Filipino teachers make impact on US community schools

Teachers from Philippines make impact on Minot classrooms

Lindsay Miller

kfyrtv.com (USA)

02 November 2024

MINOT, N.D. (KMOT) — Minot Public School students have been gaining a new perspective on culture with the addition of several Filipino teachers to the district.

Beverly Cavite is a Family and Consumer Sciences teacher at Minot North from the Philippines. She said she found difficulties in adjusting to things like the weather and conversational English.

A handful of Filipino teachers are educating students in the Minot Public School District and say the community has helped with the transition to the United States.(KMOT-TV)

“We speak English, but it’s not more conversation English, so it was challenging for the first year,” said Beverly Cavite.

Jodelyn Daan is another Filipino teacher in her second year teaching Science at Minot High. She said she enjoyed seeing snow but found struggles with the weather and moving around town.

“In the Philippines, we have a lot of public transportation, and here there is Souris transportation, but it’s not all the time, so you have to have a driver’s license,” said Daan.

Despite the challenges with adjusting to life in the U.S., these teachers have been making a positive impact on their students.

Minot High student Tyler Bavilla said he enjoys taking their classes and that they provide a fun learning experience.

“Most of them, they are fun but not as fun as her,” said Tyler Bavilla.

Tyler’s classmate Kinnlee Meier pointed out how caring they are for their students.

“I really love having her, cause she always asks me how I am doing, and it always brings a smile to my face,” said Kinnlee.

First-year Science teacher Marjorie Nellas said the Minot community has been very helpful with her transition, as she struggled with transportation and the time zone adjustment of more than 10 hours.

“The community are welcoming and friendly, those kind of vibes kind of helped me adjust quite fast, and also knowing that I have Filipino community here,” said Nellas.

Dr. Laurie Verbitsky, a Spanish teacher at Minot High, has been helping the teachers adjust since the first one arrived in 2022.

“When the district has hired a J1-Visa teacher, then, I’ve been helping with getting them settled, finding them housing and transportation,” said Verbitsky.

They’re bringing lessons to the Magic City, from a world away.

The teachers are on a J1-Visa for up to five years.

The teachers we spoke with said they don’t plan on leaving the Magic City before their five years are up.

Philippines to become top performer in Asean - HSBC

‘Philippines set to become top performer in Asean’

Story by Keisha Ta-Asan 
Philstar Global
02 November 2024

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines will soon emerge as the top economic performer in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), thanks to reforms that have strengthened the country’s global trade position and growth potential, according to HSBC Global Research.

HSBC economist for ASEAN Aris Dacanay said reforms in the Philippines have made the country more influential in the global economy as its share to global trade has risen by 0.11 percentage points since 2018, the second highest in the region.

"In the next five years, we believe that the Philippines could become ASEAN’s leading performer. Growth was averaging 6.5 percent prior to the COVID pandemic,” Dacanay said.

“In 2025 and 2026, we expect that the Philippines will be the second fastest growing economy in ASEAN behind Vietnam and the third fastest in Asia,” he added.

Dacanay cited the International Monetary Fund’s latest World Economic Outlook, in which the IMF projects the Philippines becoming the 28th largest economy by 2029, an improvement from the 33rd rank today.

If realized, the five-place jump will represent the most significant ranking improvement among ASEAN economies.

The Philippine economy posted a growth of 6.3 percent in the second quarter, up from 4.3 percent a year ago and the revised 5.8 percent growth in the first quarter of 2024. In the first half, growth averaged six percent.

According to Dacanay, the country embarked on a series of fiscal, structural and institutional reforms over the past two decades.

“From liberalization, fiscal and institutional reform, we think the Philippines has one of the strongest reform narratives in ASEAN, giving the economy the stability it needs for take-off,” he said.

He noted that successive administrations have contributed to building this foundation, including the Macapagal administrations fiscal reforms and trade agreements, the Aquino administrations Sin Tax Law and institutional improvements, Dutertes focus on fiscal and infrastructure advancements as well as ongoing liberalization and fiscal reforms under the current administration.

The key reforms to monitor in the next five years should be the tax reform on passive income and financial instruments as well as the rationalization of Military and Uniformed Personnel pensions.

