GENERAL SANTOS CITY, July 28 – With only 26 qualifiers from Mindanao State University - General Santos (MSU-GenSan) in last year’s DOST Junior Level Science Scholarships (JLSS) qualifying examination, the MSU-Gensan Association of DOST-SEI Scholars (ADS) aided this year’s examinees to increase the number of qualifiers from the university.
This year, 206 out of over 12,000 aspiring scholars were designated to MSU College of Education Training Department (CETD) as their testing center for the JLSS qualifying exam on July 28.
photo by Krishtine Rivera
In an interview with Bagwis, Mherzel Gyn Apusaga, the outgoing president of MSU-GenSan ADS said that their review program, called Project TARA, started last January for the upcoming MSU System Admission and scholarship examination (SASE) and the DOST-SEI undergraduate scholarship qualifying exam.
“Our main goal jud from the start is, number one, to increase the number of examinees, and to increase the number of qualifiers sa MSU-GenSan since as of the record last year, 26 lang ang qualifiers gyud sa JLSS sa MSU-GenSan. So we want na by our small initiative, mag increase ang ilang chance to pass [the exam],” Apusaga said.
Exam takers’ preparations
When asked about his preparation for the exam, John Fredrick Corrales, a Bachelor of Science in Fisheries student of MSU-GenSan, said that he joined the review program of ADS.
“Nag join mi ug katong program sa ADS, which is naga conduct sila ug review sessions every weekend, ug at the same time, after tong session na to, naga conduct pod sila ug mock exam, which is nakatabang sad siya ginagmay,” Corrales remarked.
Additionally, he said that it was through ADS that he was made aware of the DOST JLSS.
“Ang ADS is grabe ka effort kay nag conduct jud silag campaign by block, so ako ilang [representative] ato na time. Through them, nakabalo mi unsa ang DOST, unsa ang offer ni JLSS, unsa ang mga privilege na makuha, kailan ang exams, and other answers na mahatag nila,” he added.
Moreover, Jessel James Paez, a BSEd major in Science student from the Notre Dame of Marbel University (NDMU), shared his struggles juggling both reviewing for the exam and their summer class which is part of their program’s prospectus.
“It was hard because our summer class schedule is from Monday to Saturday, [and] the review session is during Saturdays. Luckily, ‘yung Saturday namin is asynchronous, so may mga time na wala kaming tasks, so sometimes, nakaka enter kami sa review session,” Paez stated.
Furthermore, he shared how they found out about the review session.
“We were told na may inorganize na review sesssion from MSU, so we were happy, kasi we’re just three from NDMU na nag apply for JLSS. Na happy gani kami nga online siya, kay layo kaayo sa Marbel,” he shared.
Joshua Renz De Anas, a BSEd major in Mathematics student of MSU-GenSan, stated that he applied for the undergraduate scholarship program but did not qualify, hence taking the JLSS qualifying exam instead.
“Since high school, I was trying to apply na jud sa DOST [scholarship], but of course, may ara na madawat, may ara sad na dili, so I was part nga wala nadawat, try lang nang try until karon na third year,” De Anas stated.
He also shared that he also took part in ADS’s review sessions with a particular focus on science.
“Since nasa field kami of mathematics, I can say na medyo carry ang mathematics, at the same time, ang language, pero ang science naman, mahirap talaga siya. Naa ko’y absents when it comes sa mga review [sessions] nila, especially sa mathematics and other subjects, pero sa science, since alam ko sa sarili ko na I am having a thard time sa science, gi review ko siya,” De Anas said.
Nationwide initiative
Apusaga explained that Project TARA is part of a nationwide effort, co-presented with other organizations across the Philippines, each conducting their own review sessions under different project names.
“Maingon gud nako na murag nag ‘avengers unite’ ang tanan orgs na para mag isahan nalang mi, isa nalang among gi create na module, na review materials, para every organization with different name [for] the project nag collab for that project leads,” Apusaga remarked.
Moreover, Apusaga affirmed Project TARA's continuation and its accessibility to everyone in the succeeding years.
Tentatively, the announcement of the scholarship qualifiers is expected in October 2024.
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