Loyola Schools’ off-campus activities in the new normal

The Loyola Schools has finally transitioned back to holding off-campus activities after a 2-year hiatus as a result of the pandemic. 

Under the NSTP12-Bigkis program, juniors were able to participate in the off-campus engagements in Marikina City. The initial run was limited to students from the School of Science and Engineering (BS Health Sciences, BS Biology, and BS Life Sciences) as well as the John Gokongwei School of Management (BS Restaurant Entrepreneurship). 

The BS HSc, BS Bio, and BS LfSc were given the opportunity to work in various offices of the Marikina LGU, such as the Mega Vaccination Facilities, City Environment Management Office, and the Gender and Development Office. On the other hand, the BS REnt students were assigned to the Marikina Public Market.

The BS HSc, BS Bio, and BS LfSc participants accounted for 10.5% of these courses’ total student population. On the other hand, the BS REnt students had a significantly higher participation rate at 37%. 

As for NSTP 11 Punla, 16 sophomores participated in the first off-campus engagement at the Marikina LGU’s Health Department. Finally, for the Binhi program, 11 freshmen students joined the first off-campus engagement. For both the first- and second-year programs, the engagements were offered to students of various majors.

The government, specifically CHED and DOH, began allowing off-campus activities with the issuance of Joint Memorandum Circular 4 Series of 2021 on 15 December 2021. The Loyola Schools, however, decided to prioritize on-campus pilot classes in the second semester of School Year 2021-2022. On 28 March 2022, the Quezon City government issued a certification allowing the Loyola Schools to hold off-campus co-curricular and extra-curricular activities. However, the school was still in the middle of its pilot run of onsite classes. Off-campus activities were only set into motion by 2 September 2022, when the Vice-President for the Loyola Schools issued a memo outlining the guidelines for these activities. The memo stated that these must be voluntary and require parent’s consent. Those who opt out of the activity are given an equivalent alternative.

While this is still the case in the second semester, the Office for Social Concern and Involvement (OSCI) aims to hold more onsite engagements and provide students more opportunities to engage and work face-to-face with members of their various communities and institutions. OSCI envisions that through these programs, hope will manifest in students’ individual experiences, raising awareness of their capacity to create and cultivate change in society.

Photos courtesy of OSCI