Every story begins somewhere, and mine began long before I took my first breath. It started when two people from different worlds my parents crossed paths and chose to share their lives together. Their love became the foundation of my existence, and from that moment, the story of ‘me’ quietly began. My story isn’t perfect, but it’s real. I’ve had moments of laughter, times of struggle, and lessons I never expected to learn. My name is Edcelle Ann Gammad, 2 decades, 1 year, 7 months, 19 days, and 41 seconds of existence since I wrote this. This is not just my story, but a journey that started with theirs, and how I became who I am today one step, one mistake, and one dream at a time grew into the life I live today. The first thing I remember when I was a child is when my father and I were wandering with our motorcycle (joyride) in our neighborhood. We saw some vendors selling stuff on the street, shouting ‘bente-bente’ We were curious, so we went there, and my father said to choose anything I wanted. So, I chose the big ‘kawayang duyan’ (a hammock made from bamboo culms). That’s one of the memorable things in my life with my father.

The next thing I remember is when I was in first grade. My classmate saw a big bird that entered our comfort room. We were very young then, so we were very scared. We believed it completely and didn’t want to go into the comfort room anymore. But at that time, we were just being scared for fun by our classmate. In second grade, I told my teacher that I didn’t know how to do the activity. In reality, I was just pretending so that I would be the last one to go home. The other memory I have is when my homeroom teacher told us that our activity for the day was to make a love letter or Valentine’s card for our loved ones. I made one for my father and wrote, ‘You’re the best father in the world (heart heart). I love you.’ Until to this day, my father still carries that letter in his wallet. He always carries it with him wherever he goes. That’s how close we are. You might be wondering why my stories are mostly about my father. It’s because my mother and I are not that close. Before she and my father were together, she was an OFW (Overseas Filipino Worker) and my father was here in the Philippines and he is Taekwondo Black Belter. Continues in third grade, It was still the same until fourth grade. But when I was in fifth grade, my homeroom teacher was very strict and would always pinch us if we did something wrong. However, I was never pinched by that teacher. My teacher also said that I was among the achievers, and I had high hopes. But when the recognition day came, I didn’t hear my name called. Instead, the ones who were often absent and couldn’t read well were the ones who received medals. I was hurt at that time. When we saw each other in the next school year, I was in sixth grade. My teacher couldn’t look me in the eye, maybe he felt guilty. But when I was in sixth grade, that was the last year of my primary school. All of us were happy because, finally, we were going to be high school students. We were all so excited about our graduation. On our last day, we played at the back of our school. There were games like hitting each other with brooms, tag, and teasing. All of us were very happy, as if there were no fights or grudges before. 
Now, in our junior high school life, that’s where new world will begin again. A different environment, new friends, and new experience. But since I was in my junior year, I was always an achiever and always had awards because I always joined contests like quiz bees and slogan-making. I always got the champion title in slogan-making, I’m a choir and bamboo ensemble member (Bamboo ensembles are often associated with indigenous cultures. These ensembles typically use instruments made from bamboo, which is a versatile and sustainable material. Bamboo instruments can include flutes, xylophones, and various percussion instruments. These ensembles are known for creating unique and beautiful music that reflects the cultural heritage and traditions of the communities that use them). Also, every section I was always assigned is always a star section. But in my last month of junior high school, as graduation was approaching, 8 days before the day of graduation, on March 10, 2020, a virus named COVID-19 emerged in our country (Philippines). Our graduation day didn’t happen as planned; we graduated online. It was a tough time because no one was allowed to leave their homes. If you wanted to go out, you needed an ID.
Now I’m in my senior high school, it was 2020, Nothing much happened; in my senior year I transferred from public to private schools. There, we had online classes. I remember when we had PE class, we needed to video ourselves and submit it to our group chat with our classmates. It was embarrassing at that time, but there was nothing we could do because the virus was still in our country. And, was first time I graduated from face2face with white toga.I thought there was no hope of the virus going away, but after three years, the protocols eased, and people could go out little by little. Things started to return to normal, and establishments and schools gradually reopened.

Now that I’m in college, things have changed quite a bit. The transition from high school to college has brought new experiences and challenges. When I was in my first year, I was happy. I joined ROTC and was a Lieutenant at that time, but I quit and now I’m a cadet private. When our training was almost over, during our break time, I went to the medics’ other courses. I thought everyone there knew me because even our leader knew me. But when I went there, there was one boy who didn’t know me. I noticed that he was always looking at me, but I ignored him. We took pictures for remembrance and memories to keep. When I got home, there was a message in my messenger from the boy who was always looking at me. He said he wanted to get the picture that included them, so I took the picture from a friend. But the truth is, he liked me and wanted to get to know me. He always accompanies me and prefers to be with me rather than his friends. He gave me flowers, the first flowers I received in my whole life. I kept them because they are memorable and important to me. Months passed, and I finally said yes to him. He’s my boyfriend now, and we are currently in a relationship for 25 months, 6 days, and 1 second of love and counting. It’s not just about happiness and the events in my life. There was a time when I failed a subject called Object-Oriented Programming. Many of my classmates and others in different tracks also failed that subject. Instead of graduating in 4 years, it took us 6 years because of that one subject. We tried to check our records, but our teacher refused to show them to us. We were puzzled because one of our batchmates passed the subject even though she rarely attended classes and didn’t take the midterm and final exams. she received an INC (Incomplete) and were allowed to take a special exam but still scored low. However, later, she said our prof were given a remedial exam because her final exam score was low. But what about us? Were we not given a chance because we weren’t as beautiful as her? Because of that failure, we had a hard time enrolling for the next school year. How ever, you won’t be enrolled if you don’t have a reason like I said “I need to be enrolled because when I graduate, I am going to join the army. There were moments of tears because some couldn’t enroll anymore due to the 6-year residency limit at ISU Cauayan Campus. At that time, we submitted a promissory note, promising that we wouldn’t repeat our mistakes, and now they have given us another chance. If they hadn’t, I wouldn’t have been able to complete this autobiography.

No matter what challenges come your way, keep moving forward and never give up.
Pandayon ISUdyantes!