In the spirit of volunteerism

Glenvee Mae Raboy is a petite 11-year old grade six student of Guadalupe Elementary School in Carcar. She looks short and small for her age but she embodies so much promise in her academic pursuit. She speaks with persuasion, her English pronunciation is very satisfactory. Trained well, she could be an outstanding speaker when her time comes. She is the class Mass Media Officer. Confident and charming, Glenvee Mae dreams of becoming a lawyer someday, notwithstanding the fact that her father works as a company driver and her mother is a housewife to six children. She is vying for second honors come graduation in March next year, quickly explaining that she lost her chances of finishing as valedictorian because she was always absent from her classes to represent her school in various oratorical and quiz bees. But this is not what is bothering her, but the reality that her school lacks the needed equipment and tools to answer the students' thirst for knowledge. Yes, the teachers do their best to impart to the students everything they need to learn, but Glenvee Mae feels something is missing-the access to modern technology such as computers and updated books.

Thus, in the morning of September 23, Glenvee Mae was a picture of happiness and enthusiasm for that was the day that Globe Tulong Eskwela program was launched at their school for the benefit of students, particularly grades five and six. Her school and the neighboring Maximino Noel High School were chosen as the pilot centers for Globe's integrated corporate social responsibility program, Bridging Communities (Globe BridgeCom), the first of its kind in the Visayas after it was started in Manila in August last year. The project, in the words of Globe Public Relations Head Jones T. Campos, is the company's way of giving back to the community for its continued support all these years.

"We have made it possible for Globe employees to reach out and help transform the lives of less- fortunate students by sharing their time, energy, resources and talents. GT Eskwela was able to ignite involvement and commitment from Globe volunteers to help improve our public school system," Campos pointed out earlier. The spirit of volunteerism and kind-heartedness of Globe Cebu employees must have over spilled because they decided to adopt two schools right away and have so far gathered around 50 volunteers who have committed to do the project on long-term scale. Originally it is supposedly just one school for a start because it all depends on how much budget the group has, plus the subsidy from the company. There were actually 11 schools initially eyed as possible beneficiaries of the project, but after much scrutiny Guadalupe Elementary School which ranked number 576 out 1008 in the province in the Science and Math proficiency and Maximino High School which is in 135 out of 201, stood out to be the perfect venues of the company's community project.

A book package with 250 titles, a set of Elementary Educational TV (EdTV) and three computer sets went to Guadalupe while the volunteers refurbished a multi-purpose hall and turned it into a Learning Center. For Maximino, high school books, set of High School EdTV and three computer sets were turned over while its multi-purpose hall will also be refurbished.

But the challenge of the project did not end after handing over the donations because a greater test lies ahead and that is how volunteers will sustain the program. For that , the group would visit both schools once every three weeks to share their expertise in various subjects, particularly in English, Math, Science and computer operation while juniors and seniors will also be taught home skills so that even if they can't go on to college, they will still have a fallback. Parents will also get the chance to learn home management. For Glenvee Mae and her classmates, GT Eskwela is a dream come true for they would no longer be left out in their quest for wisdom and ideas, specifically from the Internet Superhighway and other modern teaching methods available. No wonder, she concluded her thank you speech by saying, " we will never forget you because you are a part of our success." It was a conclusion that was greeted with a roaring applause by classmates, friends, faculty members and local officials who are grateful of the GT Eskwela project.