Soulprints - Amyline Quien Ching

Flight to greater heights

His appointment may have raised a couple of eyebrows and caused a number of mouths to stand agape. Yet to see his relaxed easy smile and unaffected ways, preferring to bond with students, teachers, and the so-called “little people” instead of joining the higher echelons in a social tete-a-tete, is enough to turn those puckers into smile, the doubts into confidence.
It would then be easy to see why he has gained the love and respect of the De La Salle community.

On the shoulder of giants
As the 20th president of the DLSU System Schools, the youngest ever to assume the post, Brother Armin Altamirano Luistro may seem young and inexperienced to man the helm of one of the greatest educational institutions in the country. But age and experience, though factors in leading an institution, does not necessarily make a great leader. More than that, it takes will, dedication and genuine unconditional love for those he serves.
Luistro, humbly citing his apparent inexperience in his inaugural address at the Presidential Investiture Ceremony held recently at DLSU-Manila, believes that instead of these limitations hindering him, these further behoove him to work with even greater dedication and zeal to build and develop on what others have started and achieved in the past and to bear the burden of responsibility as best as he could, knowing full well that though “there had been a glorious history to remember and recount, there is also a great history still to be accomplished.”
“I am painfully aware of my own inadequacies and limitations, my inexperience and lack of academic qualifications. But I do take comfort in the words of John Salisbury, who said that ‘we are like dwarfs sitting on the shoulders of giants. We see more and things that are far more distant, than they did, not because our sight is superior or because we are taller than they, but because they raise us up and by their great stature add to ours.’”
Departing from the standard protocol of acknowledging first the presence of guests that belong to the higher echelons of the industry, president Luistro chose instead to recognize what for him are the vital power behind any organization, the ordinary people in the University System whose work have for so many times, gone unnoticed or taken for granted.
“We are what we are today because of those who have come before us. Our accomplishments cannot be traced back to the work and vision of one person or one unit. We work and struggle together and by association,” he discloses.

Perfecting Perfection
The DLSU System, now on its 94th year, may have become one of the driving forces in the realm of education but years at being at the top is not a reason to rest on its laurels and drown in its own sea of pride.
According to Luistro, institutions that are 93 year-old or so “tend to become victims of their own successes and they begin to stagnate.” Wise organizations should continue to adapt, learn and change. And with the current situation that the country is facing, schools and teachers at that should more than ever take note of the transformative roles that they play in bringing forth genuine social development, not just transforming others but also transforming the nation.
“We cannot deny that the heart of La Sallian education resides in the heart of the teacher. The single most important activity that determines the success and failure of any educational venture can be observed in the classroom. We should focus then on the special role of the faculty in ensuring that the battle against poverty, exclusion and ignorance is fought daily in class.”
Issuing a challenge not only to faculty members but also to the co-academic staff, Luistro emphasizes the need to constantly improve the quality of service.
“None of us must pass the opportunity to give ourselves without reserve to those who come to our halls.”

Serving the young
President Luistro, who unofficially began his work on the first day of April this year, succeeding Dr. Carmelita Quebengco, who served as interim president, views his appointment as yet another challenge and another avenue for him to serve the young, which is closest to his heart. In fact, knowing full well the significance of his investiture, he made sure that a big number of the attendees would be the students for it is for them that he offers all his talents, energies and love, ensuring a better and brighter future for them.
“If there is any sector in the academic community that I do not wish to fail, it is definitely the young entrusted to our care. I can fail in many things except in my role as a Brother who makes his own ‘the joys and the hopes, the grief and the anxieties’ of the young. In them, I find the reason to make real Ninoy Aquino’s conviction that the Filipino is worth dying for.”

He may be young and yes, he may have yet to prove himself but newly appointed president Armin Luistro does not need much to show that he is indeed a man of consequence, a man of dignity and principle, a man capable of achieving great things and reaching greater heights.

posted by Amyline Quien Ching @ 11:36 PM