ONE HAPPY TEACHER IN OUR MIDST

...IN FAITH, OF EXCELLENCE, FOR SERVICE

What happened?
I was an accidental teacher—so they said. Eight years ago, I was asked to substitute for a Biology class in St. Mary’s Academy, Dalaguete, Cebu. The Biology teacher, who happened to be my close friend, got married. I taught for about two months and for the next school year, got hired to teach Technology and Livelihood Education. I fell in love with my new work; thus, I opted to take up 18 Education units to equip me more for my newfound love. After seven years of teaching and at the same time studying, I earned my Master’s degree in Educational Leadership and Management. Today I am an accidental teacher no more. I am…a teacher.

Why did it happen?
I am a teacher today and it happens all for a reason. Fourteen years ago, I was a promising young doctor. Armed with zeal and idealism, I went home to Dalaguete only to be humbled by the realization that most patients could not afford the high costs of medical service and medicines. The tall order, therefore, was patient education rather than patient treatment and rehabilitation. I had to educate people how not to get sick and I thought the best person to start was with the young, the children. I became a teacher because I wanted to. I am a medical doctor by profession but by will and choice, I am today a teacher by vocation.

What could this mean?
Because I willed to become a teacher, the meaning of this is all so clear—I have a mission to fulfill. However, this mission was not apparent to me then. I thought I chose to be a teacher only to educate my students how not to get sick. I thought I chose to be a teacher only to educate my students. I realized I was wrong when I knew more Mother Ignacia del Espiritu Santo and the humble servanthood of this valiant woman. My being a teacher is God’s fulfillment in me of Mother Ignacia’s values of faith, excellence and service. My life today and my being a teacher is a call for me to a mission of faith, excellence and service.

What is the implication of this?
I am a teacher called to a mission of faith, excellence and service—Mother Ignacia’s core values. I believed in God the way every other Catholic does. I excelled in many things the way a ruthless competitor does. I served the way every other person does, expecting something in return. All these I was and I did before, not so unlike any other ordinary person. Nevertheless today, because I am a Marian-Ignacian teacher, I struggle to live an exemplary life of faith and prayer. I sacrifice a lot in the name of integrity, competence and discipline. I literally breathed with the poor, the weak and the unprivileged. I live and lead a simple life today. I am a teacher called to a mission…one happy teacher in faith, of excellence and for service.