By Jill Cortes | Executive Director
To Our Dear Partners,
We hope you are all safe and doing well.
Graduations are a day of mixed emotions. We are sure that you all experienced feeling proud and happy as you watched your kid accept their college diploma. Then you found yourself trying to hold back tears while feeling relieved. And then your mind went through the movie of your kid growing up and then finally ready to step out into the world. Such gamut of emotions all bundled in the celebration of one foot out the door. Graduations are incredible moments that will remain etched in your mind and heart.
Please allow us to take you back to that moment but this time for the Filipino Amerasian children you have helped get to the academic finish line. Join us as we celebrate our graduates, some of them with honors. Each of them “grew up” in the organization since elementary and stayed on track despite the odds and earned their college degrees.
For this report, we felt it best to have some of them “speak” for themselves. Here are verbatim testimonies. We hope you find this a worthy read.
“This is to thank PAGA and our sponsors for all the support that was given to us during the time I was sent to school in my elementary, high school, senior high times, until I graduate from college. All the support was truly helpful and was beneficial to me and my family. I am very grateful because I have been part of PAGA where I also learned different rules in life that I am guided through my years of scholastic experience. PAGA had been supportive with all my scholastic needs all throughout my journey. Words are not enough to say thank you but my heartful thanks are splendid because I was able to finish a degree with the support of PAGA. I will always remember that once in my life I was part of and recipient of PAGA who part of my achievements and success had been. Thank you very much. May all of us be Bless and this journey will guide me to be better person. Again, thank you very much.
- Graduate, Bachelor of Science in Management Accounting
Dear PAGA Sponsors,
" I want to express my heartfelt gratitude for the unwavering support provided throughout my educational journey, spanning from elementary school to college. Your dedication to education has been instrumental in opening doors to opportunities that might have otherwise been challenging for me to reach. Now, as I embark on my professional journey after graduating, I am grateful to share that I can contribute financially to my family. Because of your kind donors, you not only assisted me with financial support for educational expenses but also served as an inspiration, motivating me to excel academically. Your belief in the transformative power of education has not only changed my life but has the potential to positively impact many others facing similar circumstances. I deeply appreciate your kindness and commitment to educational empowerment. Your support not only alleviated my financial burden but also fueled my determination to succeed and make a meaningful contribution to society. I eagerly anticipate sharing my future achievements with you, and I am genuinely thankful for the pivotal role PAGA has played in shaping my educational journey. Thank you once again for making a lasting impact on my life. “
- Graduate,Bachelor of Science in Business Management, Major in Marketing
“ First of all I would like to thank my family and the people who donate to PAGA for helping me to achieve all of these diplomas, also thank you for helping me face my challenges while studying and now I can officially claim that I graduated with the help of PAGA through their workshop, seminar, giving school supplies and allowance, and lastly through their guidance. And now I'm entering the new stage of life. Facing problems in more mature manner. Thank you for being part of my life, I will never forget all of your help to me and to my education. Thank you PAGA.
- Graduate, Bachelor of Science, Criminology
On behalf of the Philippine American Guardian Association (PAGA) team, we remain grateful for sharing what you can to help liberate children from poverty and give them that one chance to rise above their present situation. This is indeed a partnership that continues to make a difference that will transform lives.
Jill Cortes
Executive Director
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Knowledge Sharing Beyond the Classroom
Your donation affords the children educational assistance for tuition, school supplies, uniforms, transportation, health care and other school fees for projects and internships for seniors.
They also participate in seminars by volunteer mentors to help them cope with everyday life or provide added knowledge that may help them prepare for the “real” world. Here are highlights of seminars they attended.
* Etiquette For Teens or How to be a Better Person
Our mentor put more value to proper introductions, handshakes and navigating a formal dinner table set-up. She emphasized how having proper etiquette was an indicator of one’s personality. People who have made etiquette a habit are kind, respectful and sensitive to others. And therefore, better themselves as human beings.
In this day and age, etiquette may not be as popular as it was back then. But we are glad to have had the chance to bring it into PAGA’s program. This seminar proved extremely valuable for the beneficiaries because etiquette is one of the behaviors that will set them apart positively in a crowd. This is part of their education beyond the classroom that can never be taken away. A lesson that is timeless and does not know any age or generation.
* Financial Management Seminar
Our volunteer Finance wizard gave a compelling, yet simple talk about managing finances. We invited parents and senior college students to this session. Initially, they were not enthusiastic because, as expected, they felt the topic was irrelevant since they did not have money to manage. However, after learning about the “money” culture and behavior of Filipinos, the enthusiasm started to build, and participants felt comfortable and were able to relate to the topic. It wasn’t about having a lot of money, but how to be in control of whatever you had. The simple habit of looking at your whole budget and assigning this to include savings even a minimal amount, was liberating for the participants. He also shared how they should not belittle themselves because of their situation but believe they are capable of helping themselves. With this, our beneficiaries and parents no longer felt helpless; instead, they felt hopeful.
* “Balik Eskuwela” or Back-To-School
We opened the new school year with our “Balik Eskuwela” activity by conducting a creative, participative workshop about Safety. The activity was conducted by our volunteer mentor, a professionally trained and certified Safety Officer.
The concept of Safety was drawn out organically through various activities. These were strategically designed so the beneficiaries could define and explain more about Safety from their experience. This helped embed Safety since the ideas came from the beneficiaries themselves.
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Nothing Follows
By Jill Cortes | Executive Director
By Jill Cortes | Executive Director
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