Feeling of Accomplishment

While Facebook has allowed me to reconnect with relatives, former classmates and childhood friends, it has also functioned as a means for me to see where my former students have gone after graduation. I am quite happy with what I've seen so far with most of them. This is because I see from their status that most of them have good jobs. They are usually employed in the private sector and I would like to think that most of them were able to get posts where the work is according to their chosen field, Civil Engineering, and perhaps even the sub-field that they preferred during the time they were seniors in UP. I would also like to think that they're jobs pay well considering most of them are with well-known companies.

Many of my former students are now employed abroad. A good number of them I know are in Singapore though I haven't had the opportunity to meet up with some of them. So far, I haven't had the luck of bumping into any of them although I see that they also go to places where I and the Clairvoyant frequent for eating out or shopping (usually the window kind). There are also many who are now based in the Middle East with quite a few in Dubai. Then there are those who are in the US, Australia and Japan. Again, based on their status I was able to learn that many in the latter countries are studying there. In fact, we have many graduates who are now taking graduate studies at the University of Tokyo and Tokyo Institute of Technology, two of the leading institutions in Japan.

One former student whom I am quite proud of as he was perhaps among the most successful of my advisees is now studying in France. He was or is still is a manager for a multinational company (i.e., probably on study leave). I still remember him presenting one of our papers at an international conference held at UC Berkeley in 2007 and our group going around the Bay Area afterwards to enjoy the sights and experiences there. I also remember him asking for advise one weekday evening regarding taking graduate studies.

Two of my more recent advisees have chosen careers with the academe. One, my first Ph.D. student, is now Dean of Civil Engineering at a very reputable technical institution in Manila. The other will be joining our Center soon as part of our technical staff. I am sure they will contribute so much to improving transportation and traffic in the Philippines.

I do believe, if only for the evidence I've related in the preceding paragraphs, that being a teacher is a very satisfying job. It is, of course, a difficult and very challenging job to try to impart knowledge and experience to our students. I wouldn't even want to take credit for our students' accomplishments considering that what they are now are the outcomes of their own initiatives, of hard work that they put in. They are the products of many elements and influences, mainly due to their own families, friends and special someones. Yet, I am very happy and very satisfied knowing that perhaps I could have had influenced them in some positive way so that they could be successful with their lives. That is enough for me and gives me a feeling of accomplishment that is perhaps very much like the feeling related to me by my own parents, and my cousins and aunts who were also teachers.