The Pangasinan State University- School of Advanced Studies held its very first team building activity on July 28 to 30, 2022, in Pansol, Laguna.
After jumping through various hoops in championing accreditations and bringing better services of the Graduate school, the delegate of forty-four PSUnians from both the academic and non-teaching units led by the Executive Director Dr. Rosario DL. Valencerina along with Deputy Director for Academics, Research, and Extension Dr. Gemma M. De Vera, and Deputy Director for Administration, Planning and Quality Assurance Dr. Cristeta C. Dulos, finally took a much needed break to reboot the spirit, reconnect with each other, and rebuild relationships.
Under the theme of ‘PSU-SAS- Stronger Together”, the activity sought to reinforce the resilience that the whole unit has manifested at the onset and during the pandemic as the university recuperates and completely transitions its conduct of operations in the post COVID-19 conditions.
The event was graced by one of PSU-SAS’ part-time professor Dr. Florentina V. Javier, a former Executive Vice President and Vice President for Academic Affairs at the Lyceum of the Philippines University-Laguna and a Jose P. Laurel Lifetime Achievement Award recipient.
Dr. Flora, as she is fondly called by her colleagues at graduate school, shared during her talk the importance of not taking for granted even the smallest part of one’s job no matter how trivial they may seem to be.
Further, the percipient professor stressed that as a superior handling people, one should not rely heavily on their subordinates as succors citing her personal experience from the perspective of a non-tech-savvy educator having a hard time adjusting to the demands of the blended learning modality at the onset of the pandemic and how she was compelled to learn the ropes in carrying out the hybrid learning setup under her own steam.
Dr. Valencerina along with Dr. Dulos and Dr. De Vera took the opportunity to express their gratitude to the University President, Dr. Dexter R. Buted for his relentless support not only to the entire workforce but to the graduate school as a whole. At the team building proper the vigor of the members were put to the test through fun and enjoyable, yet puzzling and physically-challenging activities each well-thought-out to make each of them feel closer to the wider team by reinforcing team spirit, deepen trust and confidence in each other, and increase greater collaboration by improving their communication and problem-solving skills.
The said event was preceded by a benchmarking activity with UPLB’s Graduate School where the PSUnians learned about the unit’s processes and management and got to meet and dine with the prestigious institution’s head Chancellor Dr. Jose V. Camacho along with the rest of his staff.