Mr. Allan Ko

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Why EI Chose Mr. Allan Ko

He may be known by his students as the professor who gives out-of-the-box requirements (such as the recent “Call Me Maybe” videos), which need to be accomplished in a certain amount of time. His students would agree when told how his classes could be so different, so unconventional, so demanding. But by the end of the semester only one thing would be heard from them, that is, all of them really learned a lot.

Everyday Idealists Macky, Dominic and Apple were all privileged to have taken a semester under Mr. Allan Ko. His resourcefulness and creativity in coming up with non-traditional teaching methods continues to inspire all his students that education is really not just about reading and memorizing—that there is a lot to discover in learning and growing through experience.

How He Entered Teaching

Sir Allan Ko is one of the instructors at the John Gokongwei School of Management under the Leadership and Strategy Department and the Department of Quantitative Methods and Information Technology. He teaches two subjects, one is Operations Management (under QMIT) and the other is Organization Behavior (under L&S).  

Initially, he is a corporate professional, who has worked in multinational firms such as Procter and Gamble and IBM, and also an entrepreneur, through his brainchild restaurant Cusina Royale. His path to teaching in the Ateneo, however, was paved by the referral of two of his good friends, who happen to be teaching in the JGSOM as well—Mr. Wilson Gan and Ms. Bing Paraguas. And through the semesters, he has been known to be one of the well-loved professors of JGSOM students because of his expertise in teaching and his ability to foster a good learning environment and friendship amongst everyone.


Just Do It.

When asked about his greatest conviction, Sir Allan explains how he believes that experience is the best way to learn. True to these words, his teaching style is usually in the form of unconventional tasks and creative groupwork. (e.g. Viral video production for his LS classes, and photography homework for OpMan). Of course, he insists that it’s still very much important not to do away with textbook concepts, but at the end of the day, you have to couple it with real-life cases for it to be fully appreciated and understood.

“Experience is the best teacher so what I try to do when I teach, is encapsulate experiences I’ve had in my career or my business endeavors into what I impart with my students.” Sir Allan explains. The highlight of his LS class is the famous “grilling session” which aims to give an evaluation and critique of the events and outcomes of the week’s task. True enough, this openness to learning with each other and sharing it with everyone really is one of the secrets why even after (and even during the semester), Sir Allan is able to foster good relationships with his students in and out of class.

What Keeps Him Going

When asked what keeps him going, Sir Allan clearly said that it’s really his students that allow him to be inspired as a teacher everyday. While the tasks and requirements he has assigned might have made his students experience a roller coaster semester, it’s really in seeing how they learned and changed, not just in terms of amount of knowledge obtained, but also in the work discpline honed.

“It’s definitely seeing young students thrive, learn and flourish, especially after the sem when we’ve become informal friends and I see them taking on their careers, taking on leadership positions or just being themselves and learning more what they like and what they don’t like to do, and thanking me and thanking their experience in class. That keeps me going, that definitely is something I think money can not buy.” –Sir Allan Ko

If you’re a SOM student who’s about to take LS100 or POM102 in the coming semesters, we suggest that you try to give it a shot with Sir Allan Ko. You definitely won’t regret it. J

Mr. Andrew Ty

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Why EI Chose Mr. Andrew Ty

The pioneers of Everyday Idealists are all Communications Technology majors, and one of the professors of the Communications Department that inspired them to learn more about different aspects in life is Mr. Andrew Ty. Known not only for his passion in teching, but also for his creativity and flexibility in different disciplines of arts and sciences, Sir Andrew Ty shares his story on why he loves his field and what keeps him going.

Syncretistic

There are so many things to talk about with Mr. Adrew Ty. Due to his versatility and various fields of interest, it might seem difficult to pinpoint what exactly our Everyday Idealist strives for. However, Mr. Andrew Ty introduced a term, which according to him, describes him and his life in general..

For Sir Andrew, syncretistic means to synthesize and put things together and see the interesting things that happen in that instance. Sir Andrew thinks that this describes him so well, as he is the kind of person who is attracted to putting ideas from different things together. He finds interest in being able to find common ground in sync-ing the things he loves, such as popular culture, philosophy, art, and technology, to name a few.

“There are so many things out there in the world—so many things that seem to be incompatible but which can for a certain moment be made compatible. They can be placed together, they can be placed with each other and this can yield to something interesting perhaps something that is new not because the ingredients are new but because they’re coming together as new.” He explains.


Why Communication

Sir Andrew shares the story on how during college, he moved from being a philosophy major to being a communications major. He admitted that since high school, he was already set that he would take philosophy as a degree. However, because he found the course offering of communication arts to be giving more options for him, it led him towards the said path.

He had no regrets as this served to make him satisfied. In the said program, he was able to take marketing, advetising, film, and even rhetoric classes altogether. “I’ve always felt that that kind of mix as strange. It may seem to have a single school year for instance where you watch movies and then write articles in the various genres of journalism and then talk about Aristotle and how Aristotle can help you deliver a good powerpoint presentation. A lot of those things I think colored my own approach to things.” Sir Andrew shares.

He also chose communication as a career for the same reasons. Primarily, he admits that he found home in the communications department, for the credo it lives up to—treating and training their faculty with a certain degree of freedom.

