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by Philipina A. Marcelo
It's been a tiring day that I nearly ran out of gas halfway through... but it was a wonderful day! Yep, today's exciting surprises were punctuated by a couple of "firsts" that, I hope, would be the start of a string of many similar events in the future.
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Hey, sister!
Let me begin with this...
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| Google's tribute to women in this year's celebration of "International Women's Day". |
For the first time, the Chemical Engineering Department - my Department - at the University of Santo Tomas took the lead in celebrating the "International Women's Day" (IWD) in the campus. The Chemical Engineering Society (ChES), through their President-elect, Mr. Julius Puentes, organized a symposium-socialization event dubbed, "Thomasian Women in Science and Technology". It was hoped that the event would contribute in heightening the world's awareness and appreciation of the invaluable role of women in our society today.
Yes, the engineering field, and most of the S&T field for that matter, may be a "Man's World"... and yet, there is no denying the invaluable contribution of women in its exciting advancement through the years. Thomasian S&T women offer an even greater value to women contribution through their unique qualities, defined by commitment, competence and compassion. That shone through vividly in the sharing of our wonderful speakers: our Department's 2001 summa cum laude and one of the Philippines' Ten Most Outstanding Students in 2001, Ms. Valarie Ku, our University's Research Center for the Natural and Applied Sciences Director, Dr. Christina A. Binag, and the Dean of the outstanding UST Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, Dr. Graciela Gonzaga. Our students were treated to a lively, informative, emphatic and truly inspiring sharing from the three women, who are all highly acomplished in their own tough fields, and still embody the God-given loveliness and natural nurturing qualities of women.
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| Our first celebration of the International Women's Day at the UST Department of Chemical Engineering. |
We hope that our first IWD celebration today would be the beginning of a yearly tradition that woud recognize and celebrate the Thomasian Women and their remarkable contributions in making our beloved University continue to flourish and in keeping this world of ours a wonderful place to live in!
