17 Feb ICAre: A Falcons Passion Project and Tribute to Our Teachers

ICAre: A Falcons Passion Project and Tribute to Our Teachers

by Natalie Diane Lim-Ang, Falcons Batch 1995

Behind every Student who believes in themselves is a Teacher who believed in them first…

As we celebrate and reflect on our Homecoming journey, the one theme that always motivated our batch was our desire to give back and make a difference to our ICA community, teachers and administrators.

We remembered how our teachers inspired us and instilled the love of learning. To this day, I still remember how Mrs. Liamzon got us to appreciate world history and learn the world map. She would say “the boots is Italy” and to this day, I have never forgotten that and shared the same analogy with my girls as we travel together. Then, there is Ms. Cereno, our PE teacher, who taught us the importance of movements and exercise; Ms. Dominguiano’s (whom we fondly call Ms Domeng) who made us appreciate geometry and understand the relations of lines, angles, etc. And how could we not treasure Ms. Sabado’s CLE classes where we learned to grow in our faith life and finally, our love for music and vocalizations were developed during our music classes with Mrs. Custodio, the mom of our Falcons batchmate.

Driven by this passion and armed with these fond moments, ICans Heart our Retired Teachers (ICAre) was born. This is a health care program for our Philippines-based retired teachers with at least 20 years of service. It’s an ongoing program that Falcons pioneered in partnership with ICAAA and its former president, Mrs. Julie Sy, Batch 1982, and with the support of ICA and its President, Sr. Irene N. Ferrer, M.I.C. A year prior to our homecoming in 2019, we started with our first batch of 25 beneficiaries and the numbers continue to grow annually. In 2020, another 6 teachers enjoy the benefits of free medical check-up and assistance on health care needs.

We want to express our gratitude to our teachers who first believed in us. With the generosity and support of our Silver Jubilarians in our annual Homecoming and other ICA alumni batches, we are able to do that. We’d like to say it’s now our turn to take care of you! On a personal note, as a mom of 3 girls, all proudly ICAns, I see how much impact the teachers make in the life of my daughters. As the circle of life continues, we hope to also continue to touch your lives and give back to you the love and dedication you’ve given us!