It’s good to be home!

On August 15 and 16, 2023, the Ateneo Resident Students Association (ARSA) together with the University Residence Halls (URH) Operations and Formation Teams held “Boarding: oURHome Orientation and Transit”--- a Dorm Orientation for Returning Dormers and for the Freshies and New Residents of the URH. The first event was held at the New Rizal Library, 5th Floor, while the latter happened at the MVP Roofdeck.

Vice President for Administration Rudy Ang who currently serves as the URH OIC and Assistant Vice President for Ignatian Spirituality Formation (AVP-ISF) Rizalina T. Simpas welcomed the community. Administrative Assistant for URH-Operations Marife Villanueva, Assistant Vice President for Health, Care and Wellbeing Dr Norman Marquez, Assistant Director, CSMO Lt Jomer G. Maghirang, and Residence Formation Head Martin John Manguerra spoke at the event to address various topics—from facilities and services, safety and security, to physical and mental health, psycho-spiritual formation and community building.

Drawing from the stories of the patron saints of the dorm, the First Companions St. Ignatius of Loyola, St. Francis Xavier, and St. Peter Faber, who were roommates themselves during their studies at the University of Paris, Mx Manguerra spoke to the new and returning dormers with encouraging words that we are not alone, especially with newfound friends and neighbors. They shared how their coming together helped them form the Society of Jesus, which led to the founding of schools like the Ateneo de Manila centuries later. 

^{ARSA Central Board and the OrSem Volunteers}

Mx. Manguerra invited the dormers to the various formation programs and events, giving emphasis to community events like the Group Kumustahan, Care-O-Ke, Sunday Mass at Gesu, and the like.

The URH Operations and Formation Teams play a vital role in nurturing safe spaces in the dorm since it is, without a doubt, hard to leave one’s comfort and familiar zones and begin a new journey. However, only by beginning a new chapter can our story unfold. Only then can we move forward, grow, and be better.

On our journey, we can be lost and confused, and that is okay. Only then can we be found and guided. Many changes are happening in the dorm, and with them come challenges. However, this is part of our lives. Only with change comes growth. Only through growth can we become our best and fullest selves. Challenges always have lessons that carry values. This is how we are formed.

The dorm community plays an extra special role in our formation as Ateneans. This is where independence, companionship, and compassion, among many other needed values, are best learned. Our time in the dorms may not always be smooth, but this is a time that we will surely remember for the rest of our lives.

^{New URH Residents: Freshies and Transferees}

What is also important is that even though the dorm is a whole new place, we are not alone. We are a community. This is our second home. The university staff promise to keep our spaces safe, welcoming, and nurturing. The formation team and resident advisers, especially, are with us, doing their utmost best, guided by the Ignatian core values of cura personalis and magis, to guide and accompany us and care for us.

In this new journey of ours, we are also stewards of one another, partakers in keeping our spaces respectful and loving, and caretakers of the dorm to maintain and sustain them. Only with authentic appreciation can we become stewards and people for others.

Welcome, URH residents! Welcome to your second home! Let us help each other feel safe, welcomed, and loved. May the residential life help all of us become persons for others, embodying cura personalis and magis.

^{Culmination Day: Dorm Community Mass with Rite of Blessings for the ARSA CB and the URH Residents}

Write-up by Jack Lorenz A. Rivera