February 2018
Dr. Halagao has served on the Board of Education and plays a big part in the policies concerning multicultural education. I had the pleasure of taking her Multicultural Education class last Fall semester. In my prior experience in education, as both a teacher and a student, I felt that the structure of the curriculum was too focused on just giving information to the students, rather than making their learning meaningful. And that is what I learned in Dr. Halagao's class--how to make learning meaningful for the students. And as Kiwanians, we are educators to the children of the world.
The ultimate goal of education should be to prepare our students to become efficient contributors to society. When we use place-based learning and show what they are learning is applicable in real-life, we are trying to instill a sense of civic responsibility into our students. The reason that I want to become a teacher is to give back to the community. And where did I learn this? From my mentors, who were all teachers (both high school and college teachers). And an educator is more than just a teacher. They are mentors, parents, and even counselors. And in order to have a sense of civic responsibility, you have to be a free thinker. If we do not teach our students how to think outside of the box and to look at things through different perspectives, they will always be conforming to society. And this is exactly what I believe Kiwanians do. Through service projects, we are teaching children to not only care for their communities, but to recognize that there are problems and that there needs to be a Call To Action. We also provide leadership opportunities which makes our students feel more involved with what they are doing, and not just having an adult tell them what to do. And lastly, Kiwanis is a place to create fellowships; it is a place where people with similar interests can work towards a common goal. We are educating our children by creating meaningful experiences.
~ Aladdin Roque-Dangaran