There are 15 of them working at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, the amusement theme park in Vallejo, California, just a few minutes from the San Francisco Bay Bridge. Many more are spread across mainland United States of America. They are here as on-the-job-trainees or OJTs – almost 300 of them, all from the University of San Carlos (USC). (Over three years back, it was just a few handfuls of them.)
These junior and senior college students from the USC School of Business and Economics experience life working in theme parks, hotels, restaurants, and other visitor/tourism facilities on a J-1 Student Visa.
I was able to meet the 15 last week as I was preparing to launch the book entitled “Pagsulay: Churches of Bohol Before and After the 2013 Earthquake” at the Philippine Consulate in San Francisco. I managed to squeeze myself into the official entourage organized by Santi Dapul, owner of First Place Travel, who has been working with the State Department on this program to give Filipino students outside the US the opportunity to learn about American culture while working for three months.
First Place Travel encourages university officials to come to the United States to visit some of these students and see up close how they are doing.
This year, USC president Fr. Dionisio M. Miranda, SVD and vice-president for finance Fr. Generoso Rebayla, Jr., SVD decided to spend time with the students while attending the launch in San Francisco, a good way to hit two birds with one stone and cut costs. While we were in Six Flags, USC SBE dean Challoner Matero and assistant dean Melanie Banzuela were in Los Angeles while Business Administration faculty Concepcion Racaza was in Seattle also visiting another group of OJTs there. Later they proceeded to Florida to meet with more OJTs working in hotels and resorts.
Six Flags was closed for its weekly cleanup when we visited the 15. One could see their sense of fulfillment at having entered the US at such a young age, all of them only in their late teens. Two of them, Kassandra Galon and Clfiton Tejam, told us the work was tiring but fun at the same time since they meet all kinds of people. All of them agreed that the program was worth every cent that they and their families put into it. Lionelle Cherlith Solijon, who works in one of the Johnny Rockets Burger stores inside Six Flags, plans to come back after she obtains her bachelor’s degree. In fact, all of the 15 students we talked to here want to return if given another chance after their graduation.
The training jobs are tailor-fit to the educational background of the students. Those enrolled in business and accountancy courses are assigned as cashiers in food and beverage outlets. Those in the hospitality management programs are placed in hotels and resorts front offices and reception booths.
The program is largely voluntary on the part of the students but as shown by the number of OJTs, parents are apparently very keen on getting their kids into the program. Who would not want to put in one’s curriculum vitae that he or she has worked and lived for three months in the US?
There is, however, no guarantee that one can get a visa since First Place Travel can only process the application forms. Thus far, about two or three have been turned down for one reason or another. The fifteen that we got to meet, and let me name the rest here: Jane Marcia Geñete; Govenni Muñoz; Cherry Yvonne Jardin; Lyza Uristondo; Jesuelle Matt Sison; Joshua Daniel Geotina; Alevir Abigail Blanco; Brian Mban; Garcy Kim Go;; and the earlier mentioned Galon, Tejam and Solijon, all have Social Security numbers and may be given the opportunity, after graduating back in USC to return a year or two later to do a longer 10-month internship that, if they perform well, can be a stepping stone to career growth, whether in the Philippines or here in the United States.
* * *
The “Pagsulay” launch last Friday, May 8, which was hosted by the Philippine Center and the Consulate General of the Philippines in San Francisco, was an overwhelming success. Let me thank Consul General Henry S. Bensurto Jr. and his wife Mariza for graciously accommodating our request to do the launch and photo exhibit on the earthquake in Bohol and its impact on the churches. This could not have been achieved without Fr. Arnold Zamora who readily contacted the consulate when we inquired about where to launch the book. It was a tremendous help that Fr. Arnold was able to link me up with the young Dianne Sarmago, a scion of the Sarmagos of Argao, who works at the Trade and Tourism office of the consulate.
The next launch will be held in Pittsburgh this Saturday at the Assumption Church in Bellevue at 3 to 6 p.m. and on Sunday at the School Sister of St. Francis at their Mt. Assisi Convent around noon till 6 p.m. On Tuesday, May 19, it will be the turn of the Philippine Consulate in Chicago at 5:30 in the afternoon. On Friday May 22, the launch and photo exhibit will happen at 6 p.m. at the Philippine Consulate in New York, followed the day after at Payag Restaurant in Queens, New York, also at 6 p.m. See you all there!