CENTEX Newsletter
April 2010
Center of Excellence in Public Elementary Education
At CENTEX, training is a way of life
In School year 2009-2010 CENTEX partnered with individuals and corporations
in support of its mission to develop teachers’ expertise and to promote
excellence through continuous training of teachers, students and parents.
Seventy-five teachers from CENTEX, Food for Hungry Minds School and
Buklod Bahayan Day Care Center participated in the 2009 CENTEX teacher
training seminar held on October 16 to 18 at the Meralco Management and
Leadership Development Center (MMLDC) in Antipolo City. Conducted under
the partnership of Ayala Foundation, Inc (AFI) and MMLDC, this school year’s
teacher training theme was: “Heart of the Matter: Revolutionize, Renew,
Rekindle.” Carol Atacador’s module on Discipline with Dignity allowed the
teachers to revisit this discipline technique that helps students develop into
happy, responsive and mature individuals. A separate session on BrainFriendly Teaching by Mary Ann Eala highlighted the importance of exposing
the students to a variety of experiences (down to the kind of music, lighting,
colors and seating arrangement) that can
stimulate the brain optimally and yield
maximum learning in them.
Project Management Office staff Mariecar
Fernando also participated in the National
Seminar-Workshop in Elementary School
Science and Mathematics Education held at UPNISMED in October. The seminar-workshop
focused on using various assessment tools for
learning math and science.
More than 900 CENTEX parents from Manila
and Batangas attended a seminar on the
principles and practice of Discipline With
D i g n i t y,
held in December. This was conducted jointly by the CENTEX
Project Management Office (PMO) master teachers, Rosalina
Acosta and Rosario Manalo, and the respective school principals,
Dr. Nellie Reyes and Ms. Matdarenda Marasigan.
In December and February, Chona Lagoutte, a middle school
English teacher at the American University of Paris and a regular
attendee of the Columbia University Teachers College Reading
and Writing Project, conducted a creative writing workshop
in both CENTEX schools. The writeshop introduced students
and teachers to a wide repertoire of structure and elaboration
techniques, and mechanics and conventions of the written
language. The last day of the workshop saw the participants
composing narratives about their lives.
CENTEX Newsletter
April 2010
2
(continued from page 1)
Last January, CENTEX Batangas third grade teacher Rhea
Medilla participated in a two-week training course in Singapore,
sponsored by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Entitled “Enhancing
Pedagogy Skills for Teacher Trainers,” the course included
topics on Classroom Management and Motivation, Providing for
Individual Differences in Learning and Teaching, Evaluation and
Assessment for Effective Learning, and Developing Creativity
in the Learning Environment. Participants also embarked on
learning journeys to various Singapore schools.
A n o t h e r
thrust
of
CENTEX
is
Rhea Medilla (first row, third from left) with the delegates of the teacher
the developtraining course held in Singapore.
ment of the
children’s ability to use technology to face the challenges of the wired world. Henry
Surapong, who earlier trained students for the ’My Backyard’ project of CENTEX /
Hewlett-Packard, returned in February to provide week-long advanced computer
training workshop on desktop publishing, multimedia applications and word processing to intermediate students and teachers of CENTEX Batangas.
In the coming year, CENTEX and Ayala Foundation, Inc. will aim to conduct its
annual teacher training for CENTEX teachers and expand its offerings to include
more teachers from other DepEd schools.
CENTEX students join Steps’ 16th summer dance workshop
By Mariecar Fernando
At CENTEX intermediate students know that noted dancer and choreographer Alvin
Ailey also lived a hard life before reaching his dreams. It was only when a modern
dance school in New York accepted students of all races that Alvin took dancing
to heart.
Like Alvin, many CENTEX students also dream of being developed in the arts. It
was a dream come true for some of them for on April 13, CENTEX Manila students
slipped on their dancing shoes to try out for the Steps/CENTEX Scholarship Dance
Program.
After the auditions attended by 76 students, Steps Dance Studio founder and
director Ms. Sofia Zobel Elizalde selected 33 students to join their 16th Summer
Dance Workshop for 2010. The Dance workshop will include training in ballet, jazz
and street dance.
The offering was made possible by The Steps Scholarship Foundation that gives
opportunities to young, gifted, Filipino dancers to have top quality dance training
for free. Beginning this year, Steps will be offering scholarships on a yearly basis
to CENTEX students who have the desire and potential for Dance.
This partnership between CENTEX and Steps Foundation
hopes to develop creative expression and self-esteem. It also
aims to develop healthier and more diligent students through
aesthetic pursuit.
