Faith, Family, Future: Choosing Right (Junior Edition)

Grade nine students of MGC New Life Christian Academy (MGCNLCA) shared a meaningful time with their parents last March 18 at Choosing Right: Junior Edition, a program aimed at guiding the youth toward making God-centered decisions in their future careers.

Organized by the Guidance and Testing Center (GTC), this annual event seeks to equip students with wisdom and guidance as they navigate this pivotal stage of life and the challenges of this ever-changing world.

MGCNLCA alumni Dr. Shane Chug-Pili, Ethan Matthew Tan, and John Faith Gacutan were the main speakers for the two-session program. Guided by the theme verse, 1 Timothy 4:12, they spoke to the students about their personal encounters with the Lord and how their faith had guided the decisions they had made in their careers.  

Meanwhile, the husband and wife tandem of Danny and Michele Ching, former and current teachers of MGCNLCA, respectively, led the Parent-Child Encounter session in the afternoon.  This allowed parents and children to bond, reflect, and strengthen their relationship with one another. The session concluded with a letter-writing activity for parents and students to share their gratitude, appreciation, and apologies. 

“That's the main objective: to bring [parents] back into a setting wherein they get to see that their children, though maybe older teenagers, still need them. We're trying to really encourage that even at an older age, it doesn't mean that the children or the students do not need their parents. All the more so, [they] are important [in their children’s lives],” said GTC Head Daphne Trina Uang. 

Grade 9 parent Anthony Techico reflected on how this event reinforced their values as a family and strengthened their familial bond. “We thank God because we really pray that we will continue with [those] values [within our family].”

“The activities were a bonding experience, especially writing the letters. I [poured] my heart [into] that letter, and it really shows [that] writing letters [is a way of expressing love — [love] to [our] parents and especially from the parents to the child,” said Rane David Panganiban of Damascus C. Meanwhile, his parents, Normel and Sheila Panganiban, were reassured and reminded that their efforts positively contributed to the growth and well-being of their child.