One-Seventh Varron Reflection

Terry

The UP VARRONS LTD comprises of members in the University of the Philippines campus (College, Laguna), different places in the Philippines and different places in the world. Founded more than four decades ago, the organization promotes high standard of academic excellence, strong leadership and professionalism, charity and service to society. The VARRONS today, young and old, here and there, ladies and gentlemen, have done so much to honor those who have preceded them, inspire those who are coming after them and most importantly, prove their worth for the vision and objectives set by the founders.

What does it mean to be a VARRON?

The answer to this question traces to the organization’s humble beginning and illustrious history. In August of 1962, fifteen male scholars of the UP College of Agriculture organized a group to pursue a vision and support a set of objectives that were different from those that characterized the existing organizations in the campus. After a diligent search, the group found an appropriate model for their aspirations: Marcus Terentius Varro, an Italian scholar who was born in 116 BC and known as the most erudite, versatile and prolific writer of his time. Varro served in the Roman military and reportedly had written 620 books in virtually every field of contemporary learning. Destroyed by time and enemies of Rome, Varro’s literary work disappeared from circulation except two volumes: De Lingua Latina and De Re Rustica. The latter, preserved in three volumes, covers good agricultural practices, particularly crop rotation, experimentation, soil specific cropping and fertilization. Inspired by the works of Varro, the UP scholars and future agriculturists called themselves VARRONS.

In 1963, a group of female scholars from the College of Agriculture formed an organization based on similar idealism and aspirations and called themselves VARRONETTES. The two groups realized that it would be better for them to be distinguished as one organization. The members then started addressing each other VRODS and SIS and adopted a MOTTO: Ad Astra per Aspera (To the stars through difficulties).

Four years later, seven scholars from the UP College of Forestry who had joined UPVL, formed the forestry chapter on January 31, 1967. The forestry charter members called themselves The Magnificent Seven. Like their agricultural counterparts, the forestry VARRONS vigorously adopted, and adapted to, the ideals and objectives of the organization.

A UP student aspiring to become a VARRON must demonstrate a level of scholastic capacity that reflects the effective use of one’s intellect, the ability to get along well with people, the willingness to work hard and the potential to use that intellect for the service of the college, the country and society. This requirement is in accord with Varro’s intellectual genius, practical versatility, flexibility to brave difficulties, and the unrelenting intellectual exploits even to his dying day (reports indicated that he died at age 87 still holding a pen in his hand).

In its infancy, UPVL had to deal with a disadvantage of a small and new group challenging much bigger and longer established organizations in the campus. But, emboldened by the ideals the student scholars chose to promote, a small rising star quickly attracted many members and soon became a dominant fixture in the firmament of ideas, personal achievements and meaningful service to the college and society. UPVL undergraduate and graduate students continue to grow in number and excel in the classrooms and the honor roll registers. UPVL alumni permeate the ranks and file of government services, faculty staffs in different institutions of learning in the Philippines and abroad, lofty leadership positions in small and multi-national corporations, and virtually every field of endeavor that touches the lives and hopes of many people.

When you are a VARRON, you are a special friend and member of a special family who calls you VROD or SIS, not just from the lips but from the heart.

As VARRONS go far and wide in this era characterized by strong and diverse global interactions, UPVL faces the need to modify its structure to optimize the organization’s influence on, and the opportunity to get beneficial inputs from, the international community. This need found its expression in the formation of UPVL International, UPVLI for short, With this subset of the over-all UPVL structure, UPVLI aspires to promote stronger bonds among VARRONS who live overseas, foster a sense of belonging, build the mechanism that facilitates effective communication and interaction with the home-based members in the Philippines, help advance the frontiers of education, science and the arts, support the virtues of charity, community service and civic responsibility, mobilize the energy and resources of VARRONS abroad who have enjoyed the blessings of good jobs, good fortune and propitious connections, and take advantage of the opportunity to help each other, educate each other and socialize.

With the central leadership of the VARRONS emanating from the UPVL General Assembly, UPVLI will help to globally promote the VARRONS ideals and objectives. And growth can be achieved with a highly selective conferment of honorary membership and draw greater international support for its programs.

Having gone so far and done so much, the VARRONS can certainly look back but they cannot stop going forward. They are VARRONS yesterday, today, forever and everywhere.

Ad astra per aspera.

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Terry, the first Grand Varron of the Forestry Chapter, spends his retirement days doing APOstolic work, keeping up with Vrods and Sisses through the UPVL International and editing the newsletter of the Society of Filipino Foresters.

This picture of Terry (extreme left) was taken in 1968 at the Manila airport when some of the Varrons were seeing off Manny “Doc” Bonita (Magnificent Seven ’67; not in the photo) on his way to his graduate studies at University of British Columbia, Canada. With him are (from left) Aida “Ayds” Baja-Lapis (Dirty Dozen ’67), Stella Agcopra-Castillo (Dirty Dozen ’67), Fe Celeste Bayta-Blanche (Dirty Dozen ’67), Catalino “Lino” Blanche (21st BCT ’67), the late Abraham “Abe” Saguid (Magnificent Seven ’67), and Bernardo Cuyno (Dirty Dozen ’67; sitting).