News: UST Nursing Students Proved “Nursing is an ART”

Nurse artists and musicians showcased their talents to the whole university during the TOMASINO ATIN ‘TO! 2009 IS MINE, Student’s Rights and Welfare (STRAW) Week organized by the Central Student Council (CSC) held last November 16-20, 2009.

Leaving marks of nurse artists…

The team of Nursing artists namely, Francis Batenga, John Christian Yayen, Franchesca Caponpon, Joan Alessandra Sibal, Kristian Gerard Tabucal showed everyone what they were made of as they placed second to the College of Fine Arts and Design in the STRAW Week’s karARTpatan competition, an intercollegiate on-the-spot painting contest held at the UST Tinoko Park.

The Nursing team, together with teams from other colleges, was given 6 hours to finish a painting related to the theme “2009 IS MINE!” which concerns uplifting the rights and welfare of the Thomasian students. Also, to even out the playing field, the teams were restricted to the materials which they were provided.

“We feel proud and surprised that we won. We didn’t really think that our entry will win a place because we were actually one of the last teams to finish. And to think that we don’t have any arts-related subject in our college, still, we placed second after the College of Fine Arts and Design is really something to be proud of,” says Francis Batenga.

“It’s a cliché for us UST nursing students to hear the phrase ‘Nursing is an art’ and most of the time we fail to grasp this concept. By winning this art competition, we just put those words into reality and through this we hope to inspire the talents that the College of Nursing have,” Kristian Tabucal added.

Resonating the sounds of nurse musicians…

Nursing students also displayed their musicality in AkoUSTeko: Night of Prayer and Music which marked the end of the STRAW Week last November 20, 2009.

The Quadricentennial Square was filled with acoustic performances from local bands from the different colleges of the university.

Nursing acoustic bands, John and Krista, made up of John Yayen and Kristabelle Usita, and Sixstrings, made up of Jose Amadeo Imperial, John Ryan Tan, Dmitri Kurt Yumul and Deodato Mari Reyes.

“It was such a privilege to perform for the university and on one of its prominent landmarks. It was really thrilling for us in the start because it was our first time to perform in front of that kind of crowd. After the performance, it was really fulfilling and we were all happy to participate in such an event,” John Yayen told the Nursing Journal.

The Salinggawi Dance Troupe also performed a number for the event and Paramita, an OPM band, was also there to serenade the audience and to end the night.