Category: News

The Grupo del Oeste won 2nd place along with two special awards namely best in Street Dance and best in Original Composition Award.

This success was a result of the students’ hard-work and perseverance with the exceptional guidance of Prof. Liberty R. Porras as the group’s choreographer and overall director together with Prof. Ruswil Ledesma and Prof. Ronie Libutaque as Musical Directors.

In an interview Prof. Porras extends the College of PESCAR gratitude to the University Cultural Affairs Office for making this showcase of talents possible and to all those who showed their undying support during their journey from the preparation until the event.  

Grupo el Oeste performed again the following day on Villa Beach Iloilo during the Paraw Regatta 2023 highlight activity.

The Sinamba sa Regatta is an annual samba dance competition held during the celebration of Paraw Regatta Festival.

I observed a late student running through the campus toward the New Academic Building. He stopped for a while, took deep breaths, looked up at the sky, and made several signs of the cross before proceeding to the testing room.

So much is at stake, especially for those parents who cannot afford to send their children to college. Such an awareness adds to the pressure of taking the CAT since making it to WVSU is a life-changing milestone. Outside the university, relatives wait patiently under the sun amidst the smoke and noise of passing vehicles.

I saw mothers standing on the sidewalks, looking at the university buildings from a distance as if whispering prayers for their children while they took the examination. Fathers were ready to hand over their “baon” to their kids as soon as they exited the gate.

We say “sana all” with a mixed tinge of hope, regret, and even envy when we experience social and economic disparities or personal shortcomings.

If only the university could accept more applicants but limited resources hold it back. Yet, WVSU is never stagnant. It continues to pave a road map towards expansion so more students can benefit from its academic services.

We can all work to create a future where fewer Filipinos are saying “sana all” because more of us are accomplishing our goals and achieving what we want in life. So, when the result of the WVSU CAT is out, I still say (not with regret) but with hope -: SANA ALL.

The seminar-workshop aims to produce capstone projects on each institution’s research niche anchored in the Sustainable Development Goals and regional development priorities. Participating HEIs in the region came together to identify an emerging Futures Agenda, mainly geared towards institutional capstone projects.

Dr. Joselito F. Villaruz presented WVSU’s capstone project entitled “Mental Wellness for Resilient Filipinos,” a research-based initiative to institutionalize solutions to mental wellness in the region. The presentation identified the problem, competitive landscape, solutions, framework, work plan, timeline, and key metrics.

Participants came up with recommendations to sustain the Futures Agenda and ensure the implementation of their action plan. Building a “Futures Thinking culture” through the facilitation of seminars among faculty, research enthusiasts, and students; and enhancement of middle managers’ skills in risk management and governance are among the recommended action points agreed upon by the participants.

Moreover, the team plans to conduct science experiments through the University’s pre-service teachers in the College of Education with the Japanese educators exposing them to science education strategies that are used in Japan.

“It is all about promoting science education. It is the best channel in the College of Education for their practice teachers — not only for the community but also for students who are aspiring to be teachers,” said Prof. Edel Carmela Subong-Csoka, director of the WVSU International and Local Linkages Office.

Furthermore, Dr. Aris Larroder, research unit head of the PSHS-WVC, highlighted that Project TaNarau 1.0 enabled students to conduct home-based science experiments despite the absence of a school laboratory during the pandemic, while Project TaNarau 2.0 enabled them to design supplementary materials to show animated science concepts with the aid of paper only and not electricity.

“Science education is inclusive to the learners and here in Project Re: TaNarau, learning materials are designed by the learners for other learners. We simply integrate pedagogy, as we have to make sure that at a very young age, the students can already contribute to the learning gaps,” Dr. Larroder added.

A follow-up meeting is said to be held soon, hoping to make WVSU a part of the third installment of this project./END

“There should be at least a 10-year program or 20-year program to develop the materials to make sure that you start and you progressively build stronger and stronger programs,” he said, on top of stressing the importance of committing to the MTB-MLE.

He called upon education and government authorities to “take this program seriously” by investing in training, resources, and materials for teachers to effectively teach in mother languages.

“You have to look at this long-term as an investment, which will take time before you see really good results,” he said, adding that the lack of materials shouldn’t be a reason for suspending the MTB-MLE program.

Prior to the conference, Varennes spoke from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. to about 1,500 students and faculty of the said university in a Symposium on Language Rights and Education in observance of the UNESCO International Decade of Indigenous Languages (2022-2032) along with multilingual education and MTB-MLE advocate, Firth McEachern, who raised awareness on human rights through language rights in education.

“You all have the right to learn and use your language in the classroom at any level. So don’t let other people tell you, ‘No, hindi pwedeng gumamit ng Hiligaynon kasi we have to be English-speaking’ — that is against your rights,” said McEachern, a Canadian national who can fluently speak Philippine languages including Filipino and Hiligaynon.

Photos by Pretty Pearl Kate Serilo, Shane Salao, and Mark Lawrence Articuna