Thorned and rocked, the path of every school during the COVID-19 has never been just a one-crutch exercise that even both feet couldn't cross unless paired with the right footwear. The challenge lies in delivering quality education amidst impossibilities – how is it possible to provide students the best learning experience in a room… masked, feared, and threatened? BARELY EVEN POSSIBLE. A one-out-of-ten kind of rate.
Nonetheless, as they say, “Once a champion, always a champion.”
The University of Baguio - School of International Hospitality and Tourism Management, known as the Home of the Champions, is also a champion per se. Not only through words but unquestionably by actions. In a setting where the provision of quality education seems to be unworkable, SIHTM considers no boundaries in chasing heights. Empowered with its mission and vision, perfection is not hindered when a champion works.
Despite the pandemic that masked the possibility of SIHTM to give students excellent learning, the school was still able to man up. As a champion pursuing perfection, no pandemic can grip its wings that are eager to fly. Practicum-wise, the school made sure to let students have the education they deserve regardless of the pandemic nuisance around.
Henceforth, out of ingenuity and creativity, SIHTM came up with innovative ideas to keep the school going despite the students couldn’t physically attend classes or have their practicum. As such, the practicum program of SIHTM included a series of initiatives ensuring that the students’ practicum will not be halted. The program included the operations of a cloud kitchen or virtual restaurant allowing students to maximize the digital space in managing their restaurants simulating how a food establishment is run. Furthermore, UB-SIHTM’s partner organizations based internationally helped provide necessary training to the students. One of which is Talent Basket, an organization providing help to those who have business potential. Another is the UK-based travel agency which provided knowledge and ample training on travel and tour operations. When some restrictions were lifted and limited face-to-face classes were allowed, SIHTM opened its pop-up café.
It provided a venue for students to have a deeper understanding of Café Operations and continue their practicum even if many establishments were still closed and travel is still severely limited. It enabled students to apply in the actual work setting the learning derived from classroom instruction; enhanced the students’ experience and development through their exposure in their respective fields; and provided opportunities for the students to demonstrate the spirit of zeal by translating the acquired knowledge into practice in assisting individuals in the workplace and deal with their everyday human experience and problems.
Not only this, but uniformly remarkable is the undeniable truth that the SIHTM was still able to heighten academic mobility, cross-cultural interactions, and international partnerships. The school never went out of its goal — fostering internationalization.
The clever effort of the school to impart competent and excellent learning experiences among its students has then led it to be recognized by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED). UB-SIHTM received the “Best in Internationalization Practice During the Pandemic Award” on August 26, 2022. The award was given during CHED's celebration of the ASEAN's 55th Founding Anniversary, acknowledging the collective efforts that the school’s dean and faculty have shared together to achieve quality education among its students despite the pandemic happening.
The excellence voiced out by this award is so loud that needless to say, SIHTM is indeed not just a home for the champions, but a CHAMP itself. Through collaborative hands and minds, a winning moment awaits, implying that being a champion is not a one-man journey, rather, it is a multi-manned drive with a common vision.
Hence, unattainable as it may seem, the students’ urge to have quality education amidst the pandemic has been reached, successfully and beautifully. It is therefore when the ‘impossible’ turns wonderfully achievable that you’ll fathom out how a champion wins a game.
So basically, there’s nothing under the sun a champion cannot do, except one — and that is tolerating impossibilities.
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