PARTNERSHIP. XU president Fr Roberto C Yap SJ (left) and Cagayan de Oro City Mayor Oscar S Moreno shake hands after signing the memorandum of agreement on the new Service Learning Program between the university and partner communities in Northern Mindanao. Other signatories of the MOA are the social development coordinators of XU colleges and schools and representatives of partner barangays.
Report by Victoria Melissa C Pulido (XU Social Development Office)
Photos by Rico Magallona
Xavier University through its Social Development cluster, local leaders, and representatives from partner communities in Northern Mindanao joined forces in establishing the Service Learning Program (SLP) for this school year.
SLP is a curriculum-based service learning experience for XU students from various academic disciplines. As part of its dynamics, the program will take the participants to partner communities and institutions in pursuit of constructive and transformative learning — an engagement that brings theoretical premise into proactive social relevance.
“Service learning facilitates ‘contact’ with communities, allowing space for students to serve the peripheries through their disciplines or expertise,” said XU president Fr Roberto C Yap SJ in his message during the signing of the memorandum of agreement (MOA) on Wednesday, September 14 at XU-AVR1.
Yap also shared three main points on SLP: “(1) Contact - Our students and communities have contact to interact with the leaders of the community, contact with the people we want to serve. (2) Competency - The program is discipline-based where students can apply academic concepts toward for the development of the community. (3) Component of reflection - Students must be able to process their experiences with depth.”
The MOA also laid down the roles and responsibilities, scope and limitations for each stakeholder in the program.
SLP’s overarching principle is entwined with the characteristics of Jesuit education that deems educational formation of individuals as a means of preparing them to become apostolic instruments “in service of the Church and country as they serve the human communities.”
As a Jesuit-run academic institution, Xavier adheres to providing preferential options for the poor through service and the use of its expertise on development.
SLP aims to expose Xavier Ateneans to grassroots communities to cultivate a more critical understanding of social realities, injustices, and responsibilities.
GO SIGNAL. Yap and Moreno approve all 20 Service Learning Projects to be implemented in various barangays in Cagayan de Oro City, Misamis Oriental, and Bukidnon.
Support from partners
Being one of the partner local government units in the region, the city government of Cagayan de Oro has recognized the role of the academe in forming socially-responsible youth in this part of the country.
“The best years of Cagayan de Oro were those years wherein it has partnered with the academe, particularly with the Xavier University, in addressing the social concerns of our city,” shared CDO Mayor Oscar S Moreno, expressing his support to the new SLP projects of Xavier.
He added that convergence and collaboration are important in synergizing the diverse resources and efforts of SLP stakeholders. Moreno also thanked XU for being one of the active schools in the city contributing to the progress of CDO.
Representatives from seven partner communities attended the SLP MOA signing while social development coordinators from the various XU colleges and schools represented their deans, except for Dean Dr Ramona Heidi Palad who signed the MOA on behalf of the College of Nursing.
Alubijid Mayor Alvin A Labis, representing one of the long-standing partner communities of XU, shared a testimony on the community engagement between the university and his municipality.
He extended his gratitude to the university, specifically to the XU Development Communication Department, for producing a coffee table book highlighting Alubijid’s tourism destinations and opportunities.
This year, Labis is looking forward to their engagement with the XU Dr Jose P Rizal School of Medicine students on a project in line with the sanitation and public health practices in Alubijid.
COLLABORATIVE APPROACH. XU personnel, representatives from the different barangays and local leaders strike pose for a group photo after the SLP MOA signing ceremony.
SLP projects for the present academic year
Twenty projects under the Service Learning Program will take off this semester, namely:
1. Psychology: Learning modules for community development in barangays Gusa, Canitoan, Indahag, Camaman-an, and Alubijid, Misamis Oriental (5);
2. International Studies: Capacity building for homeowners associations of city relocation sites in Sitio Calaanan and Barangay Indahag (2);
3. Nursing: Community health nursing and health assessment in barangays Indahag and Lumbia (2);
4. Computer Studies: Creation of database system for the local government unit of Alubijid, Misamis Oriental, and for barangays Lumbia and Camaman-an (3);
5. Medicine: Zero Open Defecation Project in Alubijd (1);
6. Engineering: Information education campaign (IEC) development on solid waste management, and alternative energy project (2);
7. Development Communication: Photojournalism in Sumilao, Bukidnon (1);
8. Agricultural Economics: Agro-enterprise development (1);
9. Chemistry: Water quality testing in Sacred Heart Village, Zone 8, Zayas (1); and
10. Biology: Dengue surveillance, control, and Ovi-trap installation in barangays Macabalan and Nazareth (2).
Engr Gail dela Rita, who represented XU vice-president for social development Roel Ravanera, imparted the SD cluster’s effort of popularizing service learning and using it as an avenue for forming students into more socially responsible individuals.
She also emphasized that SLP as a discipline-based approach of integrating social involvement to the college curriculum strengthens classroom instruction through the application of theories in addressing social concerns of communities.
The SLP stakeholders also aim to bind future collaborative efforts and explore more possibilities for development and in general, nation building.
Beginning this school year, the MOA signing will be held every semester to jump off the service learning engagements of students in partner communities.
SLP will hold a summit in February during the Social Consciousness Month. ∎