Sangil: Wake up early and study

WHEN you’re young, eight hours of sleep is not really enough. And most kids are curled and coiled in their beds more so when the June rain is puttering on the roof. There were attempts in the past to move openings of classes but it seems today, the whole idea was abandoned. When I was in grade school, our classes started eight in the morning and I went home for lunch. It will resume at two in the afternoon and going home at five, after the usual tending of our garden plots at the back of our elementary school building. Those were different times. No traffic. No tricycles. But we walked long distances. Had classmates who walked almost 20 kilometers back and forth in going to their daily classes. They came from faraway barrios of Porac like Pulong Santol, Balubad, Mitla and Hacienda Dolores.

Today, both young and old alike are having a daily dose of stress. Waking up early, getting dressed, a quick breakfast and on to battle the traffic gridlocks along the way. But students shouldn’t get discouraged, just roll with it and go through the motion of time.

Get the best education and profit from it later on in your life. Study, study, study. Get the best education that money can buy. Or if you don’t have money, there are government colleges and universities where you spend less. Strong resolve is what is all needed. The latest list of ranking 300 learning institutions in Asia, and there were five schools in the country that were included and mostly are based in Metro Manila. There are three colleges in the first congressional district. The City College of Angeles, which was started by Mayor Ed Pamintuan. And in Magalang, it started in the early years as a farm school and over the grew into a university. And there’s also one in Mabalacat that was founded by former mayor Boking Morales. There should be no excuse for anyone if he or she can’t finish college studies.

Retro -- In the thirties, Ricardo Flores, a former boatman from Pagsanjan, Laguna, teamed up with Juan D. Nepomuceno, the revered patriarch of the town of Angeles, and came up with Holy Angel Academy. It is now one of the biggest universities in Central Luzon. (Take time to visit it when you’re in the city. Their campus is so beautiful and impressive). Then in the early sixties, Barbara Yap Angeles established a tech-voch school, which she named Angeles Institute of Technology. Over time, her son Emmanuel put many hours and stretched his imaginations and travels to many countries and donors pledged support and over a period of time, the tech-voch school became a university.

A success story -- Felisa Jocson was an extraordinary woman. She was born ahead of her time. A dedicated and a caring woman, she took pity of the many unemployed young women, and because of the situation, she busied her mind how to give them gainful employment and at the same time education. In the year 1950, she established Jocson Fashion School in downtown Angeles. And to her surprise, the early enrollees were Filipina wives of American servicemen who were stationed in Clark. Now, it is the beautiful Leigh Jocson who’s managing the school affairs, teaming up with known universities abroad.

Not comfortable with the initial success, she took in a known educator, Bonifacio Romero, the late father of Reghis Romero of R-II builders, as her consultant and in no time at all, going towards the sixties, the school needed a bigger building and location. It moved to the Balibago area, near the main gate of Clark Air Force Base

Few years, in a commencement rite, while the graduation hymn was being played on the background, and many of these girls making their way to stage to be handed their diplomas, the young Felisa and her kin cannot help but shed tears.

She died in 2006 at age 83, an accomplished woman. But those years between 1950 until her death, the school grew from a fashion school to a junior college, and finally a complete college.

The establishments of more schools in Angeles City and Pampanga somehow relieved the congestion in Metro Manila. Aside from Our Lady of Fatima University, Sebastian College, St. John Bosco, Noblesse, there are more learning institutions planning to locate here to meet the strong demand for tertiary learning. Even the Laurels, owner of Lyceum of the Philippines are reported to be looking for a site along the MacArthur Highway stretch between Angeles City and City of San Fernando that will suit their need for a provincial branch.

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