NSTP Caps SY with Graduation Ceremony for 1,694 Students

                     Now on its 12^th year of program implementation, the National Service Training Program – Civic Welfare Training Service (NSTP-CWTS) of Ateneo de Davao University (ADDU) held it Graduation Ceremony for 1,694 students enrolled in NSTP-CWTS for School Year (SY) 2013-2014.   Held on 22^nd March 2014 at the Martinez Sports Complex in Matina Campus, this SY’s ceremony culminates a year of social formation for sophomore student.  The Arrupe Office of Social Formation administers the NSTP-CWTS program in ADDU.

         The ceremony opened with a mass, officiated by Fr. David John delos Reyes, SJ, the Executive Secretary of the University Research Council (URC).  It was immediately followed by the graduation proper attended by no less than ADDU’s Academic Vice President Fr. Gabriel Jose T. Gonzalez, SJ, who delivered his message to the NSTP graduates.  He was joined on stage by the chair of the University Community Engagement and Advocacy Council (UCEAC) Atty. Romeo Cabarde, Jr.; the assistant to the director of the Ignatian Spirituality and Formation Office (ISFO) Ms. Melanie Garino (representing Mr. Elvi C. Tamayo); and Arrupe-NSTP director Ms. Lilibeth Arcena and CWTS coordinator Ms. Agnes Sagaral, RSW, representing the administration of the ADDU NSTP-CWTS program.  The members of NSTP graduating class, together with their formators, the corps of student volunteers, and the representatives of the different partner communities and institutions attended the three-and-a-half hour ceremony.

                 The NSTP-CWTS program (created under Republic Act 9163) of ADDU carries a distinct feature in the sense that while it fulfils the curriculum requirement as mandated by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), it also appropriates the social formation thrust of the university in accordance with its own rearticulated vision-mission (VM). This it does by integrating the formative core values which accompany the general framework of engaged citizenship for nation-building. The various community projects implemented by students in several partner communities and institutions in Davao City and beyond provide them with concrete experiences of service-learning as a pedagogical tool, processed in the classroom through multiple modes of reflection sessions that highlight the promotion of social justice for the common good, interreligious and inter-cultural dialogue, environmental preservation, good governance, leadership formation, community organizing, and program assessment and evaluation, to complement NSTP’s mandated curricular requirement of civic welfare in the area of disaster risk reduction and management, drug education, literary, values formation, among others.

            The graduation highlighted special awards which the program conferred on exemplary students, volunteers, formators, community partners, and community projects that were implemented in the course of the year.  This being its second year of conferring special citations, ADDU’s NSTP-CWTS continues to recognize stakeholders who have contributed to the program’s overall success in the greater cause of service to various communities covered by the program. The following awards and awardees are the following: The Blue Knight Sui Generis Award conferred to team leader Gladys Sarah Costillas (under Acc. 2D of NSTP formator Ms. Jenny Amaneo); the Richie Fernando Award conferred to NSTP volunteers Jefford Ray Mamacus (assigned in IE/ME2 under Ms. Myradz Daytic) and Marvin Te (assigned in CE2B, still under Ms. Daytic); the Bishop Francisco Claver Award conferred to NSTP formator Wilfredo M. Samante (Acc. 2G); the Exemplary Community Partner Award conferred to Gawad Kalinga Riverdrive (Brgy. Catalunan Grande), Purok 4 (Brgy. Magtuod), Gagmayng Kristohanong Katilingban (GKK) Nuestra Señora Salvacion of Purok 15 (SAHA, Brgy. Lubogan), Bagong Pag-asa Homeowners Association (BAPHOA, Brgy. Catalunan Grande), Gawad Kalinga (GK) Canada-MEDSA (Brgy. Tibungco); and the Outstanding Community Project(s) Award (implemented in SY 2012-2013) conferred to the following: The Rehabilitation of Day Care Center in Purok 21 – Smallville, Brgy. Mintal by Team Love of BM2C under formator Ms. Anabel Bauzon, and Proyektong Kapilya alang sa mga Taga-Catalunan in Bagong Pag-asa, Catalunan Grande by Team Forever of Mktg. 2B/C under formator Ms. Elvira Tabamo.

                The program also paid special tribute to around thirty-two (32) senior NSTP volunteers, out of a total of ninety-eight (98), who are graduating this SY.  They were given special certificates for their significant participation through rendering time and service during fieldwork, accompanying the different clusters (class teams) in their designated areas of assignment.  Likewise, NSTP’s important partners that helped in fulfilling its curricular requirements were also duly recognized, such as the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), and the Philippine National Red Cross – Davao City Chapter.

                Arrupe-NSTP director Ms. Arcena presented the program’s accomplishments for SY 2013-2014, highlighting important achievements, partnerships, milestones, among others, as well as important statistical data regarding the summary of projects implemented by graduating students and their actual cost, to wit:

NSTP-CWTS Project Summary 2013-2014

 Project Categories

                 The Arrupe Office wishes to extend its heartfelt gratitude to the members of the Ateneo community and its roster of external partners for their unfailing support to the different initiatives and projects of NSTP-CWTS.  (By M. Isabel S. Actub, Arrupe Communications & Advocacy)