The summer before Jhun Mar started college, he almost abandoned his plan to attend. Times were hard, the university was far away, and money was scarce. But his faith in God and the support of his family helped him follow his dream. Now, he’s not only president of his class, but also vice president of one of his college’s organizations, the Future Elementary Educators League.
“Where I live, there are no colleges or universities. The nearest one is six barangays (towns) away,” Jhun Mar said. He is currently studying Elementary Education at the Eastern Visayas State University Burauen Campus in the Philippines. He was surprised that fellow students nominated him for president, even though he was a newcomer.
“I asked them, ‘Why me?’ The role included many responsibilities that I didn’t think I could live up to as a freshman,” he explained. “But when my classmates told me they believed in me, that gave me confidence.”
His goal now is to encourage other youth to pursue their dream careers, as he has. This conviction was strengthened, he said, through Food for the Hungry (FH) Career Guidance workshops for junior and senior high students.
While he acknowledges that he partially chose Education as a career track because it is among the most affordable in his country, he also believes that his people-oriented personality will be a strong asset to a teacher.
“When I took the RIASEC personality test during FH’s workshop, it reinforced my desire to be a teacher because the results matched my interests,” he said. The test measures interests as they relate to vocational choices. RIASEC stands for the six personality types: Realistic (R), Investigative (I), Artistic (A), Social (S), Enterprising (E) and Conventional (C).
Jhun Mar says he also learned practical tips from FH’s Career Guidance workshop. Those helped him ace one of his final exams related to Work Immersion.
“One of the questions asked, ‘How do you cope with hectic schedules? I answered that I have a daily plan so I know what to prioritize,” Jhun Mar explained. He added that learning to trust himself was important. “Even if you don’t have prior work experience, you can answer job interviews by relating how you would approach challenges in everyday life,” he said.
The road to teacherhood is just beginning for Jhun Mar, but he knows that he wants to teach Personal Development when he graduates. He says that is because he was bullied in third grade. Jhun Mar hopes he can help the next generation of students cope with their changing environment.
“My father raised us on his own since I was 8 years old. I study hard because he works many part-time farming jobs to pay for my college studies.”
Jhun Mar misses his family while he is away at school. He says he prays that one day, they will all be together and that his current efforts will create a better future for all of them.
