Mapúa president and chief executive officer Dr. Reynaldo B. Vea leads a toast to the students and faculty members being honored at the 2nd The Cardinal Excellence Awards.
In hopes of inspiring the entire school community to further aim for excellence, Mapúa Institute of Technology honored close to 100 faculty members and students at its second semi-annual The Cardinal Excellence Awards (TCEA) on April 27 at the Institute’s campus in Makati City.
TCEA recognizes those who brought honor and pride to the Institute through their achievements. The President’s and Dean’s listers, students and advisers who participated in different local and international competitions, and faculty members who recently earned their Ph.D. degrees and those with outstanding research works in the past six months or so made up the roster of this year’s TCEA awardees.
This year, the Institute also recognized the third and fourth year electronics engineering (ECE) students who made it to the top 10 of the April 2012 Electronics Technical Licensure Examination.
“We aim to show the people that here at Mapúa we encourage and support the continuous striving for excellence,” said Mapúa president and chief executive officer Dr. Reynaldo B. Vea.
The 87-year-old Institute is espousing excellence as one of its core values, which also include discipline, commitment, integrity and relevance.
TCEA recognizes those who brought honor and pride to the Institute through their achievements.
Dr. Vea explained that excellence in terms of academics in Mapúa “would mean the full attainment of desired student outcomes in the area of instructions.”
Student outcomes refer to the knowledge and skills that students must have at the time of graduation. Mapúa’s desired student outcomes are based on international standards.
In terms of individuals, Dr. Vea said: “Excellence would mean rising to the level of one’s potentials while meeting, if not indeed exceeding, the school’s academic standards. It means personifying the attainment of student outcomes, which are the bases of grading and evaluation of students.”
“For our researchers, it means knowing something that nobody else in the world knows at the moment. In the area of creative work, it means making something that blows the competition away and that could be mind-blowing even to ourselves,” he added.
Dr. Bonifacio T. Doma Jr., the executive vice president for Academic Affairs, lauded the awardees for their stellar performance in academics and research.
“It is only fitting that we acknowledge their accomplishments and achievements,” Dr. Doma said. “Congratulations to all awardees and achievers. May you continuously bring honors to our beloved institution, Mapúa Institute of Technology.”
For the three TCEA recipients, the recognition has inspired them to continuously strive harder in order to live up to the school’s core values.
Fourth year civil engineering (CE) student Harf J. Miranda was “flattered” to be part of the roster of TCEA awardees, saying that all his efforts and sacrifices had paid off.
“I felt honored to be one of the awardees, and this has inspired me to do the best that I could in order to achieve more than what I have [accomplished] so far,” Miranda said.
Miranda was a recipient of two awards. He was honored after placing ninth on the President’s List Q1 2011-2012. He was also part of the group that was named 1st runner-up in the Philippine Institute of Civil Engineers (PICE) - Junior Philippine Institute of Civil Engineers (JPICE) Lungsod Ng Maynila Quiz Show.
His groupmates were Lamberto B. Marcial Jr. and Santos Anthony I. Ortego. They were coached by Engr. Edgardo S. Cruz and Engr. Ivan DL. Marquez.
Miranda is also part of Mapúa’s Center for Student Advising to help and inspire his co-Mapúans. The center helps the students resolve their academic, personal, and career concerns so that they could develop a clearer focus to achieve personal as well as academic success.
Like Miranda, industrial design student Maria Cielo M. Rogero was happy to be recognized, saying that attending the awarding ceremony “was a great experience for me.”
“It is only fitting that we acknowledge their accomplishments and achievements,” Dr. Doma said. “Congratulations to all awardees and achievers. May you continuously bring honors to our beloved institution, Mapúa Institute of Technology.”
“I am very proud that we were able to represent Mapúa in a national competition. And of course, I’m happy to be one of the awardees, to receive such recognition means a lot to me and I want to share it with our professors, who took the effort to teach us,” she said.
Rogero, along with Norriele Ace Serrano, came up with a design for a three-wheeled, seven-seater electric tricycle (e-trike). Rogero and Serrano’s design placed third in the nationwide search for the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Best E-Trike Design contest.
“I will strive more. I want others to be inspired and to believe in themselves; that we can do what is unexpected through hard work and if we put our faith in God and follow His wisdom,” Rogero said.
Dr. Lawrence Madriaga, meanwhile, was thankful to the faculty and administration of Mapúa for the honor. Dr. Madriaga went on a study leave for four years to earn his Ph.D in Materials Science and Engineering at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City.
Dr. Madriaga, a professor from the School of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry, said he got his Ph.D. through the support of the Institute.
“I was allowed to go on study leave for four years and that’s one big reason why I got my Ph.D. Not all schools do that to their professors. With this, I will continue to do my best to inspire Mapúans to never stop learning. Education does not end when one graduates. That’s what I want my students to always keep in mind,” he said.
All awardees were given certificates of recognition. After the awarding ceremonies, a celebration followed wherein the TCEA recipients, their parents and relatives, faculty, and administration officials were treated to music and sumptuous meal.
For the complete list of TCEA awardees, click here.
Mapúa president and chief executive officer Dr. Reynaldo B. Vea and Dr. Bonifacio T. Doma Jr., the executive vice president for Academic Affairs, pose for photo along with the recipients of the 2nd The Cardinal Excellence Awards.