Week 1: Community Sensing & Initial Engagement

The first week has been one of the most challenging parts of the special project for me. Participating in a field-based project hasn’t been easy for an introverted student like me, but I’ve continually reminded myself of the importance of completing it—not only to apply what I’ve learned, but also to share that knowledge with communities who may benefit from our support as future educators.

The first thing I did was reach out to multiple non-governmental organizations and youth councils within the vicinity of Laguna—places I believed I could easily access and collaborate with. The main purpose of the email was to ask whether they were open to working with me to conduct a community-based project focused on education—bridging gaps within the community where education could offer long-term solutions.

Although I already had ideas about the topics I wanted to work on, I made sure to ask for their insights by posing several probing questions: What are the current problems in the community? In what areas can education help address these problems? What initiatives has the community already undertaken? What strategies have worked or failed? What groups or stakeholders has the organization partnered with to support the community?

After conducting a few informal interviews, I concluded the first week by securing a partnership with the Biñan City Local Youth Development Council (LYDC). This collaboration is focused on addressing the rising incidence of teenage pregnancy in the area. According to the LYDC adviser, Biñan currently ranks among the cities with the highest number of teenage pregnancy cases in Laguna, based on their recent local data gathering.