THE OFFICE of Social Concern and Involvement (OSCI) is collaborating with the Ateneo Innovation Center (AIC) for the formation of the School of Science and Engineering (SOSE) students this coming academic school year.
The AIC is an in-house research organization that initiates technological developments in various fields through research, innovations, and inventions.
OSCI Director Leland Dela Cruz, PhD said that the integration is part of a Loyola Schools (LS) strategic plan that mandates OSCI to increase the number of discipline-related social formation programs.
“We see this as an opportunity for students and departments to make the social formation programs more relevant to their disciplinal training,” he said.
SOSE Sanggunian Chairperson Luigi Del Rosario said that the partnership was necessary because many courses do not have Integrated Ateneo Formation (InAF) Programs that are coherent with their field of study.
“I think they’re still having a problem na ‘yung [National Service Training Program] nila [and other InAF programs], brainstorming is [not] related with their course,” Del Rosario added.
InAF is a formation process wherein LS students undergo different programs every year to strengthen their character and responsibilities as professionals for-and-with others.
The four InAF programs include the Introduction to Ateneo Culture and Tradition (InTACT), the National Service Training Program and Preparatory Leadership Undertaking for Sophomores (NSTP-PLUS), the Junior Engagement Program (JEEP), and the Senior Integration Program (SIP).
The InTACT is the program designed for freshmen in order for them to adjust to university life, as well as to develop awareness of their relationship with themselves and their surrounding persons and environment.
NSTP PLUS enables sophomores to interact with communities through activities that are related to their course and academic disciplines.
Deepening the juniors’ understanding of the world outside them, JEEP provides opportunities for them to engage with those who are in the peripheries.
Rounding up the formation is SIP, which involves immersions with marginalized communities and participation in Ignatian discernment talks when students reach their senior year.
Inception
According to AIC Director Carlos Oppus, it all started when OSCI’s Maria Flor Soriano, a student affairs professional, saw AIC Head of Operations Paul Cabacungan’s post on the online media platform Facebook about AIC’s collaboration with Ospital ng Makati.
The said collaboration involved an invention by the AIC that utilizes phototherapy light to treat patients with jaundice.
“Floy [Soriano] asked if AIC can propose service-learning projects for SOSE NSTP students,” Oppus said.
AIC has designed simple projects, dubbed “low-lying fruits” by Oppus, which have the potential of being developed in remote areas.
Some of these include a digital stethoscope, an off-grid nebulizer, an infant blanket incubator, and a cellphone microscope.
Initial plans bared
A meeting among AIC, OSCI, and student representatives was held at the Faber Hall on May 20 to make the initial plans for the integration.
One of the outputs of the brainstorming was the assignment of certain tasks to key persons.
According to Dela Cruz, Soriano will coordinate with the AIC, which will be responsible for creating the design of the activities under the leadership of Cabacungan.
Oppus also said, “AIC and OSCI agreed that AIC will get 10 to 20 NSTP students for the AIC ‘7 Lakes Project.’”
The said project is a university research endeavor that aims to protect and preserve the Sampaloc, Palacpaquen, Mohicap, Calibato, Bunot, Pandin, and Yambo lakes in San Pablo, Laguna.
Oppus hopes to assemble a multi-disciplinary team composed of students from the following courses: Electronics, Computer, and Communications Engineering, Environmental Science, Fine Arts, Management, Economics, and Social Science.
He said that they will be trained to “[design] simple procedures [and] systems, [assemble] gadgets for deployment, [train] local people in the community, [and assist] lead scientist[s and] professors in data gathering,” among others.
Dela Cruz said that OSCI will provide transportation and training tools and materials.
He added that the participants have a total of 80 hours of area work, including travel time, spread out over several Saturdays in the school year.
“The students will help create and deploy various AIC prototype innovations in the area,” Dela Cruz said.
A more practical InAF
Del Rosario expects two things from the integration: For the students to see what they do in their course, and for the InAF program to assert its impact on their fields.
“For example, if a student aids in the creation of a makeshift nebulizer, makikita nila na may batang gumagaling dahil sa ginawa nila. Gusto kong ma-experience rin ng students iyon (For example, if a student aids in the creation of a makeshift nebulizer, they would see that another child may feel better because of what they made. I want them to experience such impact),” he said.
Del Rosario also hopes that there will be a decrease in the number of students who complain about their lack of drive when engaging in InAF activities.
“I expect on their end din, na makita nila na ‘Okay, we’re now catering to the students’ interests, fields, or needs’ (I expect that on their end too, they would see that we are able to cater to the students’ interests, fields, or needs),” he added.
