12 Filipino Canadian Students Vie for Filipino Centre Toronto's Top Graduate Awards
Toronto-Canada
September 21, 2018
As a Canadian educator and philosopher, Harold Taylor once wrote : "The roots of true achievement lie in the will to become the best that you can become". This means that one's will and becoming the best are the true roots of achieving success.
Yes….. After years of great determination and exemplary hard work engaging in all facets of school work such as studying, reading, writing, analyzing, experimenting, demonstrating, reviewing, and writing essays, tests and examinations, 12 student- graduates from publicly- supported educational institutions, Catholic and public schools in the Greater Toronto Area have applied to the annual competition to receive deserving recognition and accolades .
The public competition and search, announced by FilCan newspapers in April, May and June, 2018, is being undertaken by the Filipino Centre Toronto - FCT through its established "Outstanding Students Awards" program. Started in 2005, the yearly initiative is conducted as a collective process of identifying, nominating and selecting outstanding and top- performing students in order to honour them . The program is also a means to provide incentives by encouraging and challenging students in the elementary, high school and post-secondary levels to perform productively and to achieve academic & school success.
This year, 12 graduates will go through a selection process to be conducted by the FCT Outstanding Students Awards committee. The outstanding honourees are to be determined by applying the evaluative criteria of: academic average ( 50%), co-curricular & extra- curricular activities( 15%), community - related projects & engagements (15%) and interview performance (20%). The Awards Committee will determine 3 Outstanding Graduates in the three categories and the other candidates will be accorded with special honours too . On one hand, Post-secondary graduates are recognized also when completing a degree or diploma program and having received aptly a "Distinction or Academic Honours" citations in their respective disciplines.
Currently, the OSA Committee is composed of : Fermer Santos, Vice Principal of Malvern Collegiate Institute ; John Pasia, Principal of St. Columba Catholic School; Karlo Cabrera, Principal of HA. Halbert Public School; Jodelyn Huang, Community Relations Officer of TCDSB; Mary Ann Salcedo- San Juan, President & CEO of Filipino Centre Toronto; Marisa Roque, journalist - reporter of Inquirer.net; Rose Tijam, President of Philippine Press Club of Ontario; Edmundo Birondo, former member of the FCT Board of Directors; and Tony A. San Juan, a retired Toronto educator and ex- President of Philippine Teachers Association of Canada, as Committee Chairman.
All the FCT awardees and other honourees will receive cash prizes, plaques & certificates donated by the Filipino Centre Toronto and other generous benefactors during the "Awarding Day" Program on October 28, 2018 , Sunday, 2:00 pm. at the new offices of the FCT- Filipino Centre Toronto, 4395 Sheppard Avenue East, Scarborough, Toronto, Ontario .( Tony A. San Juan)