How Ms. Bong Changed My Life

Forget Math Logic, Discrete Strucutres and Math Analysis, I sucked there and it was never her fault, I just had bad luck with Math…

This post would be dealing on how Ms. Evelyn Ruth Manuel changed my life in general, how someone who had been the scariest professor to Computer Science students managed to see future in someone who had to deal with a lot of things.

The biggest change she made in my life is that: I DON’T HAVE TO LISTEN  TO ANYBODY in making my own decisions, I have my life and I make the direction, thus, whichever direction I chose, I would always have to believe it would make me happy. If it won’t make me happy, I face the consequences myself, with the guidance of the people who know me more than myself. I used to think that life was all about pleasing everyone, I didn’t want enemies so I tried myself to follow the trend, even if I won’t be happy so I would just be able to please them all, She actually disproved me, She just told me, “Alam mo kung ano yung tama, then you go for it. For someone who is smart as you are…..”. So there, from that point forward, I make my decisions myself and if ever I took the wrong path, I would always have people to put me back on right track.

She also disprove the term: “First impression last”, now that I knew her closely, gone are the stereotypes that she is not approachable… It turns out, she would be one of the best mentors we had in college (We had her as a professor for about 3 terms (2T0910, 3T0910, 1T1011) and though we encountered failures (2T1011), She always had the reason to PUSH us back to the level we once were. I believe I cried many times in front of her for various reasons (failing, gossips that I had a professor for a boyfriend and such) and she understood me. She was the WARRIOR of Alumni Tracer, she fought for us until the end.

She has helped me realize how much I was worth… that beyond what people had been thinking of me because of what they see, She gave importance to the littlest of things I can do, Perhaps you can attribute it to the longest time that we’ve known each other.

Others may say that she was the reason why we had to do IT Project all over again.

I don’t and I didn’t see it that way.

Attributing it to how she has helped my character, I’ve seen it as a “growing up process”, something that would remind us of how we have to go to the finish line… and as of this writing, we are almost there, HOURS left for Internship and one term of studying and we’re done.

Gone is the Michelle who would sulk in a failure , here is a Michelle that would face failures with open arms and use it for the better, thanks to the guidance of Ms. Bong… whom someday, I hope would be proud of what we’ve reached, for our lives would not be complete without her when we look back 🙂

 

Ms. Evelyn Ruth “Bong” M. Manuel is a full-time faculty member of the Mathematics and Physical Sciences Department of FEU – East Asia College. She served as the author’s professor for Mathematical Logic (2T0910), Discrete Structures (3T0910) and Mathematical Analysis (1T1011). She has also served as one of the mentors for Alumni Tracer. The author is indeed grateful for how this professor has touched her life. All opinions are based from the personal experience of the author and any opinion otherwise from the author is accepted.

 

The Unkabogable Cobol Professor

I may not be the best Cobol programmer but I definitely learned a lot from my unkabogable Cobol Professor (ORGFILE and ONLISYS) under the guidance of Ms. Ma. Razel M. Ventura. Though her class happens only during Saturdays, I believe it was one class which I was interested in going to every week, because you would know you’ll definitely learn a lot and walang dull moment (ayaw niya ng DULL, gusto niya laging may learnings mga estudyante niya, which I believe, na-achieve naman niya yun throughout her teaching career) 🙂 Ito rin yung time na natuto akong uminom ng coffee, kahit babangag bangag ako kakagawa ng thesis documents during our ONLISYS days, kailangan pumasok – 7 AM.

One thing that I’ve learned from Ma’am Razel is maniwala ka lang sa sarili mo, everything else would follow, kasi ikaw mismo ang nakakaalam kung anong limitations mo. I am not a fan of COBOL pero nagawa kong maka-survive :)) natuto ako and nakayanan ko siya… Also, during the third term, I realize, tama ang naging desisyon ko (and the majority of the students who went to Simul to take Project Management) to take ONLISYS instead of Software Engineering, because I know in myself I would learn a lot if she was our professor — NO REGRETS kahit problemado kami noong una dahil Software Engineering problem namin next tri, si Mam Razel yan eh… – one of the best 🙂

My Teacher – My Hero themed essay (2011 Edition)

My Teacher, My Hero

My Teacher, My Hero is a tribute essay by the author, Michelle Anne Loyola Constantino in celebration of World Teacher’s Day which happens every October 5. Last Year, the author wrote about Ms. Rosario Q. Perez, her High School Physics teacher who has helped her reached her dreams and made her an established individual today. This year, the author pays tribute to her hero, modesty aside, someone who has touch her life more than she could have imagined, this time, someone she met while in college, Engr. Elmerito D. Pineda.

