Jump for Joy

Jump for Joy is a six-week free summer class program for English, Math, and Science from Grade 5 to fourth year high school students attending the local Sta. Teresita Parish in Mayon St., Quezon City.  Now on its 3rd week, it was formerly a "top secret" extracurricular project for Amici and Thermovar folks, an avenue for giving something back to our neighborhood and society.

Jump for Joy is a brainchild of Alex Yao, Amici Water Systems operations manager.  But it roots back to a summer tutorial program by Lola Paula Vergara at the same parish.  For several years, she steadily taught English to kids at a spacious room in front of the parish office.  It was then that Alex met her and volunteered to help in teaching kids.  However, the program soon ended due to health concerns. 



Lola Paula had stopped teaching a few years back.  Nevertheless, her legacy remains in all the students that she helped.  After a five year hiatus, our operations manager thought of continuing the summer class project.  He privately enlisted help from Amici people, and from there, Jump for Joy sprang to fruition.

Jump for Joy can be demanding of time with 3 to 4 classes scheduled daily.  Because the schedules conflict with our work hours, we make do with the additional load and we depend on each other for help.  Even so, some find the joy of teaching inspirational, finding the challenging experience uplifting.  Some of us find our own classes as a sort of review.  Some simply love kids.

It is with hope that we touch the lives of and learn with our students.  We might not be the best teachers, expert in the subjects we strive to teach well.  But it is our joy to see our students find love in learning, and our joy to learn from them, how to reach out, remembering how we were back in school, and appreciating the value of giving.