ICT Partnership benefits STI BSIT students

STI has already accomplished 2 out of 3  goals I set last June 2015. I came up with these goals after I attended the ICT BPM( Information technology and business processing management) Conference Expo 2015 at Marriot Hotel last June 3 – 4, 2015. 

1st Goal- to provide relevant trainings to our 4th year BSIT students through OJT program ( with pay and allowances )

In the conference, I met Mr. Darwin Moises, Senior Manager of Lexmark Cebu who is a graduate of ATENEO-REGIS Mba-Cebu. He told me that Lexmark is accepting ICT OJTs. He endorsed me to Ms. Bryony Paige C. Cabigas, HR Sourcing Specialist / Linkages Coordinator. Fortunately, among 8 students who were interviewed, Mr. Rodney Maniego was able to get in.

Ms. Bryony( Lexmark ), Mr. Rodney Maniego(4th Year BSIT OJT), me

Signing of MOA and Partnership Agreement

I also met in the conference, HR MANAGER of Teradyne, also an IT company and 2 senior IT managers to discuss about their OJT requirements for IT. They urgently need two IT OJT. They will give 75% ( P255) of the Cebu minimum wage as allowance, 30 per day meal allowance and housing allowance. Two of our top BSIT 4th year students were able to get in: Mr. Brylle Orita and Mr. Wendel Madjus.

Signing our MOA with Ms. Ruby W. Diaz, HR supervisor

( standing From L to R)-Ms. Cheryl Gallo, STI OJT coordinator, Mr. Orito and Mr. Madjus( OJT students ), Teradyne IT head in Cebu Joey Jallorina and Teradyne IT Solutions Analyst Peter Versan Setier, me and Ms. Ruby, HR of Teradyne 

I stayed one more day in Cebu( June 5 ) to meet the HR of Kyocera and Icomm. Both signified their support to our OJT program. Requirements shall be submitted this September in preparation for their October OJT of our 4^th year students. Kyocera offers allowances same as Terradyne but Icomm does not offer. What they guarantee is our students will get relevant trainings and possible employment after graduation if they perform well. 7 BSIT students passed the interview in Kyocera and now getting relevant training.

OJT student in KYOCERA - Rad Roa, Jashmin Acogido, Mary Rose Abril, Ms. April Pedida, Ms. Karen Valencia, Ms. Cheryl Gallo ( STI OJT Coordinator), Mark Gindoy and Rodgiemar.

MOA signing with Kyocera President, Nobuyasu Mori and Corporate Management Division Manager, Jennifer J. Broce.

Click the link of the write-up regarding partnership of STI with Teradyne.

STI College-Ormoc partners with Teradyne for its ICT-OJT program

2nd Goal - to organize a company visit to top IT companies with our 3rd year BSIT students and a fellowship night with the ALUMNI working in CEBU

January 11 to 13, 2016- With our strong partnership with these IT companies, STI had the opportunity to bring our 3rd year BSIT students to CEBU's top IT companies like Kyocera, Lexmark and Accenture. They also attended STI National Youth Convention in CEBU last January 12, 2016 at CAP Building in CEBU.

Thanks to Lorraine Travel and Tours for the well-coordinated 3-day travel.

BSIT students with the NYC speakers

At University of San Carlos' computer laboratory

At Kyocera

Cheris Singcol, 3rd year BSIT student, won the O+ mobile phone grand prize 

With Paul ( our very intelligent, accommodating and jolly tour guide - so satisfied with your services Sir Paul), our dean Engr. Sheena Muyuela and STI former IT faculty and STI alumni who is now IT professor in USC Ms. Angie Ceniza

With my ever reliable NYC team, Ms. Leizel Grande and Engr Sheena Joy Muyuela

With the alumni working at Accenture

Students listening to the video presentation of Accenture

While in CEBU, we had  a fellowship with Alumni working in CEBU to meet the 3rd year students. They shared tips on how they survived the thesis project while in college, their journey as IT professionals in CEBU. It was a very engaging event for both our Alumni and students.

With our alumni ( L to R). Mr. Julius Canillo, Ms. Angie Ceniza, Ms. Leizel Grande ( STI Faculty ), Dean Sheena Muyuela, me, Mr. Caracuel, Mr. Maxander and Mr. Nilo Luansing

Group picture with the alumni and STI BSIT 3rd year students.

