Highlights of Accomplishment for SY 2013-2014

Undaunted by the challenge that was SY 2013-2014, the Student Services Division came out victorious in relentlessly finding ways to provide necessary support to 358 students of the Western Visayas Campus and two transferees from Eastern Visayas  that were affected by Super Typhoon Yolanda.  However diverse the personalities and professional propensities of the personnel under the division, each was able to  muster enough industry, creativity, fixity of purpose and team spirit to attain the goals and objectives of the division.

Alongside the routine tasks that were accomplished by the different SSD units, worthy to be brought to the fore were the initiatives that either reinforced or improved the division’s ways of doing things. One of which was the consistent implementation of the HomeroomGuidance Program Action Plan for SY 2013-2014, co-designed by Mr. Ruel F. Java, one of the school’s Guidance Counselors.  A blueprint for improving the homerooms, the program made possible the conduct of Homeroom Rounds; the quarterly submission of Homeroom ActivitySheet by each adviser; and the holding of contests involving the homerooms ( e.g. Best in Attendance, Best in Cleanliness and Orderliness and Best in Bulletin Board)   to raise the community’s level of awareness on the importance of such areas to  the scholars’ well-being.

Through the initiative of Mr. Darrel G. Ledesma, newly-hired Guidance Counselor, the Mentoring Pisay-WV Leaders Program was launched with the goal of developing the leadership potentials of student leaders composed of all the presidents of the Alternative Learning Activities (ALA’s), Student Alliance and interest organizations. The program provided venue for student leaders to take part in monthly school-sponsored activities and  off-campus seminars and trainings.  

The dynamic duo in the Guidance Office also administered and interpreted results of the following tests:

1. Index of Learning Styles which determines students’ learning styles: active, sensing, visual, sequential, reflective, intuitive, verbal, and global

2. Holland Codewhich explores students’ interests, personalities and abilities: realistic, investigative, aesthetic, social, enterprising, and conventional

3. Intelligence Quotient Test

4. Emotional Quotient Test

The buoyant registrar, Mrs. Divina P. Bina, took the lead in conducting the National Competitive Examination (NCE) campaigns in all the target areas in Western Visayas– Iloilo City, Iloilo Province, Bacolod,  Capiz, Aklan, Antique and Guimaras. The campaign reached 170 schools in the region. The NCE was successfully administered to 1,225 examinees in five (5) testing centers on October 12, 2013. In coordination with the Student Alliance, the Tulong-Dunong was conducted. The outreach was participated in by fifteen (15) Pisay-WV student volunteers who conducted review classes to 180 NCE  applicants on four(4) Saturdays before the examination date.

During the first six months of the school year, space constraints brought about by the renovation of the Boys’ Dorm had to be dealt with. The Girls’ Dormitory became home to both girl and boy dormers.  Given this setup, the seasoned dorm managers, Mr. Jose Ma.  Ramar S. Cadete and Mrs. Arlene G. Cadete, found means to elicit cooperative behavior from the occupants; thus, the students’ dorm life was relatively peaceful. So far, no report of disorderly conduct was noted. Moreover, the Dorm PTA Council for 2013-2014 was organized during the early part of the school year. It   paved the way for the hiring of two (2) dorm assistants for the Residence Halls.

Responding to the need of intensifying efforts to fight dengue, the Medical Clinic under Ms. Carmecita G. Payopelin, carried out anti-dengue measures. An Anti-Dengue Awareness  Forum was conducted at the start  of the school year; the installation of ovicidal-larvicidal (OL) traps in the classrooms, offices and other areas within the school, greatly helped to curb the population of dengue-causing mosquitoes. Moreover, a team called Pisay First-aiders  was established to respond faster to medical emergencies.

With the high-spirited school librarian, Mr. Joseph Dennis J. Garrido, the library became  closer to the hearts of the scholars. The library was given a facelift after a clean-up done during the summer vacation. Soon, the Open Learning Space was established.  The library also became home to DOST-STII’s Science and Technology Academic and Research-Based Openly-Operated Kiosks (STARBOOKS). In addition, the library became richer in terms of resource materials after acquiring programs for Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC) from DOST-STII free of charge.

Finally, the division formulated a new policy that allows automatic enrolment of incoming G-8, G-9 and 4^th Year scholars upon accomplishment of clearance by the end of each school year. Simply put, only the G-7 scholars need to go through the process of yearly enrolment, an undoubtedly practical initiative.

The SSD braces for another school year confident that with the guidance from the Almighty, coupled with the strength of the people that comprise the division, PSHS-WVC will continue to be a nurturing institution to the future world-class Filipino scientists.

ANECITA T. ALTIS                                                                                                                                       

Chief, Student Services Division