TIP to even higher levels of excellence. All over again, Papa’s influence has rubbed off on everyone.
Further piecing the snapshots and the vignettes together, I have seen how the story of the grit and determination of TIP’s founder and of the school itself is actually also the story of TIP students and their parents. Papa always admonished his students “not to be ashamed of the struggle. It is the struggle that counts. It is what makes life meaningful.” Education is a priority in every Filipino family but due to financial con- straints, children take turns going to school. Every semester, every school year, it’s a struggle. Very early on, a Filipino child learns from his parents, and later from TIP, the importance of family, frugality, integrity, and resilience in the face of adversity. And so it has come to pass that TIP has become part of the Filipinos’ quest for a better life, to improve upon the past, to achieve upward social mobility through good education—to sacrifice now so that the next generation will not suffer the same fate. And so it has also come to pass that TIP and Papa Deming have become metaphors for the life stories of TIP students and their parents. From my viewing lenses as daughter, I see Papa, TIP, and the TIP students and their parents coming together as one. A perfect alignment of values. One and the same story for all three. Indeed, a great Filipino story of true grit and determination.
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