UP College of Medicine
Dear Classmates:
A. UPCM89 Phil. Donors: Many thanks to our Philippines Class 89 Homecoming Organizing Committee for starting the process and to the first donors to our Class 89 Phil. Class fund: Myrna, Carissa, Leni C., Anabel, Celine, Lito Bau, Ruben, Rose, and Cesar. Mabuhay!
1. For details on donating to the Phil. Class Fund, please contact Carissa or Myrna who have graciously agreed to head the finances, by phone or text.
2. Maraming salamat din sa dakilang Eva C dlP who has represented our class all these years and for volunteering to head the UPCM89 Homecoming Festivities Program Committee. She has also promised to co-host the program at the homecoming ball KUNG co-host niya si Martin B. at si Jun Q.
3. Muchas Gracias to Anabel and Celine who have agreed to co-chair the Scientific Meeting Committee for our homecoming (each celebrating class provides a conference with lectures and CME during the homecoming, we hope many of our distinguished classmates will be able to present).
4. We are still in need of classmates to join the committees for the Homecoming Ball and the Souvenir Programme Committee for the Homecoming Ball.
We have a few years to go before our homecoming in December 2014, but time goes by fast and from talking to the other celebrating classes, by this time they were already organizing, so we don’t want to be unprepared and we want to have a homecoming we can remember and be proud of . Needless, to say, we need a lot more people to get involved. Please take this opportunity to re-connect with old friends, have fun, and do some good for the UP College of Medicine.
B. Class 89 Project Update:
First, some facts to think about:
UP College of Medicine tuition/ year 1984-1989: PhP 22,000
UP College of Medicine tuition/ year (2011): PhP 30,000
Private Phil. Medical school tuition in the ’80s: PhP 100,000
Private Phil. Medical school tuition 2011: PhP 250,000
U.S. Medical College tuition in 1989:$5,810- 18,000
U.S. Medical College tuition 2011: $30,000 plus
The numbers speak for themselves, the UP College of Medicine costs 88% less than other Phil. private medical schools (forget about comparing tuition with US medical schools) and has barely increased fees in 20 years. Since it can’t generate funds to improve facilities by raising tuition, they rely on other sources (like us). Dr. Bunds Balgos and Dean Roxas kindly took the time to give us an extensive tour of the College and discuss their vision for the College and future projects with us.
(see pictures of the tour on: Facebook )
After the tour, the committee unanimously recommends that as our class project, we support the building/ renovation of the Animal Lab/ House for the following reasons:
1. The College and the surgical departments in PGH badly need the animal lab for research (remember our pharma experiments on animals in 1st or 2nd year?) and surgical practice. UP can’t be a leader in medical research and training without an animal lab.
2. The Animal Lab project costs around PhP 1M which is well within our budget.
3. The Animal lab will be a free-standing structure (in front of the tennis court and in the rear of the Biochem/ Pharma building) and it would be nice to have a building (even if it is a small one) with our class name on it and not have to share the project with anyone else (unlike other classes). We figure that if enough people donate early and we collect PhP 1M by next year, they can start construction and the building can be ready for ribbon-cutting in time for our 2014 homecoming!
Animal Lab
Animal Lab
We had initially committed to the Pharmacology lab renovation, but now that the Animal Lab project is available, it was decided that we make this our priority and if more class members donate, we might have enough for both projects, which would be a great gift. After speaking with friends from older UPCM classes, they highly recommend that for now, we formally commit to the more affordable project project (the Animal Lab) since we will also need extra (approximately) PhP 2Million for the homecoming festivities (ball, scientific meeting, etc.) and IF we have any extra money after that we can donate to the Pharma lab or save it for further projects in the future (other classes continue to sponsor projects for their 30th year, etc.) The other classes said, in their experience, it’s hard to predict what happens with the dollar-peso exchange rate so masmabuti kung conservative ang estimate natin (and of course, if we could raise more funds than expected)
We would like feedback from everyone, since this is OUR project, and we are counting on everyone to make an effort to contribute (it will say “CLASS 1989″ on the Animal Lab). Oks ba o hindi? Dr. Balgos would like to hear from us soon. I will post pictures of the Animal lab, Pharma lab, and current pictures of the College on the blog.
More to follow, re: Online fundraising, possible UPCM89 book (25 Tanong/ 25 Taon), etc.
Happy Easter to All!