With Steps Dance Studio’s world-class facilities and highly
trained dance instructors, we are confident that CENTEX
students’ dreams, like Alvin Ailey’s, will soar higher than
Makati’s and New York’s skyscrapers combined.
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CENTEX Newsletter April 2010
And She Dared to Dream
D
By Mariana Lopa
alagang Pilipina. That is the first thought that entered my
mind when I walked into the same room as Daira Ocampo.
Dark skinned, well dressed, short and pretty; this young lady
was so shy that she kept her head down as to avoid eye contact.
However, when she did look up, one could not miss those eyes –
eyes full of questions. And promise. And hope.
Daira has experienced the world to extents that most people
twice – or thrice – could not even imagine. Being the third of
seven children, a fact that she is reluctant to share, Daira grew
up sharing everything from the attention of her parents to the
bed that she sleeps on with three other siblings. Almost matterof-factly, she shares that the children of Virgilio Ocampo, a public
school custodian and Digna Ocampo, a housewife, never had
much. The Ocampo family used to live inside the public school
where Virgilio worked, but as the school’s administration and the
Department of Education would have it, they were evicted and
forced to leave the place that they knew as home. The family
of nine then moved into a house with no divisions for rooms,
no kitchen, one table and one bunk bed. There was hardly any
sense of security as Virgilio’s meager salary of three thousand
pesos per month had to be allocated to pay for rent, food, school
supplies and other basic necessities. However, there was one
thing Daira never had to share with, nor lose, to anyone else her education.
level. She had to be disciplined and diligent in keeping up
with the challenging workload of homework and projects that
they were given in CENTEX. Not only were they expected to
submit on time, they were
also expected to submit
high-quality work. Daira
thrived in this environment,
garnering many awards
such as the “Best in Arts”,
“Most Diligent” and “Most
Initiative”
throughout
her elementary life. She
graduated from CENTEX
Manila and closed one of
the first chapters in her life.
Little did she know that this
graduation was merely the
beginning! On that fateful
day, she met her sponsor
who agreed to support her
through the High School
Assistance Program of CENTEX. She qualified for Santa Isabel
College and will be a Senior when school opens in June 2010.
Her sponsors have pledged to fund Daira’s education until she
finishes college.
It makes sense that her eyes would be full of hope…CENTEX gave
it to her. Daira continues to invest in her education as she dreams
of becoming a nurse someday. Although she is barely a woman,
Daira has already become the hope that her family clings on to
take them out of the situation that they are in. Her education
has opened doors that their family could not even dream about
before. Her mother shares “kung wala yung CENTEX, hindi namin
maaabot yung dream ni Daira na maging nurse kasi hindi naman
namin kaya tustusan yung pag-aaral niya sa course na gusto
niya” (If CENTEX did not exist, we would never be able to achieve
Daira’s dream of becoming a nurse because we would not be able to
afford the tuition fee for the course that she wants). This is the sad
The Ocampos first heard about the Center of Excellence in Public
Elementary Education (CENTEX) from their neighbors in Tondo,
Manila. Word got around that a nearby school was looking for
bright children to give scholarships to. As fate would have it,
Daira qualified and eventually spent her elementary years in
CENTEX Manila. During her elementary years, Daira shares that
while they took the basic subjects that other children took, they
were also given special classes such as those that fell under the
Self-Esteem Program.
Daira recalls the many values that she learned during her days
in CENTEX Manila. The one value that remains ingrained in her
is that of discipline – the same value that guides her to continue
to study well even in high school, and eventually in the college
reality that takes away the promise of a better future for most
Filipino children. It is that same promise that CENTEX equips
its students with by giving them a chance to have good quality
education that they would otherwise not be able to afford. Daira
is living proof of how CENTEX can change the stars of the striking
amount of underprivileged Filipino children and their families.
Daira is one of the lucky ones. She was put in a situation that
set her up to fail and yet with the support of her family, the right
amount of self-discipline and with CENTEX to guide her way,
she has surpassed all the obstacles that were meant to break
her. Daira expresses her deep gratitude in saying “Thank you for
your unending support” – in straight and perfectly pronounced
English.
