English major students pitched their “memory” project last week to complete a course with Israel’s Western Galilee College (WGC), despite the tension in the Middle East that impeded their onsite exchange program attendance following their acceptance in January.
Nariz Corbo and Ronna Abadejos offset their March travel for the start of the second semester at WGC by opting instead for an online course, Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Holocaust Memory – The World as a Classroom.
The Cebu Technological University (CTU) Internationalization and ASEAN Integration Director, Dr. Rhodora Magan, shared in a statement that memory studies should be emphasized as one of the key points in the language and literature teaching’ plane.
“It was truly an immersive experience that required both Ronna and me to be business enthusiasts and, at the same time, historical preservers,” Nariz remarked in a statement.
She also recalled how being paired with Nadav Glick from Israel and Thamar Barnett from the United Kingdom was an extraordinary moment to develop the holocaust-remembrance-oriented project, “Rooted Memory,” which Barnett primarily conceptualized.
Nariz and Ronna envisioned extending and scaling the concept to a broader context where memory is amplified.
They proposed implementing the project at CTU Danao campus by using QR codes that link a tree (living metaphor) to a digital page beginning with a verified biography. The record then grows in layers, mapping the human network around that life, and building an archive of contributions over time.
Students can engage by reading, submitting short reflections, joining seminars, or becoming Memory Stewards who help sustain the project annually.
Both were primarily trained to develop a startup, consistent with Israel’s moniker as the Startup Nation. Complementing this experience was their exposure to multiple resource speakers, including Dr. Edna Pasher and Dr. Boaz Cohen, whose insights helped them refine their project.
Adding to Corbo’s observations on the affective level of the interactive learning experience was the “humility of everyone in that class […] as we never felt out of place despite being undergraduate students.”
They also regularly interacted with classmates who had already earned postgraduate degrees. Corbo described the routine as part of their “circadian rhythm,” as they attended class every Thursday from 11:00 p.m. to 12:30 a.m., owing to the time difference between the two countries.
CTU hopes to finally send students to WGC, its sole partner institution in Israel, under an indefinite partnership agreement that allows both institutions to maximize academic collaboration./IAI