3rd Goal -  BSIT OJT students shall be absorbed by these IT companies because of their good performance

I am hopeful that our ICT partners will see the potential of our students and give them job offers after their OJT program.  We will find out in April (end of their OJT program) if this goal will happen.

My reflection :

I can be a networker who markets our qualified graduates with an aspiration that these people whom the school helped will eventually give back to their alma mater and to Ormoc City. I see them as the future consultants or IT top leaders helping Region VIII to be the next IT hub in the Visayas.

I would like to share one of the students' feedback on his experience from the tour, Mr. Keen Dulojan, our SSG President:

Measure and Manage Project - Household

For a family of 5 with 2 helpers, I find P5,000 a week actual food expense not reasonable and can still be reduced if :
1) There is a menu plan for the cook to follow
2) There is a budget and actual cost template for monitoring purposes.

So, to start my year and as a believer of "You can't manage what you don't measure", I prepared a 3-week menu plan for my cook to follow and a budget monitoring template to record the list of items and actual cost.

3 Week Menu plan ( I gave my cook the liberty to plan our breakfast. What I included is only the lunch for my kids-they eat their lunch in school, my husband and I and our dinner. Every Sunday, I scheduled to eat out as our bonding time with family my family but again we have to stick with our budget not more P700.

You may notice that some are color-coded so it could guide my cook what menu to prepare good for 2 meals( we can just reheat it ). In this way, we can save on gasul and my cook can do other important tasks.

Also, I ask her to buy in bulk or volume to lessen her time going to the market. Except for fish, shell and veggies that need to be served fresh, others like pork, beef can be bought in bulk and stock them in the fridge.

For monitoring of expenses, I designed a template for her to record all her expenses.

On a weekly basis, she has to record all the expenses and another sheet is provided for the breakdown of items like breakfast food items. I provided her an envelope where to keep the receipts for auditing purposes. For the rice and gasul, my monitoring is different as it includes the last date purchased and total kilos of the last purchased. In this way, I can monitor our consumption in a given period. I provided her the template good for 3 weeks so she can reproduce it every time she runs out of copies.

As to the money, I am using one of my ATM - Debit card for this. This is entirely for our household spendings that need cash payment. My cook has been with us for more than 7 years already so I can entrust her the pincode. I give her my ATM every time she needs to replenish her budget.

To empower my children, I assigned the task to my eldest daughter to do the weekly auditing while my 14 year old son is tasked to buy every Saturday our breakfast food items to be consumed the following week.

My reflection: Meal planning and budgeting are important in any household. Our house help needs guidance on what food to prepare and how much budget is allocated. Regular monitoring and review of the actual spending can help reduce expenses and prevent possible misappropriation of funds. Involvement of children in meal planning, monitoring and budgeting is a good life skills training for them.

I will keep you posted on the result of this "measure and manage project" of mine after a month. I hope the result will help me manage our financial resources more effectively.

Happy new year!

Christmas Saya

I was the first one to arrive for STI's Employees' Christmas party and what caught my attention was the Christmas tree with the pictures of all employees as its hanging decoration. It is beautiful and I commend the creativity of Aileen for coming up with that idea.

At the end of the party, each employees grabbed their photos from the Christmas tree as their souvenir.

It was a very memorable party. As prelude, the early birds enjoyed by dancing with the live accompaniment of songs being sung by our wanna-be singer employees. Playlist includes dancing queen, gold, awitin mo at isasayaw ko among others. It surely burned a lot of our calories which is good before having the calorie-loaded foods.

Employees by group showcased their talents thru dancing and singing.

We had so many games and everybody participated. I am surprised to learn that the committee for this year's Christmas party really go extra mile by buying the request of employees for their giveaways. Some requested the usual ham, spaghetti pack, fruits. Others requested buwad/tuyo ( dried fish) and even whitening lotion. Really?

We ended the party with a group picture. Thanks to Roel who set his camera in multiple shot mode and we enjoyed variety of poses while laughing with each other's candid shots.

