#FEATURE | “How’s being a dormer?”
by Poch Santos
“BRO! ‘BAT AMBAGAL NG INTERNET!” a statement overheard from a group of dormers in the other room playing Mobile Legends.
Every year, a new batch of students enter Philippine Science High School — Main Campus. Approximately 240 graduates from different elementary schools around the country pass the exam and are brought here. Some of them don’t even come from Quezon City and are, surprisingly, not even from Metro Manila.
These scholars become an intern or, what Pisay students often call, the dormer.
The Dormers. Students that were forced to stay away from their families due to geographical complications, forced to move out of the safety of their own home, forced to enter a totally new atmosphere with complete strangers.
What a terrifying thought.
The Transition
Believe it or not, being a dormer isn’t at all that hard. Much of the challenge is actually in the process of transitioning into becoming an actual dormer.
It’s a big leap from being previously an extern during your elementary days. Knowing that it’ll be a week without your parents there for you, is somewhat daunting and can be intimidating at first.
With this hard transition, dormers experience things they call adaptations to their routine. These adaptations are a dormer’s reactions to the differences the dorm has over what they were normally used to back then when they were externs.
One of these transitions, stated by Lorenz Sy from 10-Photon, is, “Since marumi ang mga rooms, … kailangan ko matuto maglinis.”
With it not just being you in a single room, it is inevitable that you come across dirty or not-so-well-mannered roommates which may cause your room to receive bad remarks from the managers.
“… How to manage my finance,” stated by Rev Odevilas, was, as he said, one of his “adaptations” that he needed to actually learn as he was transitioning to become a dormer.
Learning how to budget correctly and manage finances is one of the biggest shifts a previous extern has to go through. Especially since, as Sy added, “Mas lumaki yung weekly allowance ko nung naging dormer ako.”
The shift in getting, for example, P200 per day to getting about P2000 a week is a big leap. This leap can sometimes be a bit shocking to previous externs and might make them a bit too confident about how they’ll correctly budget their money.
This transition is especially apparent since you don’t have your family to tell you and teach you how to actually manage it. This may lead to overspending or even underspending on food and other necessities.
Advantages
Being literally inside the Pisay campus, dorm life has many advantages.
“Gusto ko yung idea na I can wake up later than normal students [externs]… like being able to wake up at 7:00 and still not be late,” said Odevilas.
Sleep is extremely crucial in an environment like Pisay’s. With the numerous amounts of requirements always getting piled up each day, students tend to need more time to rest.
Being a dormer, transportation is never a problem (unless you’re injured). This is for we live, literally, inside the school. Furthermore, dormers tend to, and actually can, wake up later compared to externs because of the non-existent travel time to the classrooms.
“Since the school is literally just a few meters from the dorm … I can wake up slightly late[r], and prepare quicker,” said Benjamin Jacob from 7-Opal, sharing the sentiment.
Another pro of being a dormer, as noticed by Jose Abad of 10-Tau, is that “you can spend more time in school, since externs leave right after dismissal.”
Being able to talk with your friends is always a great advantage when it comes to being a dormer. Being able to spend more time with the people you love — aside from your parents — can always lighten your mood and help you get through some of your worries faster.
Backing that up, Jacob stated: “You can have someone to talk to, which makes you feel emotionally stable.”.
“You can ask for homework help from other people better than you, or from higher batches,” he continued.
Being in a place with a collective of other people, you may tend to either conduct a group study or discuss requirements. Doing requirements that you’re struggling in while having other’s help is an option that people really take advantage in as dormers.
Abad added, “I’m [also] grateful for the support system here in Pisay.”
When you are in need of help, consulting with friends or even upper years is another big advantage when it comes to becoming a dormer. Having associates that inspire, motivate, and encourage you is one of the most rewarding and fun parts of staying in the dorm. Closer friendships and bonds are also more easily formed in the dorm because of the consistently long interactions and direct communications between peers.
Disadvantages
Aside from the pros, being a dormer isn’t always such an advantage. People tend to have different opinions on friends or being with others in contrast to being by themselves.
A problem a lot of dormers encounter, which Jacob mentioned, was that dormers have to follow a strict set of rules, such as curfew, laptop depositing, and wake up calls.
These rules made him more disciplined, “which is hard to do to be honest, since we are supposed to make ourselves feel like we are at home when in the dorm,” said Jacob.
With the constant pressure the Pisay system applies on its students, we don’t need this extra added pressure by the dorm. Strict rules cause dormers to have to adjust to this system as well as adjusting to the Pisay standard and harshness.
One of the problems people encounter on a frequent basis here in the dorm, which was another problem Jacob encountered, was that “doing requirements is very annoying since there are many procrastinators who make noise in both my room and at the study area,” he said, “so you basically have to deal with working in an uncomfortable environment.”
This has been a problem of many dormers, including myself — as both the victim and the problem. The rowdiness of some people in the dorm distract and affect the productivity of others badly.
With a great number of Pisay students that are dormers, the dorm experiences more distractions and interruptions due to the noise. Uncontrollable and undisciplined, behavior of other people here tend to be wild and, sometimes, annoying.
Another con to being a dormer, according to Sy, is that “medyo di ako sanay sa makalat na room.”
Dirty roommates are, sadly, unpredictable. All we can really do is either tell them to clean it, which they most likely won’t do, or take that broom by the handle and clean it yourself.
In the dorm you have to be understanding with your roommates for you don’t always get the people you want or like, which adds to this sense of uncertainty.
Another problem that Jacob saw was that, “I find it both hard and easy to be separated from my parents.” This, according to him, was due to the fact that he liked that he wasn’t being shouted at to do things, but he couldn’t get rid of the fact that that shouting made him “actually do productive things.”
Parents can also be a blessing and an annoyance at the same time for a student.
They can help you with time management, them being a walking reminder to do your duties. Whereas they can also, sometimes, be those people who force you to do things arbitrarily and without reason.
In the dorm, you are obligated to learn how to become independent and, more or less, “your own man, or woman.”
Another let down here in the dormitory, said again by Abad: “Nagcri-creak bed ko and almost mahuhulog na saakin yung top part [the wood panel between the top and bottom bunk of the bed].”
The facilities are also problems dormers encounter for they cause inconvenience. From old door hinges that break often and need fixing, extremely cold water in the mornings which need heat, old and dirty bathrooms that need cleaning, to even beds and bed frames that are dirty and sometimes broken.
Some dormers have even resorted to using what they call “squatter hacks.” These hacks include things such as heating their own water [using the water dispenser] to using superglue to fix the old creaky wooden parts of the beds.
As according to Jacob, another disadvantage are the facilities and slow cellular signal you need to get used to when entering the dorm.
Pisay has been, for the longest time, notorious for its bad cellular signal. By needing to live inside the campus, people have to get used to the slow net and the, “…only mabilis ang SMART dito,” according to Odevilas.
A solution here is to do requirements beforehand. I know it sounds cheesy or cliché but it is, in essence, a great tip. One which I have yet to actually follow.
The Conclusion
Becoming a dormer is, in the most basic of terms, transformative, which may be good or bad, depends on how you see it. The dorm gives us a chance to prove our independence and gain friendships that, in most cases, can last a lifetime.
With the numerous advantages and disadvantages, we only have two choices, complain about it or adjust to it.
By the end of the day, I might be biased due to that fact that I’m a dormer, but it all really depends on what you want and what you think is easier for you and your lifestyle.
Don’t be scared to try new things, it’ll always be a learning experience and, in the dorm’s sense, life-changing.
DISCLAIMER: This article was written last S.Y. (S.Y. 2018–2019).
