JULY 17, 2023
“I belong to Batangas Eastern Colleges.” These words marked to me from our meaningful encounter with Miss Charity, who landed at a 3rd place finish, together with her collaborator, Mr. Justine Kiro Aranas from the College of Teacher Education for their output dubbed as “Read-y! Set! Go!”, an interactive instructional game aimed to increase interest and aptitude in reading, during the recently concluded Hackathon 2023, the first-ever coding and programming competition organized by Batangas Eastern Colleges’ College of Computer Studies. The said competition aimed to apply students’ competencies on programming in order to deliver business solutions. For its inaugural edition, Hackathon focused on augmenting literacy concerns through the aid of effective use of technology.
Miss Charity’s achievement is even more inspiring due to her visually-impaired condition that started during Miss Charity’s infancy. She was diagnosed with a tumor that required removal of both eyes. Halfhearted by the condition but determined on saving her life, Charity’s family consented the conduct of the necessary medical operation. Since then, she was totally blind. Such situation necessitated enduring diligent attention and care from her family members.
Miss Charity finished her early stage of formal education from a specialized school for the blind. She aspired studying in a “normal” school just like most students. Eventually, after finishing her Senior High School, Miss Charity was advised to search for a school that will cater her tertiary level. She dreamt of taking up a Baccalaureate Degree in Computer Science hence they cannot find a fitting school with course offering that is willing to accept her as a student with such illness. Until her father crossed paths with Batangas Eastern Colleges and found the alignment of his child’s desire with a degree in Information Systems. The news of her possible enrolment to BSIS program initially baffled Miss Charity though her love for learning is even stronger leading her to a mixed feeling of excitement and nervousness – a frisson.
In BEC, Miss Charity was welcomed by her colleagues who share with her the rigors of academic requirements. Moreso, she developed friendship among her peers. She is thankful for the equal treatment given to her by BEC and her teachers. The power of technology enables her to understand the learning materials like PowerPoint presentations used during face-to-face classroom learning sessions. The required tasks are accomplished and grades are obtained. Evident to her set of competencies was her participation to a competition. Her winning drew a remarkable amount of admiration and inspiration from her fellow Beacons.
She has other job goals besides teaching someday. Once she has completed the academic curriculum, Miss Charity is willing to accept any position that is appropriate for her qualifications. At present, she is excited to learn more about the advantages of AI after being shown a recent version of ChatGPT where a voice command is recognized and verbal feedback from the query is audibly supplied via artificial intelligence.
Miss Charity has been told by the BEC President, Prof. Agerico M. De Villa that she is welcome to use the school office space and its IT resources. She will also be given paid access to a Chat GPT account for learning, discovery and skill development.
Being an incoming third year student taking up Bachelor of Science in Information Systems, Miss Charity, together with her classmates are looking forward for the Research subject and their potential capstone project proposal.
