My Salute to the Cutting Classes Club

I believe it will be a long time before the CCC members will have a reunion with a complete attendance of members. Well, our high school life has ended and we are now all in college. We are now scattered. Most of us decided to stay and study in Bicol University. More than five members had passed the UP exam (including me) but only three decided to study there. I think three are in Aquinas University. Noel is in MAAP training to have his career in a ship… Chard is a "Green Archer"… and Dano is trying his luck to be a priest (Dano a priest?!…I still don't like the idea). Although most of us are studying in Bicol University with different courses, and we manage to have some time to hang out. But its better if we are hanging out with a complete attendance…like back in high school. *Sigh*… I am going to miss those times.

The CCC started in first year high school. It was a joke at first, since CCC means "Cutting Classes Club". I jokingly suggested it to be the name of our group, with Jeric as president because his older brother James was a legend in BU high because of his escapades. But the name stuck. It's the name of our group ever since.

With about twenty members, we became the elite. Each member is unique… with each member contributing something to the group. CCC became a collection of athletes, geniuses, jokers, hunks, hustlers, computer addicts, etc. CCC has it all… brains, charisma, looks, talents… so on.

But as the meaning of CCC suggests, cutting classes was our trade. And having fun and "trippings" were our past time. Pranks and jokes were natural with us. We have a lot of laughs in high school (especially when Chard and Uly started with their jokes and antics).

We gained our popularity because of donations (we donated some money to send our school's NSPC candidates to the NSPC at one time, and we funded for our intram's banner), troubles we got into or vandalism (I consider it advertisement) -- But it was mostly because of the troubles we got into. We manage to get out of those troubles with witty excuses and convincing speeches. And it was Josh's idea to donate for some worthy causes so that our name will be good, and not totally infamous.

CCC members may cut classes and get into trouble but are not stupid. We manage to get decent grades. We are intelligent, but are very lazy to study. And some (or most?) of us used those intelligence for foolproof plans and cheats in tests instead (Phiou is a hustler in this area).

But don't get us wrong. We are not bad boys. We are nice guys. We are not a gang of war-freaks (oh, I forgot… Noel is a "war-freak") although it seems like it, especially when are complete in attendance (people are confident in big numbers). We avoid fights… but don't mess with us. We are not bad fighters…

CCC members hate bullying. We don't tolerate it. There are no bullies in our group. We are friendly people. We are approachable. We hate bullies (bullies beware of us).

Boys will be boys. Boys are prone to getting into trouble and naughtiness…like us. But we were not all trouble. Heck, we had athletes …quiz contestants… that brought glory to the school. We help in school activities. We help others. And we are good friends.

That's why I like the CCC. And I am going to miss our escapades and the times we were together. We are going to study hard this college and avoid cutting classes (maybe except those in Engineering). I write this as a tribute to the group that I found friendship with. I say thanks to all of you guys. You were all wonderful. High school was better with the CCC to make things good and fun. My high school was better with the CCC to spend it with. The CCC may be separated now, but I believe we will be all together again one day… to cut one more class.