THERE comes a time in everyone’s life when you wonder about your purpose. What is your mission in life?
Fil-Am Michael Vea recalls when this burning question creeped inside of him. He was sitting inside his New York city apartment wondering what to do next.
At 32 years of age, Vea has already accomplished what many spend a lifetime doing.
Vea is the co-founder of the Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP) Infinity Charter School in New York City, which is ranked as one of the top middle schools in the state by the New York City’s Department of Education.
He refers to it as his dream “sim school.”
“”In a way, it’s one of those things like Sim City where you build a simulation city from the ground up and create it using your own vision of how it should be run and operated,” he explains. “We just thought about what kind of school we would like and would want our children to attend. That’s KIPP. We were able to lay our vision of the school and make it into a reality.”
A passionate educator
Vea is also a highly accomplished teacher, having received the Frederick Sontag Prize in Urban Education and the Kinder Award for Excellence in Teaching.
He loves his students. He teaches 7th Grade American History and Journalism. He’s doing his passion, being a school teacher — something that runs deep in his family.
“My grandfather was a principal in the Philippines. Teaching is in my blood,” he says. “He was known for being both warm and demanding – warm in demeanor, and demanding of expectations that were set very high. I aim to be a warm-demanding teacher. My students know that I love them as if they were my own children; they also know that I only expect the best from them in the work that they do in and out of my classroom,” he adds.
A Northwestern alumnus who received a masters in teaching at Pace university, Vea, despite all of his accomplishments still wanted to do more. He felt something lacking inside him, he says.
He may have received the answer serendipitously when he came back to his hometown of San Diego. At an aunt’s house, he saw a commercial on ABS-CBN that caught his attention.
In that commercial or PSA (public service announcement), Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Cuisia Jr. was looking for ten Filipino-American leaders in the inaugural Filipino American Youth Leadership Program (FAYPL).
Vea immediately stopped what he was doing and rushed to a computer. He told his family that he would apply.
They laughed, but he was serious.
Making a difference in his homeland
Vea says he hadn’t been back to the Philippines since he was 13 years old. He had always been meaning to go back. But he didnt want to vacation or just go there to hang out and party. He needed a purpose and a meaning.
This opportunity would provide him that.
After several months and sifting through 400 applications, Cuisia chose ten highly qualified Fil-Am youth leaders from across the US. Vea was among them.
“It was so humbling to be chosen – to be a part of a team of young, ambitious Filipino-Americans who have made a dent in their respective fields at a pretty young age and have a deep desire to give back to the homeland,” he says.
“We had access to the top movers and shakers in the country – prominent leaders who offered sound advice and listened to our ideas — all [who helped] make the Philippines a much stronger nation in the global economy.”
Through the program, he was able to understand the Philippine education system and met with leaders like Secretary of Education Armin Luistro, Fernando Zobel de Ayala and Maria Lourdes Heras-de Leon of the Ayala Foundation, and Tony Meloto of Gawad Kalinga.
Inspired by the trip, Vea along with fellow FAYLP delegate Angela Lagdameo, set to create Teach for the Philippines.
Similar to Teach for America (the non-profit organization that hires bright young graduates and places them in rural or inner city schools), Teach for the Philippines aims to do the same except, in this case, places teachers in parts of the Philippines.
“There is a tremendous disparity between the haves and the have-nots in the Philippines. I witnessed this while our group drove from Makati City to Bulacan,” he explains.
“This is particularly true in the country’s school system. A school with topnotch resources and effective teachers could exist within miles of a school that may not even have enough desks and chairs for every student.”
“Every child (regardless of socioeconomic status), should have the right to attain a high quality education,” he adds.
Last week, Vea and his partner Lagdameo secured a partnership with Teach for America’s international branch Teach for All. The groups are in the preliminary stages of finding 30 teachers in the Philippines and 10 Filipino-Americans for school year 2013.
“Demography should not define destiny,” he says. “Every child who enters this world should truly have an equal chance in life. We are actively looking for 10 Filipino-Americans who are willing to commit at least two years to teach in an under-resourced school back in the homeland. We need Filipino-American leaders in the classroom who have demonstrated strong academic, professional, and extracurricular achievement, have a profound belief in the potential of all children, and are committed to doing what it takes to expand opportunities for the students and the families they serve.”
That burning question of purpose has since ceased inside of him.
Vea said he owes it to his parents and grandparents, who came here to the United States to seek a better life.
Vea and the thousands of Filipino-Americans across this country, who are living and breathing the American Dream are fortunate, he says.
“But what about our kababayans back home who may lack access to what so many of us here largely take for granted – a high quality education?”
His goal is to teach those Filipino children.
“I’m deeply inspired by the words of Jose Rizal: ‘Ang kabataan ang pag-asa ng bayan’ (Filipino youth are the hope of the motherland). I will perish happy knowing that I tried to make a difference back home… and that I tried to inspire a new generation of Filipinos to fix what is wrong and to put others before yourself.”
(LA Weekend August 25-28, 2012 Sec A pg. 10)
