Featured LPU Davao Employee of the Month: Mr. Are Jay Castro

“SIGNIFICANCE ALWAYS LEAVES A LEGACY AND EMPOWERMENT” is one of Mr. Are Jay M. Castro’s mottos in life.

Mr. Are Jay M. Castro was born and raised in Guagua, Pampanga. He is a 100%, full-blooded Kapampangan. When asked about his life growing up, Mr. Are Jay said, “I have a good and very wonderful childhood that is why I am very active and I am very enthusiastic and very positive in all things. But, when I was in Grade 6, I faced a little bumpy ride along the way when my mother and father broke up and we decided that I have to go and be with my mom to reside here in Davao City”. Even though Mr. Are Jay experienced that at a young age, it did not cross his mind to be a rebellious child. In fact, it motivated him to become a very ambitious person and helped him achieve all of his dreams and plans in life. He added, “I have a very mature mindset because all of my plans are already set and I know what path I should take. Though it was tough and it was very challenging growing up with a broken family but it did not hinder me at all as I am an only child.” They say, when you are an only child and you grow up in a broken family you will likely become a rebel but that did not happen to Mr. Are Jay. He just moves forward and continues his life.

Mr. Are Jay is a competitive person. He started participating in different competitions when he was still studying at Sta. Ines Elementary School in Guagua wherein one of the most memorable experiences that he had from participating in those competitions was when he got his first win in a National Competition for News Publication in Elementary Division. When Mr. Are Jay transferred to Davao City, he still excelled in his academics as well as in extracurricular activities. In fact, he graduated as a Salutatorian in V.L. Angliongto, Sr. Elementary School. He was an active student and also joined various competitions and he got his first win when he joined The Pagsasalita or the Oratorical Competition in the Regional Division. He was an Associate Auditor of their School’s Publication and participated in competitions where he also won first prize in Teacher Writing.  He is also a type of student who loves to deliver extemporaneous and oratorical speeches, read books and join quiz bees.

Mr. Are Jay’s academic life was not as smooth as it was for his personal life as he did encounter some challenges along the way during his early years here in Davao City. As he recalled, one of the challenges that he experienced while living in Davao City was that it was really hard for him to understand and speak Bisaya as he is born and raised a Kapampangan but, this motivated him to learn Bisaya even more since he likes to interact with other people and talk with them. Through constant practice of using the dialect, in the span of one month, he mastered the Bisaya dialect.

Mr. Are Jay’s life here in Davao City was also way different from what he had while they were still in Pampanga. At first, Mr. Are Jay questioned his mother as to why she chose to live in Davao as he thought Davao is just like a boring place, a “bukid”, and only to find out that it was not. It is a normal place, a normal city with a lot of people. As he came here to Davao, his first impression was he loves Davao City. Davao’s “Life is here”  slogan lives up to his expectations because when they were still in Pampanga, they experienced a lot of power interruption, especially when there is a storm and the like, and he was amazed by how nice it is to live here and how seldom it is to have stormy weather here in Davao City.

Dialect and living in a new environment were not just the only challenges that Mr. Are Jay had experienced when they moved to Davao City. When they came here, they live in his uncle’s house (his mother’s brother) in Damosa until such time that he went to high school and that was the time that they decided to rent a house. It is because of their situation that they experienced having no permanent address.

Challenges keep on coming to Mr. Are Jay’s life and as he recalled one of those, “High school was the toughest memory for me. I was enrolled in Davao City National High School at that time but, I was asthmatic and constant traveling just worsened my situation. That is why they decided to transfer me to F. Bangoy National High School as it was still in early classes. When I started my first-year high school journey, that was also the time that I experienced having chickenpox and I stayed at home for almost a month. When I went back to school, a week after, I had dengue. My studies did not go well but I still continue and passed my first year even though I experienced a lot of struggles along the way.”

These struggles motivated Mr. Are Jay to go back on track and started participating in many competitions in Theater Arts. He was also part of the Student Council where he organized a lot of activities and even big events such as “Education Week”, “Career Week”, and the like. He said, “I had a very wonderful high school life it was because I had with me my teammates and at the same time we were all working hard and we had very supportive teachers back then. I always give glory not just to my classmates and schoolmates that time but also to my supportive teachers before in high school”. All the hard work had paid off as Mr. Are Jay graduated as the Third Honorable Mention and was awarded Best in Science Investigatory Project. He also received the award for Best in Values Education for two consecutive years.