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CENTEX Newsletter April 2010
Bayan bridges CENTEX to information superhighway
Bayan Telecommunication sealed their partnership
with CENTEX when they signed a Memorandum of
Agreement last February 23, 2010 in the Manila
campus. Present in the MOA signing were Ayala
Foundation, Inc. (AFI) executives headed by Mr. Bill
Luz and Mr. Ramon Miranda and Bayan’s Managing
Director Mr. Fred Bernardo and Vice President for
Corporate Brands and Communication Mr. John
Rojo. With the MOA, Bayan pledges to provide free
Internet access for three years to CENTEX Manila
as part of their corporate social responsibility
initiative.
Bayan supports CENTEX in the belief that the
Filipino students can have a better chance of
improving their lives if they are equipped with
computer and technological competencies and
skills. Through this partnership Bayan fulfills its
promise, “Sa Bayan Gaganda Pa Ang Buhay.”
CENTEX students, faculty and guests share a light moment after the MOA signing.
Statistics tell the story of our success
941
Total enrolees in Manila and
Batangas for S.Y. 2009-2010
696
CENTEX Graduates since 2005
100%
Acceptance of High school
graduates into bachelor’s degree
programs
34
College students with
scholarships
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
** Mariecar Fernando is on the staff
of the CENTEX Project Management
Office (PMO) in Makati.
** Mariana Lopa was a summer intern at
CENTEX after her junior year at Ateneo
de Manila.
Center of Excellence in Public Elementary Education
April 2010
Vote for Reform
Kajaana Sibal
CENTEX Manila, VI-Marangal
Election Day is just around the corner. A number of candidates are jostling for the position of president,
unless by some miracle, few heads bow out gracefully before May 10.
As the Philippines is a democratic society, the citizens have the right to decide who the future leaders will
be. The voting public has the obligation and the responsibility to choose the next person in power.
If you are a voter torn between choosing a leader who is influential, rich, less educated, and pleasing to
the masses due to promising abrupt changes in the society, and another one who is experienced, well educated, knowledgeable, and pleasing to the masses due to assuring gradual transformation in the society on
a long term basis, think and consider the future of your loved ones. Choose a leader who can foresee the changes and would work
toward the betterment and welfare of the general public.
Hopefully, the judgment of the majority will prevail, and that the Filipinos will choose a leader, not because of his/her family name,
but because he/she is in fact a person who can do justice to the position.
Meet the Beginning of the End
John Macneil A. Mendoza
CENTEX Batangas, VI – Lotus
Six years of elementary life are momentous enough
I experienced a lot. I cried. I yelled. I laughed.
Now we’re nearing the end, bidding goodbye is a bit
tough.
Sixth graders like me aim for a special day,
After finishing numerous books for hundreds of days
After much hard work for years.
Graduation day, here it comes.
Good bye My School, Good bye
Joshua Mae R. Abrea
CENTEX Batangas, VI – Lotus
My heart says don’t go away,
Because I’ll miss you in every way
But my mind says,
“Next year you are to learn more, so let go..”
But how could I?
In this beautiful school I learned a lot
In my mind they are all stocked.
It’s not easy to leave this haven behind
Memories will always be alive
Now and forever, I will not forget you
Good bye my school, good bye for now.
Glass, Bang, Smash
Rainier Intal
CENTEX Manila, VI-Masigasig
Check out your glass bowls, containers or other
glass things. If you dispose them, I mean,
where do they all go? Is there some giant trash
can for glass? Have you ever wondered about
this? Yes or no, you’ve got to read this!
Some glass are used for tiles. They’re melted
and cut into squares. The excess are recycled
and melted again into a new batch. See those
underlined words? Hah! 70% of most glass
containers are recycled glass! Amazing! Glass can be used again and again!
They don’t crumble away, burn or wear out or anything! Look at your stuff
made of glass. Aren’t they cool?
Moreover, not only tiles are made out of recycled glass. Even glass bottles,
glass containers, glasses (as in the one we drink from), window panes, and
a whole lot more.
So next time you throw away glass, think of other
stuff you can do with it. There’s an infinite number
of ways!
Excellent Kids
April 2010
Congratulations! CENTEX Class 2010
SERVANT LEADERSHIP AWARD
John Macneil A. Mendoza - CENTEX Batangas
CENTEX BATANGAS
Abando, Lester M.
Abrea, Joshua Mae R.
Abrea, Ma. Charishe A.
Acuzar, Rexces Jr. C.
Aguirre, Kristine Joy D.
Aldea, John WilhemB.
Alemania, Lenibel Mari A.
Almares, Ayeth Decyl H.
Ambon, Clarenelle C.
Areta, Bimbo A.
Arias, Renz S.
Baculo, Aira Shaynee A.
Baldon, Ivan Kristian B.
Beltran, Marsh A.
