A scrumptious breakfast was prepared for the attendees to kick off the morning session. The meeting formally began with Ms. Efelyn Villanueva leading an invocation that was played with the accompaniment of an inspirational tune that undoubtedly set a contemplative atmosphere. It was, however, followed by an upbeat rendition of the Lipeño Hymn and the Calabarzon March which some of the attendees gaily danced to.

Dr. Cristeto Pamplona, Project K’s Co-Executive Director, gave the opening remarks. He made mention of the project’s previous obstacles, such as facing the issue of redundancy, of procedure duplication when it came to the promotion of reading activities which most possibly have already been common school practice. Nevertheless, Project K – after three years of implementation – is now seeing changes and progress. They may have declared before that they will cross that proverbial bridge when they got there. He now proclaimed with pride, “We have reached the bridge and crossed it successfully.”

Assistant Regional Director Josefina Tamondong, in a message following Dr. Pamplona’s remarks, expressed her gratitude to De La Salle Lipa for being invited to the school and having been given the chance to hold a meeting in the campus. In her speech referring to the efforts they have exerted on the project, Tamondong proclaimed, “It’s not hard work, it’s always something pleasurable.” She later raised the question, “May K ba talaga tayo?” (Do we really have K?) This got the audience to extend the grins a bit wider. “Syempre naman (Of course),” she continued with a smile. “We have the right,” was her contention; and part of this K is the right to know the results of the project. She further revealed that after the first grade, many children would revert to being non-readers during their 2-month summer vacation. In all probability, this tragedy is because these children’s experiences in reading are not as meaningful as they ought to be. “Even in high school,” she contended, “students revert to being non-readers and non-writers.” Fortunately, with Project K, this appalling reality could be altered. And with that, Tamondong thanked the 67 schools and 511 teachers from Grades 1 to 4 who have worked hard to keep the children reading.

An intermission number from selected teachers of the Lipa City Division Dance Troupe provided the entertaining break for the division meeting. The dance troupe was trained under Mr. Vic Hernandez, Alternative Learning System Division Supervisor, who incidentally handled the music & cultural activities for the occasion.

Dr. Corazon Abansi, De La Salle Lipa’s Vice President for Academic and Research and Project K’s Executive Director, began her presentation of Project K’s Achievements by recounting how the program surfaced.

“Project K is one of the many community involvement activities that De La Salle Lipa is engaged in,” Dr. Abansi said, emphasizing that the school’s duties included not only teaching but also doing research and rendering service to the community.

Dr. Abansi reported that it was way back in September 2002 when the formal acceptance of the Project K proposal was made. Following this project launch was an Action Planning & Direction Setting that allowed for the First Reading Summit which dealt with the establishment of perspectives: where should the project start and how. Other activities which the project undertook for this stage were the annual Synergia Retreat which discussed the program status, Synergia Brainstorming, Benchmarking Workshop, and the First Annual State of Education Conference. For the project’s information dissemination, print media, television, and FM radio stations were tapped to spread awareness among the public and private sectors.

The Stakeholder Consultation as well as the Formation of the Reading Experts Team soon came after. Dr. Abansi also stated that it was the Department of Education which was really at work. De La Salle Lipa merely served as a catalyst by providing managerial, supervisory, and technical support for the project. The local government, in turn, took care of logistics.

Perhaps the most crucial of all the activities was the training of the teachers. In pursuit of the Training & Capability Building, other activities which the project assumed were the Elementary Teachers’ Congress and the Building & Strengthening Capability Partnerships. As part of the Instructional Materials Development, a retooling of the 4-Pronged Approach was made last summer. This was done in recognition of the need to provide complementary materials for the teachers’ training. A Festival of Instructional Materials was also held, wherein the participating teachers’ creativity were discovered to be boundless. In partnership with the National Book Development Board, a Workbook Development Workshop was also conducted. Dr. Abansi mentioned that some Synergia projects preferred to simply buy workbooks; but the “Lipa people decided to write the books instead of buying.” This was followed by a Teacher’s Manual Development which was aimed at “leveling the playing field,” a step taken in an effort to assist teachers who might take on the same reading project in the future. These manuals provided for how to properly conduct reading classes, “leaving no room for discrepancy.” All the possible influences on reading were given these instructional materials: the child, the parents, and of course, the teachers.

A Copyright Application for the Project K workbooks was also embarked on. Dr. Abansi related an experience of not being able to sell the workbooks to very interested parties during an exhibit due to the lack of copyright.

Further achievements discussed by Dr. Abansi were the Reading Proficiency Assessment, Administration of Post-Tests to fourth grade students, as well as many other enrichment activities such as DEAR, the establishment of reading corners in schools, and Brotherhood & Sisterhood in Reading.

A message from Head of Special Projects under the Office of the Vice Mayor, Jun Landicho, formally closed the event. Ms. Araceli Valencia, East District Supervisor, served as the meeting’s emcee.

In the end, it was more than just a division meeting. A chronicle of Project K’s achievement not only reminded the attendees of the indubitable fruits of their labor but also gave them further encouragement to pursue the objectives and ideals of the project. A simple meeting within the four corners of mini-auditorium turned out to be a big leap, a journey toward the betterment of the reading experience.