class (parties, drinking sprees, etc.) we were up the next day ready for the rigors of our studies.

it seem to be an unwritten code among us that we never courted our girl schoolmates even if they were the prettiest among all the fourth-year batch. there might be a few exception, but we chose to annul our manhood beyond the borders of our institution. this is not a case of familiarity breeding contempt, but perhaps the thought of the grass being greener on the other pasture.

in sickness or in health, for richer or for poorer, for goodness or mischief we were united. talk about suspension of classes and you find half of the IV-I boys in a nearby theater watching "bomba" films for the fun of it. we were never perverts, but we were undergoing the rites of passage to adulthood.

we had grown salty and daring as graduation was near. our mentors were secretly proud that we have grown out of their hands to become independent, responsible and conscious of our destinies and goals.

at the advent of the summer of '71, we were taking divergent paths.

but we knew that, we the boys of IV-I, one day our paths would cross and converge.