Alumni Homecoming and Fellowship Night 2015

In celebration of its 10th year Founding Anniversary, the Silliman University Medical School hosted an Alumni Homecoming and Fellowship Night last August 21, 2015 at the Bethel Guest House. The event was attended by University President, Ben S. Malayang III; Academic Affairs Vice president, Betsy Joy B. Tan; faculty and staff led by Dean Jonathan C. Amante; organizing committee headed by Dr. Elminda B. Oracion; current SUMSA officers; and representatives from each batch of the pioneering classes up to the present graduating batch of 2016.

The Night was filled with inspirational speeches, nostalgia, recognition, entertainment and fellowship. The program started with a prayer of thanksgiving offered by Rev. Elmer L. Saa who clearly acknowledged God's continuing grace and faithfulness to the Medical School ever since the time of its founding. Everyone was then welcomed by Dr. Caesar Antonio O. Ligo, who shared his thoughts and his years of experience as a faculty member, maintaining quality education of the Medical School. His message was meant to motivate all stakeholders to invest and strive for excellence. "Let us not forget that this pursuit is likened to a marriage that requires patience, commitment, and sacrifice in order to become successful," he emphasized.

This, in turn,  was affirmed by President Malayang's message as he cited the principle: to be able to make a flower to bloom, we must be able to make sure that the whole garden is healthy. "Each and every graduate of the Medical school must be tended carefully by the faculty & staff, and the whole extended system of the University so that they will bloom and flourish."

 In retrospect, he also recognized the courage and the efforts of the previous administration led by Dr. Augustin A. Pullido in putting up the first Medical School in the province. "At the beginning, it was just dream...everyone in the Silliman community and the administration had plenty of trepidations, asking what if it isn't the right thing to do? Now, we can see that those trepidations were wrong, now we see that the Medical School is among the lighthouses of academic excellence in the University," the university president declared.

He ended his speech with a reminder to each and every one to never rest on the laurels of each one's success and continue to grow steadfastly through the coming years.

One of the highlights of the program was Dean Amante's keynote speech which can be summarized in three recollections namely: reflection of action, reflection on action, and reflection for action.

Reflection of action: Past achievements, hurdling the dark ages of the medical profession, and the birth of the Medical School

In January1989 the accredited program in Internal Medicine was initially started in the Medical Center. It was projected in 1992 that by the year 2000 most of the specialties in Internal Medicine in the province of Negros will be served by the graduates of the said program. But unfortunately there was a time when there was a slowly decreasing number of doctors in the country. Many were going abroad, shifting to nursing which was lucrative back then. With this concern, the idea of starting a medical school program sprouted. Although initially many would have thought that this dream is seemingly impossible, courage, persistence, and hard-work among the initial stakeholders, and eight years were what it took for the dream of starting Silliman University Medical School to be realized.

Reflection on action: Present achievements, and Challenges

"Year after year, milestones were achieved that further strengthened our faith to press forward," Dean Amante said. "With our unique medical curriculum of inculcating the Silliman brand of education which is anchored on the virtue of scholarship, character, and faith, each medical graduate is prepared to be deployed in the field of medical practice."

 At present, several faculty in various subspecialty levels were added among the teaching force of the medical school. And with the growing number of young faculty members who can support the initial faculty, together with the regularization policy & a faculty development program of the University, quality medical education in SUMS is further acertained.

Another thing worth marketing aside from the modern learning facilities enjoyed by the students, is the setting of quality standards in the admission requirements of the Medical School. In the past two years, the school has implemented the Philippines Association of Medical Colleges recommendation to require the cut-off score of 60 in the NMAT scores of applicants. This move has been driven by the goal of producing quality medical doctors in every medical school in the country. Lastly, the school has been currently utilizing Optical Scan machines in every exam for the past years. With this system, students can now easily track their scores after every exam and estimate their performance in order to plan and identify areas of focus for the future exams.

Reflection for Action: Visions 

 "Part of the responsibility of a good leader is to prepare his/her successor."

The entirety of events that have occurred during the past 10 years in the Medical School is really part of the master plan in preparing new leaders in the medical field. From the training program initiated in 1989, derived are the initial faculty members who served as the stepping stones in producing a new breed of doctors graduating from Silliman University Medical School.

"It is indeed nostalgic when you look back, connect the dots, and see the past achievements of the school in a bird's eye view."

The Big Task ahead

"Projecting 5 years from now, our school will be graduating around 250 Doctors who will eventually serve their respective countries or provinces. With an estimate of more than 100 remaining in Dumaguete, our stakeholders envision to prepare and provide facilities for their practice and in the process benefit future patients or the community at large. The big task ahead of us is a long the way and we cannot please everyone. There will always be obstacles that have to be faced. But this should not hinder us to keep on dreaming. We should plan to convert our dreams into reality just like our medical school. And after we have done everything, it is also important to surrender everything up to our God who knows every uncertainty of life."

After the sumptuous dinner, everyone was toured around the world by the creative dance performance of Batch 2015 who depicted different styles and dance moves across different countries. The celebration ended up joyously with lights and music. Everyone around the function hall savored each minute of the time for greetings, and laughter. It cannot be denied that everyone had a wistful look wishing for the moment to last longer.

With a new set of elected Alumni officers, everyone is confident to look forward for another memorable Alumni Homecoming next year.

-Lemphocyte Garsuta