What is your most unforgettable school experience?

All of us have one or two experiences in school that we will never forget. For some of us we remember how hard it was to leave our Mom when we had to go to school for the first time. But later on when we made friends at school we often chose to be with our friends rather than spend time with our family. There are so many firsts that school brings to mind – aside from the many lessons we learned (which at the time we may have thought were not so important) there was that first date, best friends, first boyfriend and so much more. One thing is sure we will never forget the many discoveries we made at school and for sure these have contributed to making us the people we are today.

MILA MAGSAYSAY VALENZUELA, public relations executive: I have two memorable experiences during my school years. The first was at my high school graduation from St. Scholastica’s College, where my dad, former President Ramon Magsaysay was guest speaker. He was a presidential candidate at the time. The second, was at my college grad from UST, my Dad also had agreed to be the guest speaker but he perished in a plane crash in Cebu on March 17, one week before my graduation.

MAKI PULIDO, TV reporter, GMA news: I spent some of my best years in school at UP Diliman. Two things easily come to mind. When I first joined a rally to protest the presence of the US military bases here in the Philippines and we were dispersed by anti riot police. After that my skin was really dirty. The other unforgettable experience was when I ran for the university student council. All the candidates were required to stay at a "candidates house" for the duration of the campaign but I wasn’t used to being away from home. After several nights I got so homesick and was not able to attend the training because I was crying.

NAYNAY VENTURA, teacher: One of my most memorable school experiences was going to graduate school while teaching at a public school in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It was the perfect match between theory and practice, and the best antidote to the rigors of a life teaching reading to first and second graders.

MARCO BORLONGAN, NBC: A lot. Peculiar? Meeting people who I would bum cigarettes from. The people I would ask a cigarette from would say "wala eh" or "isa lang eh." And then I would see a pack hidden…or worse, they would give me the local ones and they would keep the imported ones for themselves!

MARS C. CHUA, businessman: Did anyone ever enjoy Citizen’s Army Training (CAT)? Well, sometimes I did! I studied in an all-boys’ school. Beside our school was an exclusive girls’ school. The girls would sit on the benches which were facing our school. When our commandant would punish us he would order us to crawl in the grass towards the girls’ school, it was fun to see the girls run screaming when they would see us coming.

FREIDA DARIO, marketing manager, Mandala Spa: My high school days were the best! Imagine sitting in a classroom in an exclusive Catholic school wearing five colors on my hair, dissecting frogs, and discovering life through Nietzsche and Nick Joaquin. After class, I wore black lipstick and sang in a New Wave band. The real fun happened on weekends. It was the era of the mobile disco when parties were drug-free and people wanted to look like rock stars and dance like they were on MTV. The best parties were Tata Montilla and Vic Barba’s Social Distortion parties in Forbes and the Arambulo’s Muzak shindigs at the Corinthian Garden clubhouse. Then there was Bob’s Down Fall at Jalisco and laid back nights in Malate’s Penguin Café and Rock Ola! But all that partying never happened on school nights because homework was king. Kids partied like there was no tomorrow – but were home by midnight.