Perhaps you have heard that students here in STI College Muñoz-EDSA are given the privilege to sharpen their minds and tongues in the area of communicating in English. If not, then let this article tell you. Here, we offer membership to Mystique Coolture Gavel Club to our students and teenagers from nearby barangays for free. It is an international club aimed at enhancing the members’ communication, leadership, and social skills. Students are also encouraged to communicate in English in order to practice using the language widely used in the corporate world.

How then, will STI be able to embody the English communication spirit if the academic and non-academic personnel don’t do the same? Well, we have thought of that even before it came to your mind. We also empower our employees with the English Special Tasks coaches and staff attend to every week. It is a weekly one and a half hour of session filled with activities that allow the employees to express their thoughts in English.

English Special Task (EST) started in 2013 as part of the faculty loading. Initially, faculty and staff were separated until we decided to also use these sessions for empowerment and employee bonding. The teaching and non-teaching employees, including the maintenance staff gather every week per team to learn and have fun.

Every end of the semester, a culminating activity is held to see how much a group or an individual has improved in terms of his/her thinking and English language skills. This year, “The Battles 2015” as we coined it, was held on March 20, 5:00-9:00 p.m. The teams delivered their Readers’ Theater presentations with the Filipino-authored play entitled “New Yorker In Tondo” adapted and modified by the EST Facilitator, Erika M. Ilagan. An Impromptu Speech Contest was also held which allowed the contestants to speak for one to two minutes about a topic presented to them impromptu.

Here are the winners of the Readers’ Theater:

• Funtastic Friday
• Laurence Magdalaga
• Joseph Fabian
• Jason Austria
• John Emmanuel Cruz
• Daneul Gonzales
• Federico Ramos Jr.
• Crizelle Lou Cruz
• Erika Malang

They used their vocal variety and creativity in their presentation. This caught the judges’ interest, therefore declaring them as winners. Congratulations, Funtastic Friday!

Furthermore, here are the contestants for the Impromptu Speech Contest:

Academic Unit

• Arvie Sebarillo
• Jobelle Tapia
• Khristina Cassandra Baquiran
• Al Chyrill Cabrera
• Ronnalie Ann Barrientos

Staff

• Alvin Alcesto
• Mhelington Ocular
• Ryan Volante
• May Anne Ramos
• Lyzane Acal

The winners in the Impromptu Speech Contest are Arvie Sebarillo from the Academic Unit and Ryan Volante from the Staff Department. They were given a certificate and a medal to recognize their preparation efforts and improvement in the field of English public speaking. Congratulations to the both of you!

The Battles served not just an avenue for friendly competitiveness, but also as a motivator for the employees to continue to strive for knowledge through these empowerment activities offered to them by the school. Let’s stand-by for another battle on October before the 1st semester ends, and let’s see who will stand out!