We concluded SATMI Sports Day. It is good to see that in the event we did not just fill up activity in our academic calendar as we routinely do. Instead, we collectively celebrated the joy of being with each other as a school community outside the pressures and humdrum of academic life. Our short break merits appreciation and, of course, affirmation.
Even with limited time and resources, we tried to fill up the limitations academic engagement inevitably causes our community building. We decided to break the routine of doing our own thing and going about with our preoccupation as professors, administrators, staff, and students. We went out of our way to sacrifice the day of rest that we may refresh and animate the spirit of brotherhood and sisterhood as an academic community.
While we do have sporadic explosions as a community in various events in our school calendar, we have to recognize the special place that our sports day ought to have as an education institute. It enhances the well-being of each of us, the quality of life in our institute, and, most notably, our sense of belonging. Simple our Sports Day may be, we cannot turn our backs from what unfolds before us. We come together, we integrate, we communicate, we make connections, and we build a human and humanizing community. OUR SPORTS DAY PROVIDES US A VENUE TO BUILD OUR SOCIAL CAPITAL.
This is our gain; this is our victory. Indeed, good sports can make a difference for a thriving institute, that is, SATMI. Let us move on as St. Alphonsus Theological and Mission Institute in service of mission.
PC: Bro. Roel Gutierrez, C.Ss.R