Cebu Scoopy Club - Balik Eskwela

Cebu Scoopy Club Balik Eskwela 2015
"The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet." (Aristotle)

Cebu Scoopy Club's Balik Eskwela 2015 - an outreach program that aims to provide school supplies to students and our beneficiaries for this program are the first grade pupils of Langub Elementary School in Argao, Cebu.
Posted by Marjun Tacder on Thursday, July 23, 2015

I can't imagine living in a world without education. We all agree that in order to succeed in life, education is one of the most important key. Some would say, "Well, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs or even Mark Zuckerberg didn't finish school". But we can't deny the fact that they all went to school before they succeeded.

Cebu Scoopy Club has been organized 3 years ago. To play with the number, the club organized its 3rd outreach program, Balik Eskwela 2015. This outreach program aims to provide school supplies to students and our beneficiaries for this program are the first grade pupils of Langub Elementary School in Argao, Cebu.

The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet. (Aristotle)

Why a mountain barangay in the town of Argao when there are also a lot of students in the city or even within Metro Cebu? We are of the belief that areas like Langub Argao, help is probably scarce. Here in Metro Cebu, there are a lot of organizations and even politicians who offer help to students. Don't get us wrong, students here in the metro need help as well. We just thought that difficult-to-reach barangay schools need more help.

We gathered in Honda Philippines Lahug Office, our usual gathering place. One of our sponsors, Johnson Sy Chiaoco also planned to join us in this ride and he brought his own cage with him. At around 7 or 8 in the morning, we decided to start the ride from Cebu City to Langub, Argao. Some Scooperos joined us in Talisay and Naga. We encountered a few slow traffic here and there because we were not able to ride off earlier.

We reached Barangay Langub Argao at around 10 AM, our target destination and our beneficiaries for this outreach event are the grade one pupils of Langub Elementary School in Argao, Cebu.

Photo-op at our usual gathering place, Honda Philipines, Inc. Lahug, Cebu City office.

The road going to the school was quite rough and rocky because it was not developed and it was expected because it's a mountain barangay where we thought help will probably be scarce than schools here in the city. It's also one of the main reasons why we chose this school. Good thing our Honda Scoopy is reliable (as always) even in these type of roads.

We arrived at the school at around 10 AM.

When we arrived, the students, parents, teachers were already there. The school head was also present as well as the Barangay Captain of Langub, Jonathan Villegas, Snr.

There are only 28 first grade students of this school. We then went to one the rooms of the school to prepare our "little gifts" for these first grade students. Pencils, erasers, bond papers, writing pads and other school materials were prepared mostly by the CSC Ladies.

The club also prepared a small program to formalize our outreach event for the school. Our Master of Ceremony was no other than the club's Daddy Noel Tuazon Divinagracia. The prepared school supplies were then brought to the stage and after a few minutes, we started our program.

Our Emcee Noel Tuazon Divinagracia doing his thing.

The school supplies ready to be given away.

The program started with an invocation by Scoopero Rexel Olavides, followed by the National Anthem lead by Rayden Bathan, another fellow Scoopero. A welcome address by one of our lady Scoopero Chay Larsen then followed.

Since it's already a little late (yup, we arrived a little late), we figured the children might be a little hungry already. We brought with us snacks for everyone (except for us, lol) so what followed next was the giving away of snacks to students and parents so they can enjoy the rest of the program with filled tummies.

Burgers and drinks for kids.

The parents followed to fall in line to get their share.

Kids enjoying their burgers and drinks.

Scoopero Conrad Abella tried to play with the kids while they were eating.

My kid and Chay's posed with first grade students.

While the parents and kids were eating, the program continued to save more time. A song number was given by our fellow Scoopero Christopher Abayan. After the small feast, our dynamic Emcee decided to gather the kids and do a small number together with the singer Christopher.

Our emcee having fun with the  kids.

The next part of the program was the parlor games headed by the CSC Backriders Issay Chiu and Marian Cielo. They played statue dance and the winners were given prizes. The losers weren't that unlucky because my daughter Myka also has something for everybody, including the losers.

Kids enjoying the statue dance game.

Myka giving "something" away to the losers first then to the winners as well.

After the games, the club went on to the give away the school supplies we brought. We have the children lined up and we saw their eagerness to receive their share. It was quite a heart-warming experience.

The Club President Michael Hernando headed the giving away of the school supplies.

Scooperos at work.

Fellow Scoopero Joseph also offered cash to the little kids.

Our club secretary Maricar Cariño acknowledged the sponsors and guests.

Our club tanod Conrad Abella giving the closing remarks.

The school head gave a speech.

As well as the Barangay Captain, Jonathan Villegas Jr.

The school teachers together with the barangay captain, school head and my wife, Mary Joy Betua Tacder.

Our fellow Scoopero Jose Nazareno also gave us sample medicines which we turned-over to the barangay captain.

Photoshoot before having our lunch. Unfortunately, we were not able to take pictures together with the grade one pupils.

After the program, with our tummies screaming, we went on to the anticipated Budol Fight. My wife's aunt prepared the food for us. Tables were set and filled with banana leaves and the foods were laid on the leaves ready to be eaten.

After lunch and a little rest, we decided to go back to the city. The activity was successful and it left us with a great sense of satisfaction. We are hoping for more activities like this to come.

We would like to acknowledge our sponsors for this event (in no particular order) Johnson Sy Chiaoco, Davies Paint, Noel Tuazon Divinagracia, Nick and Dandy Ouano, Josie Cladding, Cathvan Lael, Jose Nazareno and all Cebu Scoopy Club Scooperos who donated and volunteered.

Cheers for more outreach programs to come!

Ride Safe! Ride Scoopy! Godspeed!