Best in Hawaiian attire female goes to Ms. Saluage while Norman was awarded for the male category. Head turner goes to Ms. Anneth and Mr. Photogenic is Mr. Bimbo Eisma while Cybele was awarded for the female category.  For Mr. and Ms. Projection, Frame and Ms. Beverly got the award.

That is one of the happiest Christmas Party I ever had. Thanks to the leadership of Louie and Mae.

Injecting Happiness

Last Monday, November 16, 2015, I accompanied my husband to CEBU for his scheduled check up on his right elbow, which he has been complaining about for the past 1 and ½ months. Part of our itinerary is to visit Ma Chinga, my ever loving and supportive auntie-in-law.

Despite several occasions of downtime and problematic communication lines, I am still thankful to the mobile connection as I got to perform tasks through mobile. Today is the last day of preparation for our BSTM recognition.

You may choose to be productive and accomplish a lot of things while staying for 2 hours on board the fast craft. I bumped one passenger who has a long over due account with our printing press. I had a short talk with him and he promised to pay us within the week( I put it on my calendar ). I reviewed list of our receivables and sent through pm gentle reminder to our clients.

We arrived before noon time at the clinic of Dr. Roland Eullaran and I am impressed with how he managed his queuing system using the power of internet and mobile technology. A week before the scheduled check up, my husband received a message through text about this check up informing him that he is # 17 patient for Nov 16. Upon arrival, we asked his secretary the estimated check up time of my husband and she said that a text message shall be sent informing us of the patient number currently being served. She advised us to be at the clinic when the queue is at patient #12. Dr. Eullaran values the time of his patient ( they may run other errands thus making them more productive) and this also prevents overcrowding of patients at the clinic’s waiting area.

We were called at exactly 2pm. I admire the humor and warm personality of Dr. Eullaran. He performed ultra sound on my husband’s elbow and it reveals muscle inflammation.  He injected med on his right elbow. According to Dr. Roland, possible causes of such inflammation which doctors call tennis elbow injury include: carrying of heavy items or long use of arm muscle which normally happens to woman running household chores. Candidly, my husband  said“ I do the laundry doc” which the doc responded “ same here”. 

I noticed a date mark “ DEC 10, 2015” on the window type aircon of Dr. Eullaran which he said the next cleaning schedule for the said aircon to ensure proper care and maintenance ( pang ISO ). On his clinic wall, you will notice also a collage of his photos taken during his visit to various countries. I also notice two wall paintings of CEBU’s. He is a proud Cebuano. Kudos to you Doc!

You look so adorable dear. Kudos to Ronald, the barber

We went straight to National Bookstore SM to buy another fingerprint biometric NIDEKA for our business. Then, went to Barber’s corner( for Jojo’s much needed haircut), newly opened barber shop in SM where most of their employees are employees from a famous Saloon in CEBU. They left their job where they served for almost 10 years due to better offer and benefits. This made me think, how their previous company reacted on this issue. 10 years for me means loyalty but if your employees leave, maybe it is time tor revisit your HR management to avoid future attrition.  Believe me, these employees are really skilled and very good in what they do.

We visited Uniglo( originated in Japan ) that sells affordable quality apparel: from foot to head. We spent 3500 for 7 pcs of assorted garments ( polo, tshirt, shorts )

From L to R: Anne, myself, my love Jojo, Ma Chinga, Nurse Cheryl and Francis)

Last stop is at the Majestic to celebrate the 82^nd birthday of Ma Chinga. Must try is: Patatim and Snow Ice Halohalo.

Snow Ice Halo halo ( photo credits:liasfoodjourney.blogspot.com)

Majestic, for me, serves the best chicken feet. I discovered that MaChinga loves to take photos with her relatives and friends.

It was a tiring yet enriching day I had.

Child's touch

I felt the string of the balloon touching my face as I was rushing out of our bedroom on my way to work. It made me smile remembering the tiny voice of a child begging me to buy her this pink balloon while pulling my arms. On her face, it revealed her eagerness to own this balloon. Her dad finally gave in and paid 75 pesos. Of course, my nod to her dad signalled that she will finally get what she wants. 