Boco, Raven Joyce L.
Buhat, Ruby Jade B.
Cabral, Katrinna B.
Cantos, Ranelle Kriesler B.
Castillo, Kathleen Kaye D.
Catapang, Renaden M.
Caunca, Vince P.
Cordero, Paula Bien A.
Culla, Renz Gerard D.
Dalangin, Allysson E.
De Castro, Kylie Keiziah H.
Dimailig, Marinella I.
Dimalibot, John Elies M.
Dolor, Angelica P.
Gabay, Ralph Warren R.
Garcia, John Dowell B.
Guevarra, Jochelle S.
Guevarra, Joshua M.
Guinhawa, Aerah Belle P.
Hernandez, Jerwin Carlo A.
Hortillosa, Kirsty Jane L.
Jularbal, Krischelle G.
Magnaye, Dharen A.
Malabanan, Mary Angela D.
Manalo, Jay A.
Manalo, Reich Anne C.
Manalo, Zairah Jayzzelle A.
Mananap, Raymond D.
Masangcay, Hazel Joyce M.
Medrano, Lai Heinrich A.
Mendoza, John Macneil A.
Moraña, Aljhon S.
Oabel, Angelica B.
Pepito, Alyssa C.
Perez, Mirzi Caryl D.
Phuaya, Celina Thyra C.
Reyes, Al Prince A.
Rivera, Dyan F.
Sandoval, Renz Adrian P.
Silang, Arvie E.
Silang, Ressa Mhae A.
Somera, Pamela Mae B.
Valdez, Pamela Josefina A.
Villanueva, Kim Christian D.
Villarin, Stefanie R.
CENTEX MANILA
Aawitin, Elliza Jane M.
Abando, Hobart Jude C.
Ablaza, Hannah Renee C.
Andal, Riya Jhen S.D.
Anos, Jazmin T.
Bajar, King Joshua T.
Braga, Michael Jim D.
Buan, NJ Jacy M.
Canale, Marvin Jasper L.
Castillo, Brithany Coleen P.
Castillo, Joshua B.
Castillo, Ruth Jamel B.
Castro, Eunice N.
Cayanan, Jesthan Jeric C.
Corpuz, Rachel Angelica D.
Dacio, Jethro Marcus P.
Delantar, Jainalyn H.
Delos Santos, Marvin F.
Divinagracia, Aloixius L.
Dizon, Ylleniza Ysabela B.
Espinosa, Maria Cylvaille L.
Estaño, Ryan Evan T.
Flores, Joshua F.
Franca, Mary Dhina M.
Gayatao, Jairah Rishi A.
Hernandez, Aaron Gabrielle R.
Intal, Ceejay I.
Intal, Rainier Vladimir R.
Lapid, Avery Danielle M.
Leyson, Nicole Ashley C.
Alodia Noreen O. Lorca - CENTEX Manila
Lorca, Alodia Noreen O.
Magpantay, Renzell B.
Mallari, Jan Lennard O.
Mangalino, Russ Nickoi R.
Manuel, Airraine C.
Manuel, Lexann Rae T.
Mariano, John Marcus A.
Matudan, Zairah Margarita B.
Menor, Reinald Elbert C.
Navarro, Alen Ian O.
Nepomuceno, Reyster D.
Ocampo, Rubie Rose C.
Orbeso, Clarice C.
Paed, Marychael C.
Panelo, Ludwig Von Sebastian A.
Pantia, Aeroll John P.
Pascua, Gayzer Ray M.
Perez, Precious Abigail S.
Perolina, Mitch P.
Pontay, Hazel P.
Pugal, Juan Miguel I.
Quitola, Shayne B.
Ramos, Angelo Louis T.
Reyes, Maria Michelle
Roma, Renylyn P.
Rosales, Louie Daniel O.
Sadol, Kim Ahmed M.
Santos, Leonarc Michelle
Santos, Marielle S.
Sebastian, Aireen T.
Senica, Pia Mariz M.
Serrano, Charles Christian S.
Sibal, Kajaana Ysobel
Signap, Bless Nichol B.
Sta. Maria, Princess Leia M.
Tipon, Mariella P.
Uy, Marx Johndel A.
Valenzuela, Vyxen Vaughn P.
Valiente, Reena Rei H.
Ventura, Renzee Joyce S.
Villanueva, Chriskalaine Dimple B.
Villegas, James August B.
Viray, Darl Ryan L.
Zapanta, Jes Oliven E.
Zulueta, Drexel Jan L.