Photos by Lerry Cabalinan
“Together, we continue to serve God by faith.”- Dr. Edwin T. Balaki.
Together with the entire SCC community, Dr. Edwin T. Balaki celebrated the successes and milestones of his ministry and eight years of service in Southern Christian College on July 27, 2020. The celebration this year was far from the usual. With this yearโs theme “Together we continue to serve God by faith.”, the SCC family rejoiced in the more intimate fellowship in accordance with the minimum health and safety protocols under the new normal.
Dr. Balaki delivered his State of the College Address (SOCA) to recognize the recent achievements and excellence of Southern Christian College in academics, research and extension, infrastructures, community engagement and development, and other ministries of SCC inside the campus and in the community.
The Vice President for Academic Affairs, Dr. Neyrma N. Cabatac, gave her report on the Academic Affairs division’s updates. Dr. Cabatac mentioned the recent SCC milestones such as producing top-performing students in board exams, licensure examination passing rates that are higher than the national’s, and the Social Work program of SCC recognized as top 5 in board exam performance in the Philippines and top 1 in Mindanao. She also recognized the excellence of different degree programs being improved through accreditations. Moreover, the VPAA proudly recognized SCC faculty members who completed their graduate studies in various fields.
Along with the VPAA’s updates on the Academic Affairs, she also delivered the report from the Office of the Vice President for Research and Extension headed by the Vice-president Dr. Elma M. Neyra. The OVPRE continues to prove how SCC always leads the way in empowering and transforming its partner communities through various programs and projects for tri-people, youth, and women. Last year, SCCโs radio station 87.9 Shine FM was launched to reach communities with its informative programs on farming and agriculture. The research and extension division also continues to support and facilitate education for social development, peace processes, conflict transformation, and sustainable ecological agriculture and food security. SCC also participated in numerous research activities, and many of its faculty and staff presented their research outputs and papers to different research conferences.
Dr. Balaki further highlighted SCC’s transformation in the recent calendar year from infrastructures to delivery of quality education as its way of life and ministry. The President presented his accomplishments in developing the properties of SCC. According to Dr. Balaki, this is SCC’s way of protecting God’s property. He also shared his strategies and the technologies he uses in agriculture to sustain SCC’s income-generating projects. The President also acknowledged SCC’s collective effort in living its ministry of love as SCC reached out to the victims of the 2019 earthquake in Mindanao and in lending help and assistance to the Local Government Units in facing the challenges of the present pandemic.
After presenting SCC’s milestones, he shared his plans and opportunities for the current and the next calendar years to come. He proudly announced that SCC will now provide free Wi-Fi access to its students. He is also committed to the continuation of the school’s landscape beautification. Finally, he emphasized how SCC is rising above the challenges of COVID19 by providing free internet modems to SCC teachers to ensure that quality education will still be delivered to the students in these challenging times.
President Balaki congratulated the faculty and staff for a ministry well done for the calendar year 2019-2020. He expressed his gratitude and how the event humbled him as the father of this institution.