Teffany R.

Ramirez (2014 41135)

2016
BS Business Economics
2 C (AIT)

July 15,
NSTP 1 &

Tentative Title
If there was one thing I did not like about my degree programs curriculum upon first
seeing it, it was the National Service Training Program (NSTP) course. Before I had the
opportunity to take NSTP during the midyear term of 2016, I was misguided on the workload
and the experiences offered by the course. As a freshman, I used to think NSTP was just a
choice between what I perceived was its two types: the Reserve Officers Training Corps
(ROTC) and the Civil Welfare Training Service (CWTS). I saw the ROTC side of the course as a
stricter, harsher version of high schools Citizenship Advancement Training (CAT). I had
heard various stories from people I knew: cadets being made to stand under the heat of the
sun all day long, strict and unquestioning discipline being a necessary requirement,
tolerating pain on the orders of ones platoon leader and commander, and many more.
These accounts, added to my issues with strict authority and my less-than-desirable CAT
experiences in high school, made me uneager to enroll under the ROTC program for my
NSTP requirement.
Because ROTC has been eliminated from my options, I had no choice but to take
CWTS. However, my misconceptions have also been extended to the other side of the
program. I used to think that CWTS only involved educating the poor communities children
and the youth on a variety of school subjects, and nothing else. While this was certainly a
better alternative over ROTCs activities, I was not so keen on the idea of teaching children,
perhaps because I feared I may not be good enough, or else the students would not want to
have an instructor like me. Besides, I have seen the way upperclassmen experienced such
an activity: that while teaching children and the youth was a fun and memorable experience,
the work that went into doing so was no laughing matter. I have seen upperclassmen
prepare lesson plans and instructional materials for their CWTS subjects, and while I did not
really have any qualms on doing the same thing, I was not eager to sacrifice much of my
time on preparing for something I was not really interested in. The lack of appeal of either
option offered by the NSTP course gave my freshman self quite a serious dilemma.
The first semester of my second year allowed me to learn more about NSTP from my
batch mates experiences. I eventually came to know that the programs CWTS aspect varies
from college to college, and that teaching a community constituent is only one of its many
possible activities. I had hoped to complete the six-unit requirement under the School of

Urban and Regional Plannings (SURP) wing due to the fact that rappelling and camping were
part of their NSTP-CWTS courses; the activities seemed particularly fun and interesting.
Rappelling and camping were things I hadnt experienced before, but which I have always
wanted to try. Unfortunately, due to some issues regarding these activities in previous years,
SURP was unable to offer NSTP classes for the academic year 2015 2016 and the midyear
term immediately after. Thus, I was forced to make do with the colleges which did offer NSTP
classes during the two months in between academic years: the College of Mass
Communication (CMC) and the Asian Institute of Tourism (AIT). Despite my misgivings about
the type of CWTS programs the two colleges offered, I eventually went on to choose AIT
during the enlistment process. I had heard accounts from my friends who took NSTP under
the same college during the previous term, and I decided that their CWTS program may be
easier, if not more interesting, than that of the CMCs offer, of which activities I knew
nothing about. I was lucky enough to be granted the class and the schedule I chose during
the first batch run, making it unnecessary for me to line up during the manual registration
period.
On the first day of class, I was quite surprised to learn during our orientation that
there were actually three sides to the NSTP course requirement; ROTC and CWTS were only
two of these aspects. The third side, Literacy Training Service (LTS), actually solely involved
teaching specific sectors of the society a variety of subjects. Usually offered by the College
of Education (Eduk), I was also surprised to learn that AIT also offers NSTP-LTS classes at
certain times, with students teaching in surprising and unusual venues such as the New
Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City. Aside from teaching the students about the origin and the
true characteristics of the National Service Training Program, the orientation also served to
emphasize to the class the purposes and the significance of such a requirement. The
information given, along with a description of the activities we will be undergoing throughout
the term, enlightened me about the NSTP course, making me excited to become a
community service volunteer for the very first time.
However, the first half of the course only involved a series of lectures on a variety of
topics, and thus I had to wait two weeks before I could undergo the much-anticipated
volunteer work. Nevertheless, the topics seemed interesting enough to make the wait seem
shorter than it really was. I was excited to learn new information outside of my usual
academic courses. I viewed the lectures as a kind of orientation on the real world itself, part
of the syllabus in a class that, if real, may be titled Life 101. As such, I expected the
seminars to provide practical information on a variety of important topics, teaching the
students the basics of specific areas of knowledge that will surely be needed in the future.

These expectations therefore became my bases for evaluating both the presentation given
and the speaker himself or herself. While some presentations certainly lived up to my
expectations, there were several lectures that came up short but were still quite helpful. A
few, however, were unable to make the cut, and thus received low scores on the evaluation
forms that were handed out to us during the end of each lecture. Despite the grades I have
given, however, I was nevertheless grateful to AIT for giving us the opportunity to interact
with such distinguished and accomplished speakers. I do hope for the improvement of the
way the lecturesare conducted for the benefit of future generations of students, thus helping
them cope with any problems they may encounter once they finally leave the university
grounds.
There were several notable presentations that have certainly left a mark on me
during the first half of the course, both in positive and in negative ways. One of these was
the lecture regarding first aid and basic life saving, which was given by a representative
from the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) itself. Discussed on the second day of the term, this
lecture was the best out of all the other presentations during the first two weeks, and was
one which I enjoyed immensely. The speaker, Sir Dino, provided the class with a lot of useful,
practical knowledge on first aid for a variety of injuries, which ranged from the simple
wounds to the more dangerous heart attacks. The accompanying pictures allowed us to see
the appearances and thus identify the types of a specific injury. Moreover, for those
incidents in which the injury itself cannot be seen, Sir Dino described to us their symptoms
in the simplest way possible, allowing us to easily recognize these warning signs should we
ever encounter them in the future. The various life support steps, however, were not only
described to the students; the more complicated ones were also performed by the speaker
for the whole class to see, such as the Heimlich Maneuver and the cardiopulmonary
resuscitation (CPR) procedure. As a whole, the lecture was very informative and full of
practical knowledge, which will truly help us students for the years to come. The
presentation can still be improved, however; it will be a lot more beneficial for the students
themselves to be given a chance to practice the more complicated life support procedures,
particularly the two mentioned previously, on a partner or on a doll, whichever is necessary.
Such an activity will not only add to the participative aspect of the lecture, but will also help
the students integrate and absorb the knowledge they have learned better due to having
done it themselves. Nevertheless, it was a wonderful seminar, the conduct of which I hope
AIT continues to maintain in the future.
Aside from making time to give a talk on basic life saving, volunteers from the
Philippine Red Cross also gave us a chance to help other people as early as the first week of

