By Reanna Cornejo

The midday sun casts a golden shimmer across the Ateneo Senior High School fields, where laughter, shouts, and the rhythmic beat of drums swirl through the humid air. Flags flutter like sails over a sea of color: orange, white, purple, pink, black, and teal, every strand and grade level gathered with their faces painted and spirits high. From the hallways of the Main Building to the third floor of the FLC, the week’s usual shuffle of students hurrying to class was replaced with a shared heartbeat pulsing with unity and anticipation. It pulsed through the echo of sneakers against concrete courts, in the shared bottles of water passed between sweaty hands, in the laughter that lingered long after a game ended. It was Cura Personalis Week — and for three days, the ASHS community moved, rested, and renewed together.

‘Cura personalis’ often translates from Latin into ‘care for the whole person,’ but as the week unfolded, it became clear that it wasn’t just about taking care of oneself. It was about noticing the person beside you and realizing that well-being blossoms best when it’s shared. It’s about caring with and for one another.

One School, Six Teams

Hundreds of faces from different strands, grade levels, and sections were grouped together into just six colors. Each team carried within it eight sections and two grade levels, mixing seniors and juniors who might have otherwise remained strangers. Suddenly, a STEM student found herself strategizing beside an ABM class president, and a HUMSS writer was cheering with a GA athlete.

It began with a mix of curiosity and hesitation. The first day felt like the first day of school all over again, the uncertain shuffling of students unsure where to stand. “At first, I felt a bit nervous since I wasn’t sure how easy it would be to connect with people I didn’t really know,” said Samantha Celeste from 11-Gavan, who competed under the Black Team. While admitting she felt nervous about it, she also lamented how her unease subsided as the activities unfolded. In her words, it was a “refreshing reminder that ASHS is one big community,” a place where strangers could become teammates and teammates could become friends.

Competition became the greatest equalizer. Even the simplest acts, like sharing water bottles, cheering for unfamiliar classmates, or laughing over failed strategies, sparked friendships that crossed the invisible walls of strands. Natania Dubongco, a HUMSS student from the White Team, reflected that through those small moments, she felt as though she was a part of something bigger than just herself. She realized that ASHS wasn’t just about one’s section or strand, but about everyone moving together toward a shared spirit of unity.

Marga Lim, also from Team Black, recalled how the simple act of talking to people between events made the biggest difference. “It was a great opportunity to grow and connect with people outside my usual routine,” she said, eyes bright. “Even the smallest conversations with competitors or spectators made my day a little brighter.” During a game of dodgeball, she recalls how her group was mud-splattered and breathless, and how laughing with them felt like being with old friends as they showered each other with a garden hose afterward.

By the second day, the event had transformed into a beautiful reminder that collaboration can bridge unfamiliarity. During Zumba sessions led by the Guidance Office, juniors jumped beside seniors; during the Mega Volleyball games, entire teams screamed themselves hoarse for schoolmates they had only met hours ago. As Zyroos Domingo, a HUMSS senior whose class was in the Orange Team, shared, “It made me feel more grounded and connected in a way with the ASHS community as a whole.”

Cura Personalis Week had made the campus feel smaller, closer, warmer. It was a kaleidoscope of unity, the once distinct lines between ABM, HUMSS, GA, and STEM now blurred into color, sound, and shared joy.

Wellness Beyond Winning

Every cheer, every laugh, every clasp of hands during a game painted the week in colors of camaraderie. While points were tallied and champions awaited, Cura Personalis Week was never just about who scored the most. There was beauty in the blur of movement: in the stomp of feet on wet grass during football matches, the careful rhythm of yoga sessions, the booming laughter as someone missed a goal and their entire team still cheered anyway. The laughter that filled the campus was proof enough that the week’s true victory lay in the shared spirit, the cheering crowds, and the moments of kindness between competitors.

The theme ‘Rest, Move, and Renew’ was a reminder that rest can also be a shared act of love. Cura personalis is not confined to self-care routines or an academic break. It is a call to see the divine in others, to honor the wholeness of another person’s being. Throughout the week, that value came alive in ways both subtle and spectacular. Students didn’t just compete; they were encouraged. They didn’t just play, they listened, supported, and celebrated one another’s strengths.  “It gave space for everyone to show their creativity, leadership, and empathy,” Celeste reflected. “We learned to look out for one another and recognize that everyone contributes something unique.”

For others, the week became a brief, grace-filled pause to breathe and reconnect. “Cura Personalis was the ‘not-so-break’ break that every student needs,” Lim said with a smile. “For me, it was God’s way of telling me to go outside of my comfort zone, to talk to that random person, to enter a match even if I knew I was going to lose.”

Cura Personalis Week was never meant to crown a winner. It was meant to lift a community. The magic of it wasn’t in winning gold but in the warmth of being seen, supported, and celebrated, regardless of who came first.

