How Reymark Isar found a community - and a home - in Ateneo

Starting graduate studies in the middle of the pandemic-induced lockdowns did not prevent Reymark Isar (M Educational Administration ‘24) from developing strong bonds with members of the Ateneo community.

In fact, Reymark, who is deaf in one ear, will graduate as the outgoing chairperson (SY 2023-2024) of the Committee for Graduate Students Concerns (CGSC), which acts as the student representative for the graduate student population of the five Loyola Heights campus schools.

As CGSC chairperson, he has taken part in various activities and committees that concern graduate students studying in five higher education schools (Education and Learning Design, Humanities, Management, Science and Engineering, and Social Sciences).

But what feels natural now to Reymark – that sense of belonging and community in Ateneo – did not come easily. In fact, he first felt like an outsider entering Ateneo in 2021 – mainly because he did not take up his undergraduate studies in Ateneo. 

"But after I interacted with a lot more people, I didn't feel like [an outsider]. No matter who is inside that room, I will be welcomed," he says.

Sense of community

The sense of community, Reymark said, extended beyond the gates of the campus. "After I finished [my academic requirements], I kept on meeting people in person," he says. "Last month I attended a conference. I saw my classmate for the first time ever after two years," he recounts. "Then I saw another classmate in 2021 who was actually working for Xavier Nuvali."

"It's really nice that even though we met online, they are still very much the same people that I was able to connect with."

Reymark says he has forged bonds with many fellow Ateneans that will last a lifetime. "It just feels like there's confidence that this person will not let you down. I was able to make a lot of connections in Ateneo, and that's one of the things that I'm going to be carrying with me beyond [graduation]."

He also says the physical campus has become a safe space for him, a home away from home. "Everywhere I go [on campus] I will just sit and reflect and start doing my papers and I would just feel OK," he says. "Every time that I would go to campus, I felt safe."

Teaching and leading

Reymark has been working as a faculty member of Xavier School San Juan for the past two years. Prior to that, he worked as a teacher back in his home province, Aklan. He followed both his mother and sister in the teaching profession, but he wants to take it one step further and be in leadership roles in a school.

This desire to lead took him to choosing Educational Administration as his program, where he wrote a paper on inclusive education and systems thinking. "I was trying to tap into how the Philippine context can have an inclusive education model that taps into the current curriculum that we have already established in the country," he explains. "The long term vision is for inclusivity, the well-being of all learners," he adds.

He was even able to virtually present his paper in an international conference in the United Kingdom, sharing his ideas with peers from different countries.

Now, in Xavier School, his current professional home, Reymark says he found a place where what he is studying is being put into action. "It’s just wonderful that what you've been able to study is actually happening in reality," he says.

A risk worth taking

Looking back, Reymark says that he is glad he chose to take up graduate studies in Ateneo -- despite not knowing what was in store for him.

To start with, he applied not knowing how he would be able to pay for his education. He was banking on an external scholarship to fund his studies, but he wasn't able to get a decision on it by the deadline to confirm his enrollment for his master's.

"I only knew that I got my scholarship a week after I committed to Ateneo, and so it was a risk and the risk is really worth everything right now," he recounts.

He credits Clarissa Mijares, faculty member of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology and currently Programme Coordinator for the ASEAN University Network-Disability and Public Policy (AUN-DPPnet), for encouraging him to take the plunge. Reymark says he first connected with Clarissa, who then encouraged him to enter Ateneo under the AUN-DPPnet program. The program supports differently-abled postgraduate students across ASEAN, so that they can become advocates for disability policies in their home countries.

Reymark also points out that he is most likely the first ever from his hometown of Malinao, Aklan, who will get an Ateneo degree. To be clear, he says, his townmate John Paul Blando entered Ateneo in the same year as a college freshman, but he will be the first one to graduate since his masters took a shorter time.

After June 22, Reymark says he plans to take a short break from graduate studies, but he is already looking at potentially taking up a doctoral degree abroad. "[My mentors] want me to spread my wings and go beyond what is expected of me," he says.

More than getting a master's degree, Reymark says the most valuable lesson he will take away from his Ateneo journey is being brave enough to take risks.

"If you take risks, who knows? You might end up in a really good place. You might end up taking another risk that will lead you to spaces that will allow you to thrive," he says. "It was taking that risk of being bold, trying new concepts I've never encountered before, that allowed me to grow."