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Three (3) of CSU’s New Professional Teachers made to the list of successful examinees who garnered the highest places in the March 2023 Licensure Examination for Professional Teachers.

𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗗: A , indeed!

𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗽 𝗢𝗳 𝗙𝗮𝗶𝘁𝗵: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗘𝗻𝗱’𝘀 𝗕𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴

𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵?

In this tale of greatness, Angel Fel Burdeos from the College of Education (CEd) takes over.

As a 4th-year Bachelor of Elementary Education student, her passion to serve as a teacher has gotten her as far as the National Quemoy University (NQU) in Kinmen County, Taiwan. Nothing short of willingness and interest to prove that she can be limitless, Angel came from very humble roots.

Born and raised in Pagatpatan, Butuan City, the 21-year-old lived an enjoyable childhood. As an only child, she formed alliances with her little friends by playing relentlessly until dusk and losing track of time watching movies. It was not until she was in fifth grade that her family decided to move her to Gingoog City, where she spent most of her adolescence focused on school and tutoring her nieces and nephews at home. Then and there, she developed her love for teaching. "Since elementary makita man jud nako akong teacher bitaw tapos murag ma amaze ko na wow maminaw ang mga students sa ilaha. Naka realize ko na para maka help pud ko puhon sa mga bata na maka learn pud sila," she detailed.

Then came college, and Angel was uprooted again from the town she considered her home. Months before the CRSUCAT results, Angel Fel admitted feeling nervous since she had only applied to one school. "What if dili ko mupasar?" she thought, and although she was out of the comfort of her own home, Angel managed to pass with flying colors.

At CSU, she learned to look out for herself and navigate the perils of college. In 2022, then a 3rd-year student, Angel worked as a part-time English as a Second Language (ESL) tutor through an online website out of her sheer interest in teaching. She taught foreign students how to speak, read, understand, and write in English. She had no idea that the independence and the undying interest in teaching she had learned and developed at a young age would allow her to quantum leap through the infinite number of opportunities ahead of her.

As one of the two CSUans who was accepted to the New Southbound Policy Short-term Study Program at NQU, Angel topped the headlines. The program, subsidized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Taiwan, Republic of China, aimed to collaborate with other Southeast Asian countries by accepting exchange students from countries like the Philippines. Months prior, Angel had to go through several screening interviews and compete with other aspirants from across the country. One panel interview came after another, and before she knew it, she was already boarding the plane en route to Taiwan, where she took courses on Mandarin, International Relations, Chinese History, and Chinese Traditions, among others. With her were two other Filipina students from the Bicol Region.

Of course, it did not come without a cost. Save for the expenses of her quarantine hotel, monthly allowance, dormitory, and roundtrip tickets, the foreign exchange student admitted having difficulty securing the funds for her papers for the 3-month-long program abroad.

"Naka support gd sa ako financially is akong parents sa mom and dad side [...] Naningkamot ko na mag ask kog financial support sa local government sa Gingoog og diri sa Butuan. Then, fortunately, nakahatag jud sila. [...] Visa processing, sa CSU gyud ko nangayo og support adto," she shared.

As the new semester comes to a very fulfilling end, Angel is back in the country to finish one more semester before graduating. What she brought back from the host country became an insurmountable amount of learning, not only about the new kind of independence she experienced but also about the beauty of the culture and traditions of Taiwan. "[I hope] for us to have an opportunity to receive students from NQU or Taiwan [so that] we can introduce to foreign students our culture, history, and language."

The end of the program is just the start. The aspiration to serve opened infinite possibilities for Angel—an infinite opportunity in an infinite space, and infinity in itself. In the end, she says, "CSU taught me how to serve [...] This opportunity is [the] first sa CEd and CSU, so edge jod ni siya para ma aspire ang CSUans to work harder, to be globally competitive, saligan ilang self to prove that they are qualified pud so dapat lang gyud ipursue."

Story by Maita Angelica S. Arenas