ASHS Formators Embark on Life-Giving TD Tutoring and Exposure Trips

More than 120 Ateneo de Manila Senior High School faculty, staff, and professionals dedicated an afternoon to service-learning, taking part in the ASHS Formators’ Tulong-Dunong (TD) Tutoring and Christian Service Involvement Program (CSIP) Exposure Trips on September 19, 2025.

The initiative sent formators to Barangka Elementary School in Marikina City for tutoring and to various partner communities in Quezon City—including Batasan, Gawad Kalinga PWD, UP Bliss, Xavierville, San Vicente, and Krus na Ligas—for direct immersion. These are some of the communities also visited by ASHS students in their weekly TD trips and CSIP immersion weekends. 

The objective was clear: to deepen the formators’ awareness, compassion, and engagement with the communities they are called to serve. Through direct interaction and immersion, classroom lessons were given a human face and real-world context, allowing the formators to truly embody the Ateneo mission of becoming persons for and with others.

By engaging in both the TD Tutoring and CSIP Exposure Trips, formators gained valuable insights into how their respective disciplines intersect with the lived conditions of society. Academic learning thus became more purposeful—not merely a pursuit of personal excellence, but a platform for offering solutions, sparking inspiration, and taking concrete action for the greater good.

The experience was deeply personal for many formators. ASHS Principal Mrs. Sansan Borja shared her reflections on the tutoring trip: “It was a super hectic week, but this was easily one of its most life-giving highlights. It was the teachers’ turn to tutor the TD kids in Barangka Elementary School. Also a good way to commemorate TD’s 50th anniversary! Nothing makes us empathize more with what our students go through than actually going through it ourselves. When you have four impressionable young minds just hanging on to everything you say as if it were the most important thing, you have no choice but to give it your best. Salute to the public school teachers who do a good job of it every day! God’s love in TD!”

ASHS faculty member Pino Panotes highlighted the spirit of solidarity and shared mission he experienced in his group’s exposure trip to Brgy San Vicente: “Kung ang mga mag-aaral ay nag-iimmersion, ang mga guro, office staff, at professionals ng ASHS ay kaisa rin sa community engagement. Kasama sa pagpapatatag sa bayan ay ang pagpapalalim sa ugnayan at ang patuloy na pakikiisa sa kapwa Pilipino.”

Ultimately, the Formators’ TD Tutoring and Exposure Trips were more than simple visits—they were shared journeys. Educators, staff, and professionals came together to grow in compassion and strengthen their commitment to serving others—a true expression of magis, the desire to give more through excellence, empathy, and faith.