Filipino professor to receive award from Obama
11/24/2011
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| Dr. Amelito Enriquez talks to his students at Cañada College in Redwood City, California. |
REDWOOD City - It all started with a simple "me-too" complex for Dr. Amelito Enriquez.
When he was growing up in Novaliches, he wanted to be many things: a priest, an athlete and eventually an engineer just because his older siblings had the same aspirations and they told him he couldn’t be any of these.
“Everyone’s telling me you can’t do this, you can’t do that. The more people tell me I can’t do something, the more I want to do it,” said Dr. Enriquez.
After earning a degree in geodetic engineering at the University of the Philippines, he worked for a big company for 6 months before quitting to start a business with his friends.
Teaching was something he did on the side. Today, this accidental teacher is invited to the White House to receive the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring.
It’s been 17 years since he decided to make a difference in the lives of students at Cañada College in Redwood City, a job he took after earning his doctorate at the University of California in Irvine.
The bigger universities he said, wanted its professors to focus on research, but he only wanted to teach.
“The fact that I feel like making a difference, pag nakita mo yung mata nila na kumikislap, na naiintindihan nila—it’s a good feeling,” he said.
John Paulino is one student who says doors opened for him when he took a class under the man he calls ‘Doctor E’.
For one, he was able to secure an internship at NASA.
“Maraming mga professor diyan they tell you ‘I want you to do well in school’ but they don’t really put a lot of effort into helping the students. But with Dr. E, he goes out of his way,” said Paulino, a mechanical engineering student.
In recent years, Enriquez has secured about US$10-million in federal and state grants for this small community college in the bay area.
He has developed several programs helping underprivileged and minority students achieve success in science, math and engineering.
Enriquez hopes to one day give back to the Philippines. When he does, he hopes the system won’t give him a hard time like it did in his youth.
“It’s really a systemic problem in terms of corruption. Kung gusto mong umasenso sa Pilipinas, you have to learn to be part of the system, play the game! And that was the part that was difficult for me,” he added.
For now, he said he will just focus on the bigger task of changing the world, one student at a time.
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