A Recipe for a Best-seller "Dish"

Prepared by Chefs Maya, Laarni, Rainier, Nitz, Luz and Melissa 

Main Ingredients: 250 UPIS students

(Imported) Seasoning: 3 pisay batchmates (Emirose, Froilan and Guido) and Melissa's younger brother, Michael Dizon (batch 89)

Cooking Time and Preparation: 2 hours slow cooking by 10 UPIS batch 88 speakers and an 89... make sure everything seeps in

Garnishing: Freebies (Uncle George sponge cakes, Hidden Spring bottled water and Maita's taho, notebook, pencil, eraser)

With a free recipe book (Career talk Manual) that they can go through anytime for guidance...

Guest Gourmand who sampled our batch specialty: Dr. Aurora Zuniga, Prof Lanie Maminta-Donkor, Prof Carlos Asuncion, Prof. Hermie Malonzo, Prof. Rose Tadena...

Pre-prep stage of the "Dish"

1.  The project was conceptualized in April 2008 by representatives from the UPIS Batch 88 Alumni Association and the UPIS Guidance Department.

2.  Newly-appointed principal Dr. Aurora Zuniga approved the activity in July 2008.

3.  Guest speakers were informed of the Career Talk scheduled on August 14Th and their profiles were collated for the Career Talk Manual. 

4.  Several meetings were held and organizers agreed to have a mini-conference set up for the project.  Speakers will give an overview of their field then students will break out into smaller groups where they can have a question-and- answer portion with the speakers.

5. Sponsors were tapped to provide the snacks for the event and shoulder the cost of the manual and giveaways.

6.  The UPIS Peer facilitators group was asked to assist the organizers in distributing the manual and the freebies.

7.  Prof. Carlos Asuncion and Laarni's students prepared the teasers, streamers and banners of the activity.

The Actual Cooking of the "Dish"

"Ito Na Kami Ngayon... Ano Naman Kayo Bukas?..."

August 14, 2008 at the UPIS Multi-purpose Hall, 2:30-4:30PM 

1.  A photo exhibit welcomed the participants at the hall's entrance.  It featured some of Batch 88's activities.  Students were so happy to see their faces in the snapshots since a lot of the events were joint projects of the china celebrants and different student groups of UPIS.

2.  Guest speakers of the talk and ever-supportive batchmates arrived a few minutes before the event.  Multi-purpose hall became a venue for batch 88's mini reunion with new faces coming in from as far away as Europe (Froilan and Emirose).  

3.  Even with some technical problems, the talk still went on smoothly.  The Manual was quite handy and students kept going through it to complement the pointers given by the speakers, who had to omit a big chunk of their "speech" because of time constraints.

4.   The Q and A portion gave the students more time to squeeze out juicy information from the speakers.   Onlookers couldn't tell who were more excited... the students eager to learn from the guests or the speakers, pleased and all too willing to share the tricks of their trade.  

5.   As always, the freebies were a big come-on to these students.  They happily munched on their sponge cakes and gulped down their taho as they "digested" the valuable information the '88s (plus an '89) handed down to them.  

6.   After the talk, some students informed their guidance counselors that they have changed their minds and are now interested in a different field.  They said they were inspired by the talk and they would love to follow the footsteps of some of the speakers.  Getting insights on various careers and knowing that their idols were also in their shoes 20 years ago have given them a somewhat clearer picture of what they want to be years from now.  They realized that what we can do, they can also do... even surpass our accomplishments if they strive harder in school.

     With that feedback we can say: Having many cooks does not necessarily spoil the broth.  In our case, it was cooked just fine.

  

    

  

    

     It's so funny to think that when we were younger, we dreaded the thought of standing in front of the class to give a report or a speech.  Now that we've grown older... I mean more mature... and more confident with ourselves, 10-15 minutes is just too short a time to share what we've been up to these past 2 decades.  Hahaha aminin na natin, ang tanda na natin!  Mature kuno in front of the students but with fellow 88s, isip bata pa rin... feeling bata pa rin.  

     Laarni and I are so envious of the others who had the opportunity and time to mingle with our guests (especially Froilan who left the country the following day).  But nevertheless, it was fulfilling to organize a worthwhile project and inspire the young ones to do good in school. 

     Si Nitz na favorite sa principal's office nuon... siya yung naging idol ng maraming students. Pang show biz naman kasi ang powerpoint presentation nya!  After nya magsalita, wala nang gustong sumunod.  Lahat kami feeling boring ang part namin.  But in fairness to the rest of the speakers, they were able to keep the students glued onto their seats. Big thing daw yun 'cuz for them, 30minutes lang of lecture, aangal na sila, mag-iingay pa.  Even Dr. Zuniga and Prof Maminta-Donkor listened to all the speakers.  Rarely do they stay that long 'cuz they are very busy with a lot of school work.

     They're so thankful to our batch... for adopting the libraries (k-2, 3-6 and 7-10), sponsoring items in their wish lists, sponsoring a UPIS scholar, and after the Career Talk, donating an LCD projector to the Guidance Department.  They say not so many batches are as active as we are.  Ang galing daw ng batch 88.  

    

     Let me end with a text message from Prof. Lanie Maminta-Donkor, Assistant Principal:  "Congrats!  It was my pleasure seeing all of you --grown up and successful.  Thanks for the love and concern you give to UPIS.  People like you make me not regret being a teacher."

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