#lsvp

Together with my Education classmates, we planned to join the volunteer program in Bagac, Bataan last March 2-4. Just a brief overview, De La Salle Philippines (DLSP) has come up with the full-time school for the poor, of course with the Lasallian education which, for me, is really holistic in nature. (No biases even if I’m a Lasallian by blood.)

A question ran in my mind: Who really needs the teachers the most?

Of course, the society invests much in cognitively competent kids. To whom are scholarships given? Of course, to the intelligent ones. Yes, maybe because not all people can be given the scholarship that will metaphorically open the gates to success. And with this initiation of DLSP, it chooses to give scholarship to all students, regardless of their cognitive competence.

Most students in St. Jaime Hilario Integrated School - La Salle come from families whose occupation includes fishery, agriculture and those which require “sweat and blood”, literally. Even though they are given with Lasallian education, still, they lack someone: teachers.

Teaching is a profession, but we cannot deny that it also a source of income. I myself considered Education as my field of study because of job security, but of course, I see my philosophy of “Giving what you can give to those who need it” in Education.

Students who really are eager to learn despite their financial incapability are those who really need the teachers the most. These far-flung areas are seeking for teachers who are willing to give them what they want.

I am not saying that we should abandon teaching those who are cognitively competent. What I want to expose is that there are students out there waiting to be taught of a simple arithmetic, simple language skills, and simple aids.

Volunteering for a ten-month teaching program (La Salle Volunteer Program) is a great help for these students. And just like any newly-grads, I am not ready yet. Still, I need to serve for my parents first.

Still, there are lots of things that we can do to help those who really need. We can start teaching students from the slums, or those who find streets as their home.

Nothing is better that seeing those who need the most happy. As I may add, (and from a bible verse that I could hardly remember), a healthy person doesn’t necessarily need a doctor.

This week was all about business model. Revenue. Profit. Money, money and money!!! Obviously, because had it not been for money, how else would your venture survive? And the industry to be revolutionized this week was the health industry. Mind you, it was not the health care industry, but the health industry, and included gymnasiums, yoga, rejuvination, etc alongside the health care industry.

LMC (Lean Model Canvas) is one of the primary things that you are asked for when pitch your business. A case study about lean model canvas gave a detailed picture of the LMC and how to present it.

Pitch deck came out to be yet another necessity. Though I have been dealing with the start-up ecosystem for quite some time, I never knew what it was. For those who don't what a pitch deck is, the pitch deck is the first communication with a potential investor. The content of the pitch deck, and how you present it, determines if the investor should continue to evaluate your idea further.

There have been a lot of great ideas which were visible during yesterday's peer evaluation. Such great implementation. Sitting among more than 100 aspiring entrepreneurs, or even more, sitting among more than 30 great ideas, that are worth a pitch, is a chance that no one would want to miss. People used to stay in the campus, till late in the evening, and up in their homes, till late night, debating and discussing their business models point-by-point.

There were also, a myriad of inspiring speakers, who have carved a niche for themselves. Amit Ranjan of SlideShare, Ankur Singla of Akosha, P. Rajasekharan of v-shesh, Karan Gupta of Helion Ventures, Maninder Gulati of Light Speed Ventures and Sumeet Kapur of EmployWise, were notable ones. Randy Lubin has been an in-house speaker, who took various sessions on topics like coding, negotiations, etc.  Many of the speakers have been covered in the previous posts.

A few of the popular phrases have been "Brilliant Jerks" and "For every suucessful entrepreneur, there are hunderds in grave."