Stipendiatenprogramm in Cordova und Kamagayan:

Neuer scholarship officer Erlee Adrian Lera inmitten einer Fülle von Aktivitäten im step-by-step-Stipendienprogramm. 2. Quartalsbericht 2008

This report covers the 2nd quarter of 2008 or specifically from April 01, 2008, to June 30, 2008. The months of April and May is summertime in the Philippines and therefore children are on vacation from school. Children are back to school again in June, which starts the school year in the Philippines and ends in March.

To recall, we have a total of 63 scholars sponsored by Step-By-Step during the school year of 2007-2008. 51 are from Cordova and 12 are from Kamagayan. step by step also funded the studies of the 4 HRM-Cruise Line Service Operations and Management scholars from Cordova.

Project Administration

Orientation of New Staff

The newly hired Scholarship Officer, Erlee Adrian Lera, was given orientation about JPIC and was made to join the Mid-Year-Assessment and Team Building activity of JPIC last April. This was a good opportunity for Erlee to have an in-depth knowledge of JPIC. He was also able to establish rapport with the other staff. This made his adjustment to his work easier.

Aside from that, in terms of the children and the community, as the coordinator I have personally introduced him to them during a meeting with the parents. He was welcome to the community and the children readily embraced him as the new tutor. Erlee as I can observe has an easy rapport with children, they look up to him as elder brother.

Review and Re-Orientation of Screening Policies

JPIC's policy on the scholarship program is to conduct a yearly screening of all scholars. This is intended to let the parents participate in the education of their children. Also, this is done to motivate our scholars to study well among other activities that we initiate during the school year to support their efforts.

The Education Committee and the officers of the association are given a refresher session about the screening policies and how to fill up the Screening Form. The form is an aid for the Edcom and officers in assessing objectively the scholars and the participation of their parents in the program.

In Cordova and Kamagayan, the scholarship officer assigned in other JPIC areas assisted Erlee in conducting the refresher session. The Edcom and parents present during the activity expressed that the activity has helped them remember the process of screening.

Purchasing and Distribution of School Opening Benefits

During the first week of June, the school opening benefits such as, school uniforms, school bags, school supplies, and school shoes have been provided to the scholars. The purchasing and distribution for Cordova and Kamagayan has been done by Erlee with assistance from the members of the Education committee. All benefits have been distributed before the school opening.

Project Activities

(1) Tutorials

The tutorials in Cordova and Kamagayan have been continued during this quarter. Kamagayan's regular schedule is every Sunday at 9:00-12:00 in the morning usually attended by 9 or 10 scholars. The tutorial in Cordova has the following schedule:

* Tuesday - Kinder, Grade 1 & Grade 2
* Wednesday - Grade 3 & 4
* Thursday - Grade 5 & 6
* Friday - High School
* Saturday - All levels (morning), but if there is a community meeting then tutorial is in the afternoon. This day is also group activity day.

The session starts at 3:00 p.m. and ends at 6:00 p.m. This quarter the sessions start early because it is vacation time. Children are free however to come to the study center for tutorials in any of the days. What is happening right now is that there are children from other grade level who attend the tutorial sessions.

From left: Erlee Adrian Lera, Jasson Singculan, Carmela Obregon, Mimi Egot during the Testimonial Dinner for Graduates.

Cordova scholars showing their outputs during the arts activity.

Kamagayan scholars during their arts activity last summer.

The scholars in the Eccliasiastical Museum of the Archdiocese of Cebu together with the Edcom, Erlee and Mimi during the educational tour last June 14, 2008.

Scholars during the pizza camp, the last stop of the educational tour on June 14, 2008.

Kamagayan scholars during their 6-session swimming lessons last May.

(2) Arts Workshop

Last May, some art activities were introduced to the children in Cordova. Erlee, who has a talent for artwork introduced those in some of the tutorial sessions with the children. The activities are: paper tearing, crayon etching, crayon blowing and transfer design. The children liked the activities so much and at the moment are still requesting for more of it.

(3) Swimming Lessons

The children in Kamagayan were enrolled in a 6-session swimming lesson in the Cebu City Sports Complex last May. There were 11 children who had undergone the lesson. It only took the children 2 days to learn the basics of swimming. All of them learn to float. On the third day, they already used the big pool which is more than 6 feet deep. Erlee accompanied them to the gym during the sessions. The children were so excited about their lessons that most of them come to the gym 30 minutes before their scheduled time.

(4) Testimonial Dinner

The scholars in Cordova who graduated in high school, namely Jasson Singculan and Carmela Obregon and the scholars in Kamagayan, namely Rechel Buselak, Judith Ann Sonsona and Ryan Navarro attended the JPIC Testimonial Dinner for High School and College graduates last May 7, 2008. They were escorted by the Education committee members and their parents. There was a short program during which there was a presentation of the scholar's testimonies of how the scholarship program was able to motivate them in their studies. All the graduates were given a token for their achievement. Dinner was also served after the short program.

(5) Educational Tour

The high school and elementary scholars graduates of last school year 2007-2008 in all JPIC communities had an educational tour last June 14. There were 20 Cordova and 6 Kamagayan children who joined the trip together with 4 Edcom members. The Cordova and Kamagayan scholars visited the University of San Carlos Museum where artifacts are displayed from various areas of the country and this was a guided tour. Fr. Tony Salas, also exposed the children to the radio station of the SVD's and personally guided the children.

Lunch was taken at the very popular tourist attraction, the Taoist Temple, this is one of the popular temple of the Buddhist religion mostly Chinese located in the millionaire's row in Beverly Hills, Lahug, Cebu City. In the afternoon, the children were able also to have a guided tour at the Casa Gorordo Museum, a turn of the century residence of the first Filipino bishop of Cebu. Next stop was the Ecclesiastical Museum of the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral, where children are given a guided tour of the antiques saints and things used by the Catholic priests from the various parishes of Cebu province. The last stop was the pizza making camp, where children enjoy making the pizza which they ate after as their refreshments for the afternoon.

(6) Screening of Scholars

Last May, the annual screening of scholars was done in Cordova and Kamagayan. This was done by the Education committee and the officers of the association. Erlee was there during the screening to provide supervision. He was accompanied by the other scholarship officer of JPIC. There are 51 scholars in Cordova and 12 in Kamagayan or a total of 63 scholars for the school year 2008-2009. At least 52 scholars have continued in the program, 11 are newly accepted.

Project Concerns and Action taken

Concern: The electrical connection for the study center is one of the concerns this quarter now that school has opened.
Action taken: The vice-president of the community association voluntarily provided electrical connection to the study center.

Concern: Children are requesting for more art activities.
Action taken: Erlee will be doing art lessons during Saturdays.

The following are the planned activities for the next quarter, July-September 2008:

1. Continue the tutorial sessions.
2. Purchase some reference materials based on Erlee Adrian's request.
3. Hold more art activities for the scholars.

Prepared by: Mimi M. Egot, Education Program Coordinator