26/02/2026
| Artistikhain: Senior High’s New Arts Club, Getting Star-ted!
By Sofia Andrei Mapayo & Althea Khaleesi Rada
Edited by Fiela Eirene Oculam
If you walk along the concrete path near the front of the campus, just behind the main building, you’ll see the rows of tarpaulins that each school organization has set up for the school year. There, all of the well-known club names and logos are in one place, with new and fresh designs to their tarpaulins, yet also with comforting familiarity all the same. This Arts Month, each of the art-related clubs seems to shine even brighter than usual. This includes—but isn’t limited to—USaPintor, SDC, Likha, Maestro, and…𝘰𝘩, 𝘸𝘢𝘪𝘵? 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘴 𝘯𝘦𝘸. 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘴 𝘈𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘬𝘩𝘢𝘪𝘯?
If the name Artistikhain still doesn’t ring a bell to you, then it may be the first time that you’re hearing about the brand new Senior High School (SHS) visual arts club that was established this A.Y. 2025-2026. Did you see the drawn photobooth and temporary tattoo services from the last HE-Aggie Fair, titled 𝘓𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘓𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴? If so, then you ought to know: that was Artistikhain’s work!
However, the question now is: how did the club come to be, and why now? Thankfully, Nicole Pinto—Artistikhain’s current Grade 11 representative—has the answer to that.
Nicole, who was an officer at USaPintor for A.Y. 2024-2025, gave a bit of context as to when and how the planning for Artistikhain’s establishment began: “A year ago, our former club president for USaPintor informed some of the old officers that they were planning to make an art club for Senior High.” Naturally, Nicole was on board with this idea.
Prior to Artistikhain, there was no visual arts club for SHS. This is something that would have plagued Nicole for a while, if she hadn’t been quickly informed of the plans to make one. As someone who highly values the space that she is given to do art, she stressed, “Had Artistikhain not been established, I would have chosen a club where I wasn't fully enjoying what I do.” For her, and for many other artists who are either in or are about to go into SHS, Artistikhain has given them more possibilities to keep pursuing art in UPRHS before graduating.
Although the opportunity to work on Artistikhain is something that Nicole is thankful for, she admitted that there were some hurdles that they needed to overcome during the club’s early establishment. Particularly she noted, “The most difficult challenge was gathering members, because there weren’t a lot of Senior High students who wanted to focus on arts.” Nevertheless, the club is putting good work into getting themselves out there, and more importantly, introducing more students to the joys of visual artistry.
Now, onto what you might be wondering about: the Arts Month celebrations are getting real, 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭 close. 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘈𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘬𝘩𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘣𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨?
Nicole shared the club’s exciting projects for the long-awaited event: “Our plans revolve around being active not just in school premises, but also outside of school. For Arts Month, we plan on opening up a booth that sells handmade merchandise made by different artists from our club. Additionally, our booth will be seen at Elbikon 2026!”
This Arts Month, each of the UPRHS art-related clubs seem to shine even brighter than usual—with Artisikhain’s addition, another twinkling star has been hung upon their tapestry. While Artistikhain is still less than a year old, its vision already goes beyond the limits of the current school year. Behind each of the colorful illustrations and elaborate crafts that they have planned for this year’s events lies a wider, overarching goal for the future: to provide every visual artist under the SHS belt with the chance to keep pursuing their creative passions, and to continue spreading the wonders of art to people both on and off campus.
Layout by Francesca Elise Pajares
