Why we are "The Few and The Proud"

It may have posed a question to many where the motto, “The Few and The Proud” came from. Of course, as students of the College of Rehabilitation Sciences, we are aware of how small our community is at Liceo compared to the other courses offered at the university. Even so, the meaning may be unfamiliar to many, especially the fresh faces in the program. This week, we interviewed the Dean of the CRS Department, Sir Dick Herly Carskit, DM, PTRP, who has worked as an educator of our college for over 15 years and recognized changes the department has undergone.

The CRS department had previously been known as the College of Physical Therapy because occupational therapy had not yet been a part of the program. The department had been lively and large in numbers in its earlier years, “It was sometime in the 1990’s, we used to be a big college with a population of thousands or even more. We used to dominate the school activities. The other students will know that it is the College of Physical Therapy because the hall becomes loud and filled with boisterous laughter” (D. Carskit). Students of Physical Therapy used to dominate the college premises with the amount of students in the program and because of our numbers, the College of Physical Therapy at that time had quite a lot of presence in the university. However, in 2003, the administration had decided to put the Physical Therapy course on hold. This was due to the fact that another program had taken over and was the preferred major, causing the number of enrollees to dwindle.

Fortunately, the program was reopened in 2008, and it was a pretty rough start from the get-go. At that time, the department started off with just five to eight students per semester which then slowly increased over the years, “We barely achieved forty to forty-five, which is the ideal for one section up until now”, as stated by our Dean. When the department re- opened, the staff did all they could to improve the curriculum by revising it through studying international standards, and attended training and seminar sessions to better the teaching and learning strategies. “We established guided review programs… and that's the time we did well on the exams. We were able to produce top-notchers and we were able to maintain a passing rate above the national passing rate” (D. Carskit). Liceo De Cagayan University aims to be a top performing school for physical therapy by preparing students to become academic achievers. With that being said, the department accepts anyone with open arms, regardless of their GPA, as long as they are committed to the hard-work and of course, their course. Each grade level this semester has about thirty students; which is not equal as to when Liceo first introduced Physical Therapy as a course, but an accomplishment compared to the handful of individuals back in 2008. Consequently, the infamous phrase “The few and the proud” has become the CRS department’s saying, and we are still growing.

A change in numbers wasn’t the only difference with our college. With the changes in our numbers, there also came changes in curriculum. Our previous dean, Dr. Denise O. Orong along with the other staff members have decided to transition to a Problem-Based Learning (PBL) curriculum. For students who have never experienced PBL, it would come as quite a surprise, and the transition from traditional learning to Problem-Based Learning wasn’t easy for our instructors as well. To them, lectures started to get tedious and almost felt like a chore, and they realized that if they keep lecturing, there would be certain outcomes that students may not be able to achieve. However difficult the preparations for PBL were, our instructors were very excited to try the new approach, they attended seminars and workshops all the way in Manila, and in 2014, they started the PBL curriculum along with online education platforms such as Google Classroom as an online learning project led by Dr. Denise O. Orong.

The PBL curriculum that the College of Rehabilitation sciences is currently practicing isn't pure PBL, but a hybrid wherein the instructors guide the students on what to do throughout the week. The schedules for subjects are integrated throughout the week wherein we are able to learn the basics on Monday and dive deeper into Examination and Intervention towards the end of the week. As a student, this has helped me in terms of the structure of how I write my notes, and sometimes I find that I’ve been thinking that way too. The students are divided into groups and are given a case discussion to dissect and tasks, which serve as objectives on what we are to achieve for that particular day and are usually able to answer any questions we have concerning the case we are given.

Due to the pandemic and ECQ regulations, Liceo has not been able to open its doors for face-to-face learning, and the only way for the administration to be able to have face-to-face classes would be if the city is back to the General Community Quarantine status. Despite being online, however, our Dean wants us to know that we have to be “resilient, critical thinkers, and to be innovative in this time of the pandemic.” Learning online is not the easiest way of absorbing information, but for now, our teachers and staff encourage students to be able to push through for just a little longer until it is much safer. It is a must to find ways that make you successful under these difficult circumstances. We hope that we are able to be back soon because “This thing about human interaction, the human experience is a great teacher”, says Sir Dick, “Pat the shoulder, high-five, things like that and being able to converse in person is very different than doing it online, and we need that type of interaction.” The joy of seeing his students gathering in the hallways and being able to connect or joke around with them are a few of the highlights of Sir Dick’s teaching career.

What makes us CRS students is the capability to be able to struggle and turn out triumphant through the caring network of our small community and close bonds that we have developed. That is why we are The Few and The Proud.

Our dean, Sir Dick Herly Carskit, wishes for all of his students to “Conquer the world; be it in the clinical setting, academic setting, research, and even in the community setting. Be who you are, wherever you will be put by God Almighty.”

Writers: Floriline Mae Alado and Kissy Chyne Zaportiza