“These reforms should help bolster the economy's fiscal coffers further, accelerating the countrys fiscal consolidation efforts while generating resources needed for further growth, Dacanay said.

The HSBC economist also sees numerous opportunities for investment in the country as economic demand grows.

He said the incremental increase in demand in the economy is expected to average $45 billion annually from 2024 to 2029, marking the second highest in ASEAN.

This shows that investors have a significant demand to cater to and work with.

But despite the optimistic outlook for demand, Dacanay said the Philippines is one of the least leveraged in ASEAN, with bank credit to the private sector at just 69 percent of gross domestic product.

“We think this implies that there is significant potential opportunity for investors and entrepreneurs to participate in the Philippines’ robust growth narrative,” he said.

PH placed 4th in Miss Eco Teen International 2024

Raven Doctor sustains PH’s placement streak in Miss Eco Teen International

Armin P. Adina

Inquirer.net

31 October 2024

The Philippines sustained its placement streak in the Miss Eco Teen International pageant when Raven Doctor finished fourth in the 2024 competition held in Egypt on Oct. 30 (Oct. 31 in Manila).

The 18-year-old Palaweña was proclaimed third runner-up at the coronation show held in Hurghada, Egypt. Canada’s Cece Wu bagged the crown.

Filipino contenders have consistently earned placements since the inception of the pageant in 2019, starting with the Philippines’ first delegate Mary Daena Resurreccion who finished in the Top 5.

In the 2024 competition, joining Wu and Doctor in the winners’ circle were first runner-up Meily Herlina from Indonesia, second runner-up Dtuga Pratilja from Serbia, and fourth runner-up Jacklyn Saddler from China.

Before Doctor’s proclamation as the Philippines’ official delegate to the 2024 Miss Eco Teen International pageant, Hanna Uyan was originally set to compete in the global tilt for teenagers.

Uyan represented the Filipino community in Southern California at the inaugural staging of The Miss Philippines Culture and Heritage Celebration, a sister search of the Miss Universe Philippines pageant, in October 2023.

She and the four finalists from the national search officially received their respective international pageant appointments in February this year. But in August, Doctor replaced her as this year’s Miss Eco Teen International bet by The Miss Philippines.

Doctor was the lone teenager among the semifinalists in the 2024 Miss Universe Philippines pageant held in May. The national competition also proclaimed a new set of queens for The Miss Philippines.

To this date, Roberta Tamondong remains to be the only Filipino contender to earn the Miss Eco Teen International crown. She won in the 2020 competition.

Twenty-six Filipino scientists made it to the 2024 “World’s Top 2 Percent Scientists” list by Stanford University

Stanford lists 26 Pinoys in world’s Top 2% scientists

Story by Ranier Allan Ronda

Philstar Global

31 October 2024

MANILA, Philippines — Twenty-six Filipino scientists made it to the 2024 “World’s Top 2 Percent Scientists” list by Stanford University and released through the prestigious Elsevier Data Repository.

“The Stanford List compiles the names of the top two percent most-cited researchers or scientists globally across different fields annually. These individuals’ rankings are determined using the c-score metric created by John Ioannidis, a statistician at Stanford University,” the National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) said in a post on its official Facebook page yesterday.

Among the Filipino scientists who made the list are National Scientists Carmencita Padilla and Bienvenido Juliano (+), along with NAST Academicians Jose Cruz Jr., Antonio Miguel Dans, Glenn Gregorio, Jurgenne Primavera, Raymond Girard Tan and Allan Bernardo.

Other Filipino scientists included are John Jamir Benzon Aruta, Kathleen Aviso, Jayeel Cornelio, Alonzo Gabriel (+), Mary Ann Lansang, Marie Carmela Lapitan, Paul Gideon Lasco, Lanndon Ocampo, Ourlad Alzeus Tantengco and Aristotle Ubando.

Overseas-based Filipino scientists who also made the list are Ramon Gustilo, Michael Purugganan, Rigoberto Advincula, Josefino Comiso, Carlito Lebrilla, Enrique Ostrea, Baldomero Olivera and Eduardo Padlan.

“On behalf of the DOST (Department of Science and Technology) I would like to congratulate our Filipino scientists that were included in the top two percent of Scientists of the World list. We are proud of their scientific achievements – truly world class,” DOST Secretary Renato Solidum Jr. said.