the midyear term through their organization of a blood drive in AIT. While the promise of as
many as 15 volunteer credit hours certainly helped in convincing students to participate, I
wanted to donate my blood during the event not only to be of service to countless other
people, but also to experience what such an act feels like. On the day of the blood drive, it
was certainly nerve-wracking to see the volunteers with their medical equipment and the
students with their pained expressions while needles were being inserted into their skin. I
almost wanted to give up on the idea; while I certainly was not afraid of needles and had
experienced having my blood drawn before, I definitely had not one full bag, roughly two
glasses, of the fluid taken from me in the past. In fact, only the promised credit hours were
what kept me from going home without giving blood on that day. Despite my fear, the
moment the needle was inserted into my skin actually hadnt brought me any significant
pain; I actually had to keep myself from laughing during the first few minutes of the
experience for reasons even I do not entirely understand. The feeling of having a needle
being stuck into ones skin for at least 10 minutes was the most unusual part of donating
blood; having the fluid flow out from my veins into the bag only left me feeling quite dizzy
and in need of sleep after the whole activity was over. Despite the fatigue that overtook me
once I had finished donating blood, I was actually happy to have gone through with it,
especially in the face of my initial fears. I do hope the Philippine Red Cross will actually be
able to use my blood to save other peoples lives; nevertheless, the blood drive awakened in
me the resolve to continue donating blood every at least three months, both for the service
the action does for myself and for others.
One other lecture which left a positive impression on me was that regarding
Philippine society and culture. While the topic itself did not hold much interest for me, it was
the designated speaker that made listening to the seminar worthwhile. In addition to his
impressive credentials, Dr. Nestor T. Castro spoke to the students in a way that made us
want to listen. His sense of humor, as well as his unexpected jokes on a variety of topics,
made the lecture on an otherwise mildly disinteresting topic fun. Thus, despite Philippine
society and culture being a theoretical field of knowledge, I gave high marks and positive
comments for the excellence displayed by Dr. Castro as a speaker. Indeed, I felt very
fortunate to have listened to such a distinguished anthropologist and excellent professor talk
to the class about the intricacies of Philippine society.
However, just as there were commendable presentations during the first half of the
course, so were there specific lectures which left negative impressions on the students in
those two weeks of the midyear term. One of those was the seminar regarding
environmental protection and management. I was sorely disappointed by how the session

turned out, especially since I looked forward to the discussion of the topic. The speaker,
while certainly a distinguished individual in her field, was not good at giving talks and
lecturing students. Most of the class time was spent listening to various detailed statistics
which she believed painted a clear picture of the dire situation the planet is in. Moreover, the
speaker kept repeating a single motherhood statement on how to protect the environment,
Consume less. She failed to provide specifics on her lesson; not a single tip on how we, as
students, can help in environmental protection and management was mentioned during the
lecture. Another disappointing point during the lecture was when she showed the class a list
of organizations and groups whose main objective was to help conserve and protect the
environment. However, instead of narrating to the students what each organization does to
accomplish their goals, she chose to tell stories of her volunteer experiences. She failed to
encourage, much less convince, the class to volunteer our time and effort for the mentioned
groups during her talk. Perhaps it was the speakers first time to present in an audience as
young as ours, but nevertheless, her failure to project the students interests and act on
these accordingly resulted in quite a boring lecture. The AITs NSTP handlers and staff should
do their best to provide speakers that are not only accomplished individuals in a specific
field but are also good presenters; in this way, the students are given the increased capacity
to learn more and fully receive the benefits provided by the NSTP common module.
The lecture on community service was another experience I hope future AIT-NSTP
students do not have to undergo. The session was certainly informative; I learned a lot about
how community service should be done properly. The general steps to organizing such an
effort were taught to the class, as well as the values volunteers must possess in order to
successfully carry out their work. The speaker, however, despite her impressive credentials,
ended up discriminating against people with certain personalities during her talk. She
emphasized the need for good leadership and interpersonal skills which every volunteer
must possess. While this was definitely true, she failed to consider people who prefer to
remain followers, or those individuals who have trouble communicating with others due to
specific medical conditions such as social anxiety and depression. What, then, should these
people do when they wish to be volunteers? Do such opportunities not exist for them? While
the discrimination may be wholly unintentional, the fact remains that the speaker sent out a
clear message to the class that day: Not everyone can be volunteers. Her emphasis on the
propriety of community service during the entirety of her lecture actually perpetuated the
misconception that such an activity often only involves relief operations for families who
have undergone severe calamities. Without explicitly saying it, she sent across such an
image to every student in the room during the lecture. Her words, therefore, became less
effective due to this implication, which undermines community service itself.