Caring as a Community

The final hours of Cura Personalis Week eventually mellowed into something softer. The halls were filled with the scent of warm food, laughter tumbling freely from open classrooms, and the hum of a pop song that somehow everyone knows the lyrics to. The Class Salo-Salo was simple in concept but rich in spirit. It wasn’t about the food, but about the way students leaned into each other’s stories, about laughter that came from the belly, about the sight of classmates dancing with abandon to songs they swore they’d outgrown. Marga from the Black Team called it her “most memorable moment” of the week. “Everyone was just partying like we were in a rave. Lights, music, dancing, laughter everywhere.”

It was between bites of spaghetti and the shuffling of chairs pushed aside for impromptu games that friendship settled quietly into these classrooms. Dubongco recalled playing Just Dance on the monitor, the entire class moving in an uncoordinated rhythm. “Nobody had to,” she said. “But everyone danced anyway. It felt like we’d all achieved something together.”

The Salusalo didn’t have tallied points, but it was the perfect exhale after a week of racing hearts and roaring cheers. It was the kind of warmth that lingers, the realization that community is built not in grand gestures, but in shared tables and simple meals. The ASHS community discovered that caring for the whole person meant caring collectively: for tired teammates, for classmates pushing past self-doubt, for themselves when it was all over.

The spirit of Cura Personalis Week also carried on the celebration of our beloved formators, following Duffy-Delaney Day, which was held the days prior. The event’s warmth and care echoed the same appreciation for the teachers and mentors who have long embodied Cura Personalis in their daily work. Additionally, just as Duffy-Delaney Day honored the teachers who nurture both our minds and our hearts, Cura Personalis Week honored the community they’ve built: one rooted in care, connection, and compassion. As the ASHS community gathered, competed, and shared laughter, they brought forward the lessons their formators have modeled towards them – kindness, connection, and genuine concern for others. It was more than just a week of friendships; it was a living tribute to those who first taught us what it means to care for the whole person.

A Victory Shared by All

When Friday came, the campus pulsed with anticipation. The air was thick with anxious excitement and the beating of drums and hearts as everyone gathered for the announcement of the overall champion.

When Team Orange was named the winner, the hallways erupted. Zyroos, one of Team Orange’s representatives, recalls that moment vividly: “When they announced the winners, we just ran out into the hallways and saw everyone else doing the same. Even the other teams were cheering. It didn’t matter who won, everyone was just happy. It felt like we were all one big team.”

Inside their classrooms, Orange Team students burst into joy, arms wrapped around one another, the walls pulsing with their cheers. Pelagio De Vera from Mayer expressed the glow of that victorious moment: how the smiles and cheers of his classmates were something he would cherish forever, a testament to the effort that had come from teachers, student facilitators, and participants alike. Their success was a living, breathing thing that everyone in their classroom could feel.

But the true beauty of victory was in the emotion that rippled through the crowd. Beneath the thrill of winning lay a quiet pride that came not from the points they earned, but the people they became. Amaia Tabayoyong, a student officer from the Orange Team, recalled how their journey started with nothing deeper than the desire to simply have fun. But somewhere between the laughter and the games, that joy evolved into a motivating force. When they began to realize their team actually had a chance to win, it fueled them. Their approach to the games was wrapped in humor and heart, their energy light but the effort strong.

Their approach to the week was simple, Amaia’s classmate, Yuan Magpayo, explained. They played not to be champions, but for each other. They wanted to win, but they prioritized bonding above all else. They played without pressure, guided instead by joy, and that made all the difference. Sybil Singson, a STEM junior, described their team as a perfect mix of “strategy and laughter,” believing that it was their unity that set them apart. They learned to embrace their differences and focus on collaboration. 

The Orange Team stood not just as champions of the week, but as a reflection of what Cura Personalis truly meant. Their triumph went beyond medals and banners; it was about the human spirit and the beauty of people caring and celebrating as one. De Vera captured this sentiment with sincerity, saying that what he would carry with him was the lesson that caring begins with teamwork and understanding. In his words, “Cura personalis isn’t just about helping others – it’s about being present for them.”

Cura Personalis Week had done more than crown a winner. It was never just about competition, or even about care in the traditional sense. It was about rediscovering what it means to be Atenean: to lead with empathy, to celebrate togetherness, and to remember that in caring for others, we also care for ourselves. It was a reminder for every student that in caring for one another, we find rest; that in unity, we find strength, and in the chaos of colors and cheers, we discover the quiet heart of community. And in the heart of every Ignatian experience lies one truth: care begins in connection.

When the noise finally faded, the halls of the Ateneo Senior High School were left with the faintest echo of joy, a reminder that wellness, joy, and care are always best when shared. Cura personalis week shows us that the truest kind of triumph doesn’t glitter,  but instead glows quietly in the hearts of those who found home in one another.