Education for me is one of the most important aspects of human life. So much so that as early as now, I’m seriously shopping around for a very good & stable education plan for my 3 year old kid. I was lucky enough to afford good education. However, due to my impulsiveness and anti-social stance during my formative years, I wasn’t able to fully capitalize on this privilege given by my parents. But I don’t regret it because it made me a better and stronger individual in all aspects of my life like family, relationships and work. I learned all the tricks of the street trade or what we call ‘diskarte’ from the school of Hard Knocks.
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| A snapshot of their website showing the free iPad for enrollees. |
A visit to Meridian International or simply MINT College, one of the most progressive schools I have encountered, brought back memories of my college days sans the traditional settings. You see MINT is, as far as I know, the only iPad-enabled educational institution in the country. As everyone knows, an iPad is a popular computer tablet made by Apple. Hendrix Kiamzon, MINT’s amiable chief marketing officer and marketing program head, said that upon enrolment a student is given an iPad to own as a vital part of their learning process and curriculum. “The iPad serves as our primary learning tool & platform for all our education materials like e-books, exams etc.”
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Me and my business partner Nico Cando were also quite astonished about MINT’s non-traditional set-up. Normally, a traditional Philippine school has the same monotonous, brick-and-mortar design for its classrooms. In MINT, classrooms have different set-ups and interior designs depending on the subjects being tackled. The rooms take on a futuristic feel and they are classified according to very interesting names such as Menthol, Spearmint, Peppermint, Lemonmint get the drift? The usual blackboards are replaced with large LCD screens and interactive whiteboards. I particularly liked the room where the students, while learning, can lounge around with its cozy beanbags and airy, bright interiors. For me, an interesting and highly-technological concept that veers away from the common clinical type classrooms is a good motivator for a student to go to class. I remember almost always forcing myself to wake up and drag myself to school. My only inspirations in going to school were really to hang-out with the barkadas, dressing up and of course the gorgeous gals!
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Another interesting thing about MINT is the program heads of the different course or colleges who are all luminaries in their fields. In a traditional set-up, we call them ‘deans’. Just recently, they got the talented Ms. Pinky Amador as their program head for theater arts. To refresh you, Amador is the daughter of the late theater arts luminary Zenaida Amador and a veteran in both the local and international theater scenes, having had stints in such prestigious Broadway musicals such as Ms. Saigon. Pinky has designed a program that stimulates a professional environment where students develop their areas of expertise and enrich their technical and marketing know-how across the theater arts industry.
What I like about their unique programs is that it incorporates academic theories with real world experience which I think should always be what a school is. MINT is essentially a revolution in education that seeks to provide state-of-the-art, progressive & cutting edge learning processes steeped in collaboration, creativity and applied academics.
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| The students of MINT are sure to get quality education with their state-of-the-art equipment and learning tools and of course their well designed programs |
Because of their trailblazing concepts, they were featured in GMA News TV and other leading media programs. Kiamzon also shared that they are big in awareness campaigns utilizing social media and the Internet in general. He showed us their 80,000 plus fans in their Facebook page, a surprising feat considering their infancy (they started operations a year ago).
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| Look who we bumped into, Actress Nikka Valencia of Ang TV fame (middle). My partner Nico Cando (left) gives the thumbs up for MINT |
I would highly endorse MINT’s brand of education to my friends and colleagues. In fact if my kid could only enrol I wouldn't have second thoughts. I'm pretty sure this school will eventually reach intelligent parents who only want the best education for their kids.
Anyway, if you’re interested just go to their website www.mintcollege.com or ring them up @ (632) 223-6468 and look for the accommodating & helpful Hendrix Kiamzon.
By Paolo Angelo Florenda
