Personal Narrative

There is a saying, that “Education is a key to success.” Every one of us has been educated that started from the basic form of the society to the academic institutions of intellectuals.  I, on my part, learned so many things of the importance of academic institutions. This academic education facilitates to develop our knowledge, skills, and abilities that serve as the core of our gradual learning and experience process. There is a biblical phrase that states that many are called but few are chosen. This phrase does not apply to the religious sector of the society rather it also applies to development of one’s hidden potentials. Every one of us is called to leadership but only few have been chosen. And I am one those who was called and was chosen.

I was only eleven, but I remember it like yesterday. I was sitting in our Grade VI classroom of Sto. Niño Elementary School, when we are having our elections for our batch in a dynamic environment of loud voices; and I heard one of my classmates that said “I nominate Marc Christian Tangpuz for Vice-President.”

Those words ripped into me like a serrated knife into a crisp, cold apple. It was anunexplainable feeling that seemed to possessed my whole body – a feeling of a juvenile that carry the thoughts of question such as “Why me and why not they?” It was a feeling that I can’t reason out because I have no desire to be a prominent person. This was the starting point of my calling to leadership. I was elected and chosen as Vice-President of our batch.

My practice and experience of leadership was continued in my secondary education at Assumption Academy, a private and a Catholic institution run by the Religious Sisters of Mercy (RSM). I became active student having so many extra-curricular. I became a band leader which I don’t like to be. I became a sacristan whom they considered as the worst Christians which developed my calling to enter the seminary. Finally, I became the President of the Supreme Student Council Organization (SSCO) in our batch 2007. And being the president of the student organization is terrible. And based in my experience, the president should be both a leader and a manager. The president should always be ready and intuitive. This position enhanced my leadership and managerial skills.

After my secondary education,the story of Saul in the Holy Bible seemed to happen to me.  Almighty God called me to become a servant of God in the midst of my dream. I don’t know if it was either a sweet dream or a nightmare. I am just afraid to become a servant of God. Little by little, I was inspired to become a priest as I served as a sacristan in Our Lady of Assumption Parish. I entered Sacred Heart Seminary which has a unique and strange environment not only because we are all boys but rather the ambiance is different from the outside world. As a seminarian, I was molded to be mature person through the help of formations that are found in academics, community, spiritual, and pastoral. What happened here was another kind of process that I learned a lot such as time management, discipline, socialization, and developing spiritual life that cannot be easily acquired in the outside world. And all of these are my ace.

Spending two years in the seminary is enough. I am enrolled in the University of San Carlos taking up Bachelor of Arts in Political Science major in International Relations and Foreign Service. This course provides crucial knowledge of what is international politics and the importance of diplomacy and relations of one state to another state. It is in this institution that I was able to enhance or upgrade the level of my professionalism because of praxis, the practical application of theory. And this is the ground that I started to experience of what is to be Foreign Service Officer. I had my summer internship program at the Department of Foreign Affairs, Cebu Regional Consular Office that I had satisfactorily accomplished. Also as an International Relations and Foreign Service (IRFS) major student, I attended the 5^th UNESCO Youth Peace Ambassador Training Workshop Holistic View of Peace, Health, Development and the Environment held 6-14 November 2012 in Bangkok and Kaeng Krachan, Thailand where I met friends from Indonesia, Thailand, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and other delegates from another country that developed my communication skill and applications dialogue of substantive knowledge such as Islam, peace, and the like.

My experience has taught me a lot. I discovered that, in order to reach the top, you must learn to climb the mountain and, in order become a successful person, you need to face education.  It may be from day-to-day experience, or from the lectures of the teachers for education is a life long process. In a way I am thankful for my experience, because I learned a lot from it. Indeed, “Education is the key to success.”