My Teacher-Friend

Published in Baby Magazine 2009

How can you be worry-free when your child’s in school for seven hours a day, five days a week? Common points in the checklist include teachers who are kind, classmates who don’t bully, and administrators and personnel who keep the school conducive for learning.

Edna O. Aguila sure marks the first tick-box firmly. A dedicated partner to husband Jay, a persevering entrepreneur, a former DJ in her hometown in Pangasinan, a daughter to two teachers, a mother to three – her fourth grader James and two young adults Jenny and Jamie – and a teacher-friend to how many hundreds of boys and girls throughout her twenty-three years of teaching.

Ms. Aguila initially begged off from the profession she soon later found herself drawn to time and again. Her parents, having enjoyed their lives as teachers, invited their daughter to be a teacher like them. But being a 1963-baby, having been born when the X-Men was first released, when Conan O’ Brien was born, and when The Beattles released their very first album Please Please Me, she was naturally attracted to the media and took up communications instead.

A calling though is one that cannot be simply avoided. During her stint as a DJ, she was offered a teaching job for professional students from which she ran across a delightful experience. Despite career ambitions, she knew that she had to look for a job that would allow her to prioritize family when she decides to settle down.

Ms. Aguila confides, “When you’re young, you plan to go abroad and establish yourself. You dream of something big. And then when you fall in love and you want to start building your own family, that’s when the family becomes the priority.”

When Ms. Aguila got married, she set her ambitions aside and found herself teaching full-time to the high school students of Assumption, Antipolo. Today, not many can pluck themselves out of their ambitions to resign to their duties to the family. Perhaps, by this time, she hadn’t fully realized it yet, but she had already shown the true makings of a teacher – one who knows when and how to prioritize the best interest of a child.

From the amount of work the profession requires, she almost had a miscarriage; so she was advised by her doctor to rest. In the meantime, she dove into a business venture with her husband. Unable to resist her vocation though, not for long, she returned to teaching the very young grade schoolers of Rosehill School. She hasn’t stopped again since and is even going on her ninth year…

“Teaching is one profession that would heal the world, would make the world a better place,” Ms. Aguila shares in her soft, refreshing tone. MJ does live on! After the initial hesitation (and some tug-of-war in between) about teaching, this statement right here is telling of how she’s found her own peace of mind through this noble profession.

It’s reassuring for parents to know that your children’s teachers have found deeper sense in their profession – being responsible, not only for children to get a good grade in class, but a good grade in life.

A Rosehill parent Ms. Kim Borja delights in Ms. Aguila as a teacher inside and outside of the classroom. To her, a teacher should not only be a subject-teacher; communication should not be limited inside the classroom. “There are teachers who disappear after a subject has been taught, but not Ms. Aguila. KC, my daughter, keeps on mentioning her. KC says she teaches them ‘good things’. She would ask them how they are even outside the classroom and would not fail to give them compliments. A simple ‘How are you doing, KC? Or ‘You’re a good prayer leader, KC’ already makes a positive impact on the child.” Just like how a friend would ask about the littlest details about your day.

Ms. Aguila does teach her children “good things”, not only in words but especially in small, daily deeds. When in search for good deeds, the natural tendency is to look for superheroic acts such as Underdog saving an old lady from falling off a building. What is overlooked are these little things that when summed up, actually count more.

For Ms. Aguila, it’s important to teach the children the value of positivity. She carried on what she learned as a child, when she chose to listen to people and be with people who have a positive outlook. They are those who inspire her. As an effect, these small positive gestures she now makes daily allowed her students to be open to her about the more important things in life. Through this, she learned how to be a real friend to them.

A student in her English class once cried to her about her relationship with her mom. They were not very close as her mom, with the intention to discipline her daughter, ended up getting mad at her too frequently. Ms. Aguila would take time out of her official work hours to talk and listen to her friend. She also took the initiative to share with the mom the sentiments of her child. Since then, the mom had always been grateful for giving her a heads up that her child was already drifting away and that change needed to occur. And so things did change through the help of their teacher-friend.

Ms. Borja shares, “She has become a true friend to the kids. They would talk about her a lot. When she got sick just recently, they all gave her notes and gifts to try to make her feel better. I guess they only reciprocate the concern she has shown them throughout these years.”