Opening Remarks: A Cherished Academic Tradition

Opening Program, 56th SU-National Writers Workshop

9.30am Monday, May 8, 2017 Writers Village, Camp Look-out, Valencia

In a book about Silliman University, authors Dr. Edilberto K. Tiempo, Dr. Crispin C. Maslog,
and Dr. T. Valentino Sitoy, Jr. classify the national writers workshop as belonging to that
period in the universitys history called Expanding Sillimans Frontiers.

As one of four innovative academic programs then that was folded into the training of
literature teachers in the country, this 56 th National Writers Workshop that started in the
summer of 1962 has been copied by others but has never been cloned successfully either
in our nation or in the rest of Asia. Instead, the Silliman University National Writers
Workshop has not only become a revered academic tradition and literary identity but also a
rite of passage for our countrys finest writers.

Friends, good morning!

Welcome to Camp Look-out . . . where the Silliman University National Writers Workshop
must be the only writers workshop with its own village from a cool vantage point in the
summer heat of this global climate change! The Silliman University National Writers
Workshop must also be the only academic program with various sponsors through the
years, both local and international.

For sure, it is an academic program that has attracted both aspiring and seasoned writers
as well as benefactors . . . for as what English poet Alexander Pope in his An Essay on
Criticism wrote in 1711 as yet True ease in writing comes from art, not chance/ As
those move easiest who have learned to dance./ Tis not enough no harshness gives
offence,/ The sound must seem an echo to the sense.
For the next three weeks as you fellowship with others to make . . . the sound an echo
to the sense I wish you well as you continue to nurture the building blocks in each of your
literary careers.

A warm welcome to your distinguished guest panelists ________, __________.

Welcome back too, to the director-in-residence of this 56 th workshop, Dr. Rowena Tiempo-
Torrevillas.

A warm round of applause also to welcome this years summers writing fellows!

Friends, colleagues in the academe, in whatever you do especially in this 56 th National

Writers Workshop - the last three lines of our Silliman Song are also always worth
remembering:

. . . that fortune may send us joy or pain;

but to our love for dear old Silliman,
loyal shall we ever remain!

From the Writers Village in Camp Look-out, Valencia, Negros Oriental to the rest of Asia
and the world, welcome to a cherished academic tradition, the Silliman University National
Writers Workshop!

Welcome . . . good day!