When my friends asked me to write again, I decided to start my compilation with something meaningful, a themed essay for the My Teacher, My Hero theme, contrary to last year wherein I had a hard time choosing who to pay tribute to, this year is much different, it was easy and I believe, it is the most obvious choice.

Everyone has someone to keep them on their own feet as they walk through life. Normally, it would be your parent or friend, but mine is different, I had kept myself intact with the help of a teacher. Teachers are usually there to impart knowledge and give you an opportunity to move on with life, I was blessed to have someone during my college days who takes time to make sure that I was okay and the strength to hold on to when everything else went astray, he was Engr. Elmerito D. Pineda.

I first met Engr. Pineda as my professor back when I was in First Year (Advanced Programming Languages in C) , back then, things were just inside the classroom – lectures, quizzes, exercises which brought my confidence back after losing my scholarship during the previous term but things turned different when I was in my Third Year and he became our thesis mentor. He turned out to be the #1 Supporter to what we have wanted in the first place, the Alumni Tracer for FEU – East Asia College. Despite both parties having to adjust to the situation of having a part-time mentor last year, we both exerted effort to follow-up and communicate with each other. Since I was always doing the documentation portion of most our projects, I was the one responsible for making follow-ups with the mentor, which happened to be Mr. Pineda. I took it as my responsibility to stay late, meet him after classes for checking and even go straight to his FEU Main class just to finish the proposal for our thesis. Unfortunately, our second term was cut short after failing the proposal defense – but when things thought that it was the end of our mentorship with Engr. Pineda, we were wrong. He stayed with us until the very end. He had always made sure that I was okay. He had always made me feel secure especially by showing me how much he believes in the entire group.

When we are back for the third term with a different project and mentor, he made sure he would ask us about our thesis and he was one of the few people who first congratulated us after a successful defense – indeed, he showed me that he was true to his words when we started communicating, “Dito lang ako for you, parang si Ms. Bong (Evelyn Ruth M. Manuel)”. He never left the group, he never left me during the good times and the bad times. Even if he is not physically present, his presence would always be felt wholeheartedly, and in the little ways he does it, I am extremely grateful.

As time pass by, I looked up to him as one of the best friends and as my “dad” in school. I still see him from time to time. He has helped mold my character to be as strong as it is right now. He has his own way of teaching me things, he doesn’t get mad easily when you do something wrong, however, he has his own way to show you that you are wrong and it is proven effective to me, I managed to make amends and never do things again.

For all the things he has done for me, all I can do to repay is to be there for him as well. I know I would be supporting him in whatever he would aspire to do in his life. I also look forward to see him finish Doctoral of Information Technology sometime next year for it would add weapons to his already impressive curriculum vitae. I hope he touch more lives and help direct it to a better place, just like how he helped me push my life back on track.

My life would never be perfect. I would always experience the roller-coasters of being a human being but I would always remember one thing, that indeed, I was blessed. I was blessed to have people that would guide me. I was blessed to have people who would accept me for who I am. Furthermore, I am blessed to have Engr. Elmerito D. Pineda in my life, whatever you do call him, he would always have a special place in my life, a great mentor, friend and a dad.

Engr. Elmerito D. Pineda, hats off… my 2011 would not be complete without having the opportunity to thank you for everything that you have done for me.

 

Engr. Elmerito D. Pineda is a part-time faculty member of the ITE Department of FEU-East Asia College. The author of this essay reserves the full right to this work and the thoughts are based from what has personally happened between him and the author from September 2010 – Present.