Featured LPU Davao Employee of the Month: Prof. Geromil J. Lara
Prof. Geromil J. Lara was born and raised in Tagum City. Prof. Ge is an only child, and he is now taking care of his parents as they are senior citizens and are pensioners. He went to St. Mary’s College of Tagum in his elementary years and graduated with Honors. As per Prof. Ge, “I joined Glee Club as I can remember but, with all honesty, I am not that active in extracurricular activities during my elementary years.”
In high school, he went to Letran de Davao High School in Tagum City, an exclusive school for boys only at that time. He shared, “I am not that active in terms of joining any competitions, but I am more interested in joining some clubs in our school. When I graduated high school, I cannot forget that none of us made it to the honors list or got any special awards because none of us reached the standard grade that the school had set for the students. We graduated with no Valedictorian or Salutatorian, even With Honors.”
When Prof. Geromil went to college, he first enrolled at the University of Immaculate Conception (UIC) for a year and a half. Due to some reasons, he decided to transfer to San Pedro College (SPC) and finished his course, BS Medical Technology. Prof. Ge said, “I was very active that time while joining different student organizations. I was the Club President in B.O.O.K Club under the Guidance Center. I was also a COMELEC Commissioner and active in the student organization for MedTech students; we call it Medical Technology Society or METS”. He further added, “When I graduated in college, I then took the Licensure Examination for Medical Technologist and successfully passed it. Right then, I worked as a part-time Medical Technologist at Medical Mission Group of Hospitals Davao (MMGH), located along R. Castillo. I worked there for 6 months and then I resigned and decided to apply at San Pedro College as a professor. I worked full-time at SPC in 1999 and I was a Clinical Instructor of MedTech with a teaching load. While I was working as a Clinical Instructor, I also took my Master’s degree at the University of Santo Tomas (UST). It was a great opportunity for me because that was a consortium program of SPC and UST. Our set-up was the teachers will be the ones who will go to our school and teach us, not the other way around and because it was expensive, our schooling was funded by one of the government agencies”. Working as a CI/faculty of the Medical Technology Department while studying MS Medical Technology for Prof. Geromil was a bit hard but at the same time, a great experience for him. He graduated with his MS MedTech in 2007. As Prof. Ge would recall it, “It was a bit late and it took me 8 years to finish my Master’s degree because there was a problem with our funding agencies”. Sir Ge also had a part-time job as a guest lecturer of a special program in BS Nursing teaching Microbiology and Parasitology at North Cotabato, specifically in Kidapawan City for 4 years. Prof. Ge worked at SPC for 20 years and between those years, he was the Program Coordinator for 8 years in the Medical Technology Department.
Currently, Prof. Geromil is working at the Lyceum of the Philippines-Davao as the Program Chair for the BS Medical Technology Department for 2 years now. He was recognized as one of the Top Performers for 2 consecutive years. When I asked him about what he felt every time he is conducting his classes, he said, “I always feel the passion I have for teaching. I always aim to deliver what I need to deliver and that my goal is for students to acquire the knowledge and skills that they need in preparation for them to become MedTech professionals. Also, I do not forget to inculcate in their minds the values that they need to have as professionals which of course are anchored from our values in LPU-Davao.”
As per Prof. Ge, “During the implementation of our flexible learning, there are these hesitations to implement the online classes but, because of the situation, we are forced to implement it. During the first few weeks/months, all of us are struggling with regards to delivering the lessons and for the students, they are not well-adapted to the situation and arrangement that we have like having 100% Online Education. Also, there are challenges in delivering the essential skills and competencies and the learning experiences for the MedTech profession as we are not allowed to have face-to-face learning such as they cannot have an actual performance of the specific procedures in laboratory tests because they do not have the facilities at home and we are not allowed to go to the campus to perform those tests. So, as a substitute for that, we are doing the virtual laboratory. However, there is no research yet for the effectiveness of the Virtual Laboratory for the MedTech profession. So, we do not know if this Virtual Lab is effective and if it has negative effects once they will work in the real world.”
Finally, Prof. Ge’s advice to the students, “Despite this learning modality that we forego the traditional learning environment, is to really adapt to the system because, for me, this system will be our “new normal” or what others call it as “better normal”. They must continue learning and acquiring the knowledge and skills of MedTech professionals despite any learning modalities. Also, please be patient because we cannot do anything, and it is not our choice and honestly, all of us are not ready. This pandemic has brought some challenges to us especially in terms of financial aspects, but just hold on and in general, pray that we can surpass this pandemic and what I wanted to share with you that I always instill in my mind since then is that whatever struggles you may encounter, “LIFE IS SHORT. ALWAYS CHOOSE HAPPINESS.”