Indigenous Bookmark: Creating My First Ever Project for this Semester 

_{A school year won't be complete if you don't experience creating or making an output or projects. As students, we are expected to do what our teachers or instructors told us, whether it is a project or an assignment. We can’t complain for the reason that it is already part of us being students. And as a good student, of course I will complete my projects or output on time. So come and join me as I create my first project that our instructor told us to do so.}

The breeze of the air really smells like school. If this is a dream, please wake me up because I’m not ready to wake up early, do morning rituals, and such. I’m not ready to be stressed and be disappointed in my grades—and lastly, I’m not ready to hear the voice of our treasurer, who was like a bird singing early in the morning, collecting our so-called "Amotan."

Summer Vacation was over; another school year is waving, I’m sure. Just like the past year, in this school year I will be experiencing lots of academic breakdowns, disappointment, and most especially some financial problems. But just like the past year, I will stand straight and welcome this possible milestone without any fear or hesitation because I know that in this battle I’m not alone; I have lots of people behind my back.

_{Template from Canva}
I have my family who inspired me to strive harder; parents that work very hard just to earn money for our everyday needs and to support my school expenses; siblings that will help me without any hesitation whenever I need a helping hand; friends that never fail to motivate me with their extraordinary and majestic words; and lastly, classmates that treat me as their sister. Tell me, what will be the reason to stop if I already have them?

It was our second day of school; actually, we are told that we have a 3-day event, including the welcoming of the students for another school year that highlights the opening of the new academic year to all students, especially the first year, the parents-teacher meeting, the buwan ng wika, and such. At first, I didn’t think that we would have a class because what I expected was that everyone was busy preparing and attending the said activity. But that expectation turns into reality; all though we have an event, it was given that every instructor will attend their class. And since we already know each other, even our instructor then gives us a project to be passed on at our next meeting.

Everyone is silent; maybe just like me, they also thought that next week would be the start of the ordinary class, but sad to say no. Our instructor told us that we will be making a bookmark that is made of indigenous materials. I heard some of my classmates complain, but for me, it's okay since I will go to my home on Friday, which is also our last school day of the week. It's an advantage for me, I think. For the reason that in our place we have lots of indigenous materials.

Fast-forward while I’m busy cooking for our dinner. I saw these two bags of corn husks, and an idea came to mind. I immediately grab some good state corn stack and then put it on the floor for me to check it one-by-one. I just picked those beautiful ones.

After choosing, I then get my scissors and then cut the corn husk into small rectangular pieces and divide them into two afterwards, just like in the picture. It’s very laborious, but I’m dedicated to what I’m doing, so I don’t feel any boredom. I continue cutting the corn husk until I finish.

I’m done cutting it all, so I clean up the mess that I create. After cleaning, I put all the finished products in the plastic bag and then go to my room to assemble it.

I already get some coconut fiber. I will give you some trivia about this coconut fiber. Do you know that we usually use this as a strainer every time we make coconut milk? Do you do it too? If not, then you must try it’s very effective replacement if you don’t have a strainer.

By the way, I already cut a book-size cartoon; probably you’ve been thinking about what I will do to the coconut fiber. Well, I will cover the other face of the cartoon using the coconut fiber. And I’m using stick glue for it to stick.

Since I only covered the other side, I was planning to cover the other side with abaca scrunch. I just recycled the abaca scrunch when we were cleaning our classroom because last school year we had a print-rich environment that was conducive to learning projects on our MTB-MLE subject. That’s why we changed the design of our classroom.

After cutting a perfect size for my bookmark, I then pasted it with the stick glue. I was happy about its results for the reason that it really fits to the coconut fiber that I put—a perfect combination, to be exact.

After covering both sides of my bookmark, I then started folding the corn husks one by one. I was really enjoying what I was doing, and I didn't notice that I’m almost done folding it all.

With the use of a glue stick, I then assemble it, forming a flower. Below was the picture.

Since it’s already 8 in the evening, my mom then calls me to eat. I then clean up all the trash that I made and then put it in the trash can. I also put my project in a cartoon box because I planned to put some silver dust on it, but sad to say, my silver dust was on my boarding house; I forgot to bring it with me.

Fast-forward: on her class hour, our teacher gives us a time to continue and create our bookmark; actually, her instruction was to bring indigenous materials for our next meeting, and we will do our bookmark on her time, and since I don’t want to cram, that’s why I do my project in our house to prevent any cramming.

I asked my classmate to take a picture of me putting silver dust on my project; at first he was hesitant because he’s doing her bookmark also. But I didn't stop until he said yes.

After an hour, our teacher told us to pass our bookmark; actually, I was not sure of my project because the result didn’t come as I expected; it became messy due to the silver dust. Huhu, I don’t have any choice, so I passed my bookmark. I was a bit disappointed by the result, but I just tell myself to appreciate it because I put so much effort into making it.

This is all for my blog; thank you for reading it. Once again, Swtzyserrah is on the screen at your service.