Giving Back

I swore my first term teaching to be my last... that was 5 years ago. 15 terms and many colorful promises later, I still wake up happy that I took on the challenge to become and stay a teacher. Even now as I have grown older and as my students seem to have gotten younger, the most important lessons-- that which span the virtues, cardinal or otherwise-- have remained the same. And I am learning them right along with my students.

Today I gained two new inspirations. In their golden years as a married couple, Antonio and Mila Puyat have taken under their wings and into their hearts an advocacy for literacy of the youth. Rotary Club International’s CONCENTRATED LEARNING ENCOUNTER aims to equip children with proficiency specifically in the English language, giving them valuable edge in their globalized future. As testament to the success of the CLE program of Mandaluyong, it has now been adopted by other cities, spreading the spirit of paying forward and giving back. Their passion, wisdom and sincerity has revived a deflated spirit and renewed my faith in the goodness of people.

To learn to put the A’s and B’s and C’s together to make an argument is short of miraculous. To give the gift of expression is empowering. To be an instrument for another’s education and to be a witness to their evolution gives me the heebie-jeebies… there are no words.