15 July 2009

Typhoon shortens writing seminar at NELAST

Less than seven years ago, Northeast Luzon Adventist School of Technology (NELAST) was destined for closure. Buildings were dilapidated, finance was rock bottom, students few, and alumni support was nothing; and worst, a typhoon wiped out the roofs. A visitor during that time may not find any reason to come back to this school again. But “those were the days…” runs a popular song in the 70s; NELAST today deserves a second look!

If you are keen to the place where NELAST was located a few years back, it will surprise you to find the school looks new from the gates to the insides of the campus! The buildings—auditorium, elementary, high school, guestrooms and other facilities—all new—and tiled floors, painted walls, and cemented pathways, literally, a metamorphosed species!

“A very strong alumni support has transformed this school to what it is now, and we credit the leadership of our director for tapping the golden hearts of the former students and community members to recreate a new environment for us,” said Henry Borromeo, school treasurer.

NELAST was the last of the recent venues of seminars for effective writing design, and electronic publication organized by the communication department of the church in the southern Asia-Pacific region (SSD) for the first and second quarters of 2009 in northern Philippines (NPUM). The July 15-17 training seminar, though, was cut short to only a day due to the weather bureau’s hoisting of storm signal 2 mandating closure of elementary and high schools for safety measures. All 40 participants consisting of teachers and students, had to reluctantly adhere to the announcement but requested that on future days, the team of presenters resume the training.

Pastor Romeo Mangilaman, NPUM new communication director, promised to bring back the team during the first quarter of 2010 for the said seminar. [Jonathan C Catolico]