 I realize, I wanted to buy that balloon not only for my daughter Jhaye but for myself. It reminds me how children appreciate simple joy in life. The string is Jhaye's tiny hands touching my face telling me, cherish my childhood. Soon, this ballon will fly to be on its own. You can feel God's presence everywhere. For me, the string is not only Jhaye's tiny hands but God's touch telling me to appreciate child's joy and nurture it. 

My prayer: Lord, help me find ways to bring joy to my children. It need not be material things. It can merely be our presence to reassure them they are the most important people in our lives. On our birthday Lord, thank you for the gift of 3 wonderful children-the best gift my husband and I have ever received.

Personal Mission Statement

Came across this site and it is so helpful http://thinksimplenow.com/happiness.

It costs me P200 for my brewed coffee and Villa Clubhouse. I have to do this in a place where I can focus. Hope the return is a thousand-fold.


Now, here is my output after reading Tina SU blog.

Mission Statement

To empower people by being a person who is of high integrity with commitment to nurture the skills and talents of young people to become responsible citizens of this country, caring children to their parents, entrepreneurs who are concerned with employees’ welfare, professionals who perform at their best in their chosen career and people who are concerned with their fellowmen.

Values and Goals
1) To nurture good relationship with my spouse and children and bring out the best in them.
2) To exhibit a positive attitude and be cheerful at all times.
3) To empower co-employees and students in STI by giving them opportunities to grow professionally.
4) I plan to grow our business, to spend wisely, save more so I can achieve financial independence before the age of 50.
5) I plan to build a rest house in a place where we can grow trees, do farming and poultry.
6) To achieve and maintain 130 lbs weight and 150 lbs for my husband.
7) To nurture our spiritual life.
8) Have the drive and energy to do what is on the schedule and put balance to my life. Observe the divide and conquer technique. Be decisive.
9) To travel to different places with my spouse.
10)I plan to put up a training and development center to empower people.
11)To nurture good relationship with my relatives and close friends.
12)I plan to have a business in Taytay Rizal that can sustain the expenses for the schooling of my nieces/ nephews that can be run by my siblings.
13)To have a house in Taytay Rizal that is really ours.
14) To increase STI enrollment to 1500 in 2016.
15) To read more self-help books and listen to self-help audio books.
16) I plan to make a workbook or lesson plan about subjects I am teaching.
17) I plan to update my blog at least once a week.

Now...What?

It is Saturday, a lot of things are running in my mind. I want to put order in every areas of my life..my work, our business, my family, my health, my relationship, our house, my dreams....I know what to do, I know how to do it, but the problem is WHEN will I seriously start. I am not saying that my life requires "overhauling". Let us say...my life is in need of a person who can live it to the fullest. I can be THAT person...one day...she will come...and i say... COME ...NOW.

Ok. Fine. I have a perfect plan but it is useless if it just written on a piece of paper or just sketched in my mind. Of course, action can make it realized.

It is now 10 am. I can hear my daughter telling me about this "Divide and Conquer" which I actually taught her( I overheard her saying my mom seems that she is not practicing it..what a shame..and I answered back...I will practice it later..Did i set a deadline? That's how parents sometimes protect their integrity..hehehehe)

I read in these two books "Simplify your life" and "Happiness Project"...to begin concretizing your plan...Clean the mess first and get organized. Okay, I know it works and I HAVE TO BEGIN.

This morning, I want these to happen:
1) Arrange our study room.

2) Put a table in my room where I can put all my books on top so I can see them which tells me to read them. Like what our English teacher told his students, make it a habit to read. Target 2 paragraphs a day. Write on an index card words that you don't understand. Consult the dictionary and use those words in a sentence. Sounds too elementary but it is true? Many of us neglect the benefits of reading. If you are working in an academe, the students deserve a teacher who is articulate and has a good command in English language...can pronounce words properly...It helps when you read aloud. I still do it everytime I am alone in my room, infront of a mirror.

3) Take a bath and read at least one chapter of "Happiness Project"...

I have to end this blog so i can walk my talk here. Will update you later. I also look forward to getting my reward if I can accomplish my tasks today..Watch one episode of Desperate Housewives Season 2...I am curious to know how Bree is coping up with the loss of her husband. By the way, my reward depends on the downloading speed of our internet connection( Episode one 73.6% )...Hay...