Students gave back to their professors in this year’s Teacher’s Appreciation Week (TAW), a week-long event at the Kostka Extension and in the Gonzaga cafeteria. It occurred from September 28 – October 1, 2015. The superhero-themed week had students nominate and vote for their professors in one of the fourteen awards ranging from being the best in each school to being the most fashionable.
The following professors won:
- Most Legendary Professor Award: Aristotle Atienza (Male) and Queena Lee-Chua (Female)
- Best SOM Professor Award: Sean Uy
- Best SOSE Professor Award: Jesus Lemuel Martin, Jr.
- Best SOSS Professor Award: Ambeth Ocampo
- Best SOH Professor Award: Miguel Lizada
- Most Wanted Professor Award: Miguel Lizada
- Best PE Professor Award: Richardson Gialogo
- Best InTACT Professor Award: Stephanie Puen
- Funniest Professor Award: Christopher Peabody
- Friendliest Professor Award: Christopher Peabody
- Most Fashionable Professor Award: Javier Gomez
- Most Underrated Professor Award: Daisy See
- Most Outstanding Department Secretary: Cristy Esteban
The nomination of the professors occurred during the first two days of the event, while the remaining days were allotted for the students to vote. Almost 4,700 votes were gathered across the available categories. They could also write notes to their professors expressing their admiration and gratitude for their hard work in the profession. Each professor also received a small zipper bag with custom decals and a note inside.
Project heads Darren Chua and Sonson Ledesma were pleased with how the whole event played out.
“It was nice to see how TAW was able to unite the Ateneo community in giving back to the teachers. Seeing our professors smile made all our hard work worth it,” Darren said.
Associate Vice-President for Cultural Affairs Eugene Andojoyan quoted: “The TAW team did its best sharing the Confucian culture of showing appreciation to ones teachers. I’m pleased to see that the LS community was able to participate in the event and give back to their teachers.”
“I’m glad that the LS community joined us in participating in the Chinoy culture of appreciating teachers. Because of the contribution Confucius has given to the community, we want to acknowledge the sacrifices and dedication our professors put into forming their students. We did it all for them. Our goal was to make our beloved teachers happy, and I hope that we’ve done that,” said Jannina Ong, Vice-President for Cultural Affairs.
“I am happy with the Friendliest [Professor award], but I like the [Funniest Professor award] too. I do teach with a lot of humor, and I’ve had students coming back and telling me they remembered something because it was funny. That’s good,” Christopher Peabody remarked after receiving his two awards.
Dr. Queena Lee-Chua, in her interview for the Most Legendary Professor award said: “Thank you for the honor, but [I] know that to whom much is given much is expected. The reason why we teachers continue to do what we do is the fact that this country needs people who are good and who love the country—[and] not just love: Loving is not enough. You have to do your best. Doing best means doing well in school; there is no other way out, so if you do your best in school, bluntly, that is the best gift [for the teachers].”
Written by Dann Dy
Photo by Quimbe Dy
