Joining ANI as a student
Six years have passed since I first heard of Alay ni Ignacio or ANI. I did not know it will have huge impact in my life. A clueless and simple fourteen-year-old girl from a public science high school in Marikina, my dream was to attend a prestigious university. That day two strangers visited my school to promote ANI and recruit the new batch of their students for their summer classes. I thought it was my chance to make my dream come true. And it was. My dream was realized.
Alay ni Ignacio is a student arm of Pathways to Higher Education. Pathways to Higher Education is a non-profit organization with the goal of helping public high school students of selected public schools of Marikina and Quezon City attend the top universities and colleges of the country. Alay ni Ignacio, as its student arm, is tasked to provide advanced academic lessons and different formation programs to help the students get ahead and have a better chance of attending top universities and colleges.
My family is not well-off. I know very well that my parents cannot afford to fund my college education on their own. My goal since I started to understand the value of money, which I think was very early, is to do my best in studying and get a scholarship. And it happened. As of writing this article, I am a senior student of Ateneo de Manila University studying BS Chemistry with Materials Science and Engineering and enjoying a full scholarship with allowance from a private company. This would not have been possible if not for Alay ni Ignacio.
To be honest, I had little expectations. My only goal was to get through ANI to get into Ateneo, but I got a lot more than what I expected.
Summer of 2009, the first summer I had with ANI, was definitely a summer I would never forget. It was a new experience – the first time I genuinely had fun while learning. It was two months of learning about Chemistry, Geometry, English, and Literature as well as non-academic subjects like Christianity, and Self-awareness. The academic lessons were really helpful. When I went back to regular classes in my regular school, I was excelling. There were things I knew earlier than my non-ANI peers.
I liked everything about ANI ’09 – tutors, classmates, activities, and lessons. There were some apprehensions on my tutors because I thought they will be strict but it was never the case. They, unexpectedly, were very friendly. They tried to make the lessons lighter delivery-wise and more fun. They were also always extending a helping hand to us – making sure that each and every one of us learns. And although we came from different high schools, by the end of the summer, all of us are already friends. Friendly competitions like the sports fest, drama presentations, and other things made us bond stronger.
But more than the academic lessons itself, ANI has taught me perseverance and magis. In ANI I learned to do more than what is expected. Thinking back, I was very free to quit ANI and not push through the whole summer, but I did not. This was because I enjoyed ANI very much and I believed that it can help me improve as a person.
Two years later, I got accepted in Ateneo with a full scholarship! I believed this was because of how ANI and Pathways has formed me. Without this organization, my dream is still a dream.
Joining ANI as a Volunteer
I am so thankful to ANI. And so, starting from my first year in college, I already started volunteering for ANI. This way, I was introduced to the world of my former tutors.
I was very eager to help ANI but it was not very easy to do so. My tutors, who were all-smiles throughout the whole summer, had to prepare for each lesson. They had to review each topic, prepare examples before class, prepare impromptu examples during class if ever the students cannot understand easily, check papers, grade the students, make exams, and other teaching related stuff that I did not know was difficult. They also had to deal with their partner tutors who might have a different approach to teaching than them. On top of all that, some tutors even had actual summer classes while doing all these for ANI! I was actually disappointed with myself during my first year of volunteering. I wanted to give so much, but my skills and availability did not let me. But ANI still believed in me.
The organization still gave me a chance to step up and take a more challenging role. From being a tutor, I became the Department Chairperson for Chemistry and later the Academic Unit Head. I am very thankful, as these roles helped me improve a lot in handling people and projects.
Image source “Photos.” Alay ni Ignacio Facebook Page. Facebook, n.d. Web. 14 Feb. 2015.