“To an extent my classes constantly require shifting of gears, I can talk about Martin Heidegger one moment, Batman the next and it would make sense within the context of what I’m trying to do. So my interests in putting things together I think belong to a department like this one which respects the different ways that things could be put together.”

Limitless

When asked about his greatest conviction, Sir Andrew answers by saying that one of his greatest guiding principles is the idea that life possesses a certain kind of dynamism. He believes in the free expression, free learning, and free sharing of ideas in everything one does. “I believe in a constant strive, constant journey, a constant movement, and a constant dynamism. I never stop except occasionally to enjoy the scenery as it were, but always keep moving.” He shares.

And he admits that this is also the same thing that keeps him going. Until now that he is already a professor, he still regards himself not just as a teacher, but also a learner. According to him, learning is a risk, and it’s a risk he’s always been happy to take. He even uses the metaphor of an extreme sport to explain the process of learning in life. Life is a continuous process. Learning doesn’t stop.

Also, Sir Andrew is very concerned about forming his self in the different things he learns. For him, identity is not simply national or cultural identy, but that which aims for a richer and more complicated kind of life. “For instance as a family man I do feel a need to make sure that I am someone my wife and my son can look up to. Parang I can look at myself at the mirror and tell myself that parang my wife and my son are in the right hands.”

Mr. Andrew Ty is an example of how people are not simply confined to specific things. Sir Andrew is a testament of being able to incorporate different disciplines to form something richer. And this ability to inspire is what Mr. Ty, as a teacher, can impart to his students and to everyone. “There’s so much more out there it would be a waste of time and a waste of life to just to give up and settle myself into just somewhere.”

James Nicolas Cruz

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Why Everyday Idealists chose James Cruz

James Nicolas Cruz represents an over-all Atenean SOM student. Being among the top of his batch in the John Gokongwei School of Management, and winning various debate competitions inside and outside the Ateneo, are only some of the many achievements that James was able to reap from his hard work and motivation. His excellence as a debater and as a student made EI decide to probe into what inspires this prodigy. 

Involvement

James arrived as a casual fellow for the interview, but EI was sure that this guy had a lot of things to share. When asked to introduce himself and explain what keeps him busy, James simply started, “I’m involved with the Ateneo Debate Society. I debate competitively.” It’s been a normal experience for James to miss some of his classes from time to time, as he represents the university in different competitions all over the country. However, he clarifies that for now, he’s a taking a break in the debating field, as he has been pursuing more and various efforts. “I’m involved in the advocacy of debate education. So currently, I’m the director of debate education I’ve also involved myself in.”

Debate, Education and Management—all rolled in one.

What amazed EI during the interview was how James clearly laid out the path for us. While most JGSOM students concern themselves with earning profits and building strong and wide networks, James does not lose grip of his Atenean values through an advocacy he stands up for.

“I’m a firm believer of how education can empower people’s lives, but I also really believe in the power of business and management.” According to James, people who know management have the power of fixing the living conditions of people in the society, and in the end, produce a good kind of change. While he believes that education is important and various efforts of teaching students academic disciplines are essential, he cannot disregard the fact that external factors such as the environment they thrive in and the society they interact with, can still be a hindrance to their success.

“I’ve realized that even if I’m involved in education, it’s still really so difficult to empower students, if once they go out to society, the opportunities aren’t there for them.” Thus, James explained that his way of contributing to this ideology is by involving himself in helping various communities doing their businesses. He’s currently involved in a consultancy project, where he is guiding the communities in starting up in micro finance programs. Part of this project is by teaching them accounting, and by creating an accounting system for them such that it would be easier to attain financing.

Aside from this, James is also currently holding a project which helps non-profit organizations in training government leaders and private leaders by equipping them marketing knowledge and skills. He believes that this tool can help these organizations come up with more holistic graduates, such that when they go out into society, they can have a chance to improve other people’s lives as well.



What drives James Cruz

Like most college students, James admitted that at first, he was unsure of what he entered himself into. Alongside management, there were also a lot of things he wanted to try out. Being a scholar in the university, James understands how education plays a key role in making a difference in people’s lives.

“As a Management student, I really start thinking, 'What can I do?' so at first I was trying to help by involving myself in organizations that were helping people, but then I realized, I really wasn’t able to see what I was doing in Management.” James disclosed to EI, that based solely on his academic pursuits, he still felt that what he was learning wasn’t enough, if it would go back directly to the people. 

For James, part of what motivated him to pursue his advocacy of education and management would be the opportunities presented to him by the JGSOM, such as the professors he met, the ethical issues he studied, and even the products he developed, which all point to the social-orientedness that the department has always been pushing for. However, these efforts have all, in his own words, “been crystallized”. According to James, the School of Management has always been criticized, citing the Occupy Job Fair incident last school year as an example. “Things like that, the way the really think that the School of Management is profit oriented and that it seems to be marginalized in the role of nation building, so I thought my personal response to it is I had to do something to show people.”

Empowering People through Business Education

James believes that education is important, but as a management major, he believes that there are even more things he can support, to be able to inspire other people. With his assertiveness as a debater, intelligence as a student, and confidence as a management honors major, he leaves EI with this statement:

“We’re actually empowered the most to try to help people through what you know and that’s why I’m embarking on, not just these charitable organizations and institutions, but trying to integrate my business education into making people’s lives better.”