Over 3,000 college students from this city converged recently in the Bataan People’s Center for the 4th University Town Summit which Balanga’s top official said was a needed step in the remaining seven years to complete the 2020 vision.
“The annual educational and motivational summit which brought in a horde of celebrated speakers was a ‘follow-up session’ to the previous conventions held to pilot the city’s 18,000 college students into academic, business and inspirational focus,” said Mayor Jose Enrique Garcia, III.
“The main objective of this summit is to inspire students. So we invited speakers to give tips and suggestions on what to do especially after graduation. I think the thing to do is to focus on follow-up sessions yearly,” said Garcia.
Among the lecturers were entrepreneurship champion Paulo Tibig, Divine Mercy Shrine Rector Fr. Noel Nuguid, Information Technology and Business Process Association of the Philippines Executive Director for Talent Development Susan Vidal, and teen motivator Alyana Dalisay.
The city mayor added that in the remaining seven years prior to the realization of Balanga’s vision of becoming a world-class university town, the next steps are the improvement of the academic infrastructures and continuous development of quality education, which rely on the schools’ performance.
According to Balanga-grown entrepreneur Tibig, the city government has already set the foundations in achieving the vision and it should “finish strong” by 2020 to push the students past the current industrial challenges.
“We have gained not big wins. These are still small wins. While we have done things already, we need to make it a point that at the end of the destination which is 2020, we need to see that our thrusts become reality,” said the V-Cargo owner.
Students who attended the University Town Summit have one thing to say about this continuing program of the city: “We are getting ready to be globally competitive.
“This summit will be the stepping stone of us students to be globally competitive not only in the province. We should be very thankful that we have something that helps us as future professionals,” said Joey del Mundo, 4th year education student at Bataan Peninsula State University-Balanga campus.
Source: http://cityofbalanga.gov.ph/balanga-mayor-7-years-to-go-to-fulfill-world-class-vision
