A sense of community
STI Education Services Group delivers quality education and more within and outside its campuses. Through the STI Foundation and its network of schools, STI leads and participates in community building programs that aim to improve the country’s educational system and change the lives of various segments in the country.
For its commitment to improve the country’s educational system, the STI Foundation has been given the Seal of Good Housekeeping by the Philippine Council of NGO Certification. The recognition signifies the foundation’s good credibility and good standing as a donee. The foundation has also been granted an Auxiliary Social Welfare and Development Agency by the Department of Social Welfare and Development, a license that gives a foundation the right to perform social welfare functions.
Going beyond classroom education, STI has led projects and partnered with the government and the private sector to provide opportunities for alternative learning, nation building, and disaster relief and rehabilitation efforts.
STI tied up with the Department of Education ( DepEd) and the National Youth Commission to create the Voice of the Youth ( VOTY) National Oratorical Competition in 2010, an English oratorical competition open to high school students from various schools in the country. Guided by a theme, students were expected to write original speeches that are socially relevant. The event became a platform for students to demonstrate their critical thinking and English proficiency skills. The VOTY continued on until the school year 2013 to 2014.
STI West Negros University ( WNU) English department has also been lending its teaching expertise to TESOL to reach out-of-school youth and mothers in barangays and puroks. These teaching sessions are usually done on weekends and extended until December.
STI creates a way to bring education to most parts of the Philippines through the STI Mobile Schools. The STI Mobile School is a traveling, computer laboratory inside a converted tourist bus. It is equipped with the latest equipment like LCD projector, sound system, and wifi that are conducive for IT classes.
STI has also partnered with CFC AncopTekton Foundation, Inc. to give marginalized children in Makati, Pasay, and Manila a chance to study through a child sponsorship program.
STI has made strides in supporting social causes and nation building initiatives through continuous partnerships with other organizations. Together with the Junior Chamber International Philippines Ortigas,
STI and PhilCare supported the Orange Project, a fundraising and outreach program that gives underprivileged children of Angono, Rizal access to education, health care, and character formation. STI donated four computers to the Orange Project’s computer laboratory through the STI- led Project: Library, Education & Skills Enhancement (P.L.E.A.S.E).
STI has also been partnering with ABS-CBN in projects that will benefit the environment and the country’s state. In the school year 2010-2011, STI supported the fund-raiser “Kapit Bisig Para sa Ilog Pasig” for the rehabilitation of the Pasig River. STI also supported the “Run for Pasig: One Run, One Philippines,” a city-wide run in support of the Ilog Pasig rehabilitation in the school year 2013 to 2014.
The most notable in STI partnerships is its role in the parallel counts of election returns, which started in 1998. This partnership still continued even when the Philippines transitioned into automated election where STI students, faculty members, and staff lent their time to make sure that the elections are clean.
STI has also been an instrument in rebuilding the lives of Filipinos through its support of projects that rehabilitate calamitystricken areas. STI helped raise funds for 25 scholars who were affected by the Typhoon Ondoy through dzMM and DSWD Takbo Para sa Karunungan. They continued this partnership with ABS- CBN Integrated Public Service in 2012 to help families affected by Typhoon Sendong.
In school year 2013- 2014, STI ESG and its campuses, the STI Alumni Association, and the STI Foundation raised a total of P1.185 million in cash and kind donations for the rebuilding efforts for families affected by the Super-Typhoon Yolanda. A portion of the donations was used to help the affected STI ESG campuses in Tacloban, Ormoc, Kalibo, and Iloilo. —