After he graduated from high school, Mr. Are Jay planned to take Political Science and/or Mass Communication but he had to choose a school where it would meet their budget and expenses and that was when he decided to enroll in the University of Southeastern Philippines (USeP) and chose to take Education, specifically, Bachelor of Secondary Education Major in Biological Science because he loves doing SIP kinds of stuff and talking about conspiracies and other science-related things. One unforgettable moment during his first days in college was when he was elected as the Mayor of their class due to its funny reason; he was the only one who was wearing a school uniform and the rest of his classmates were wearing civilian attire.  According to Mr. Are Jay, “In USeP, in terms of student experiences and student involvement, it has a very active organization. When I was the class Mayor, I was exposed to plan and organize the activities that we are going to have. When I was in my second year of college, I was assigned/appointed by the College of Education Local Council to be the Head Staff to prepare me to become the Local Council Governor once I will reach third year and it did pay off as after I ran for the said position when I already reached my third year, I won and became the President/Governor of the College of Education Department. I handled thousands of students during my term and this was the time that I had to show what I am capable of and that I can do something that would become the standard for I do not settle for less and the traditional things. I want to make something new and something innovative. It was during the Intramurals where we made it possible and we proved to everyone that we can go beyond our imaginations if we just make it into reality.  It was at that moment that I realized that I said to myself that I empowered my team. We empowered everyone and unity was there. After that successful event, we started to have a lot of projects, internally and had community extensions. I believe that it is always important to give back everything that was given to you.” He then decided to run for President in his fourth-year college and he won. For him, it was a game-changer because he had to handle all the students at the University of Southeastern Philippines and that was a big challenge for him. 

Mr. Are Jay handled big events and succeeded in all of that and was commended for all the hard work he and his team had made and given. He attended different movements, symposiums, leadership trainings, seminars, and assembly. As per Mr. Are Jay, “I actually do not have a 100% Academic life because I always go to different places to attend different seminars, trainings, symposiums, assembly and because of that, I had to catch up with our lessons and take exams.” He then decided to take a little break and not too focused on being the President during his second semester for he wanted to focus on his internship. When Sir Are Jay graduated from college, his average was fit for a Cum Laude but he was not able to be on the list because he did not meet the required number of units. It was because he was late to submit his medical and other requirements in the fourth year due to their family gathering in Pampanga. But despite that, Mr. Are Jay was still grateful for the experiences he had and that he was also given an Excellent Leadership Award.

After he graduated college, Mr. Are Jay taught at the Philippine Academy of Sakya. According to Mr. Are Jay, “In my first year of teaching, I taught Science and Social Studies. In my second year, I was promoted to be the Activities and Program Coordinator, dealing with all of the activities and others in our school. I was very thankful to my employer in Sakya especially for teaching us the values of life.” For greener pasture, after 2 years in Sakya, Mr. Are Jay decided to teach at the University of Immaculate Conception where he became a Class Adviser. He was dedicated to teach and help students apply everything in real-life scenarios and empower students. After one year, and after learning that LPU Davao will be opening and hearing that Dr. Marlyn Biton will be the Dean of the Junior College, Mr. Are Jay was so excited to apply to LPU Davao for he knows that if ever he will be hired and be part of the Junior College Department, he will be in good hands because he already knows how Dr. Marlyn Biton works and how amazing it would be to work with his former instructor. As per Mr. Are Jay, “As LPU Davao is a new school, and as I am a new teacher, I know it would not be very easy for us as pioneering employees, but I am looking into the long term that I can see the path in the long run that LPU Davao will rise and will become known to the world. Now that I am in this institution, I am truly having a really good time.”

Mr. Are Jay is currently studying for his Master of Arts in Teaching College Chemistry. For him, even if it is tiring, he will always continue learning, working, and teaching because it is his passion to empower the students and invest in students’ capabilities. When asked about the challenges in life, Mr. Are Jay said that “Right now, for me, the biggest challenge is adapting to the new normal. It is challenging for us, the teachers, our students, our administrators, and even the government officials. But we are still pushing our limits to provide quality education for our students.” For Mr. Are Jay, he is honored to be working with Dr. Marlyn Biton as his Immediate Superior and his former teacher. He is very happy and grateful for it. He is honored to be working with colleagues who are full of potential and talents, innovative minds, and most importantly open minds. He added, “I always believe in the Law of Ecology #2 by Barry Commoner that there are strength and stability in the unity of differences. For me, for human society to become stable in a certain organization especially in a working environment, all ideas and actions must be taken to consideration. By this, we can always work in harmony with other people and as an educator, I really need to teach and empower my students in terms of their skills and help them to become good leaders as I believe in this motto that to see the world as not as it is but as it should be and lastly, SIGNIFICANCE ALWAYS LEAVES A LEGACY AND EMPOWERMENT”.