Young Achievers International School: Preparing Students for the Real Life Scenarios

Our mission lies in maintaining academic formation programs, which will ensure the formation of upright person acquainted with skills relevant to the changing times.

In 1994, Young Achievers International School (YAIS) put down its roots in Las Piñas City to nurture the ideas of young minds of the Philippines. It is a non-sectarian school which offers pre-school education, complete elementary education, complete secondary education, upper secondary and senior high school grade education. The school takes pride in itself as all the levels of education are duly recognized by the Department of Education. YAIS constantly administer innovative programs, instructional activities and designs to better equip its students hurdle the challenging demands of the global trends in the tertiary education in all aspects of human endeavors.

The vision of YAIS lies in creating a graduate who is GOD fearing, obedient, who face challenges with open mind and heart, trustworthy, an advocator of peace, a lover of truth, worthy example of patience and humility. The received academic knowledge should be utilized to good use as well as the student should believe in the will of GOD ALMIGHTY. The school’s job is to maintain an environment where love, peace and joy are outpouring. It wants to remain truthful to the true credo of an educator: “teaching and learning is a never ending process, that as we learn, we give a bit of ourselves to educate humanity.”

The Molder who shapes the Students in all Round Personality

Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality”, as quoted by Warren Bennis reflects in the leadership of Ms. Edna J. Ocampo, School President, Administrator, Founder, and Incorporator. Ms. Ocampo obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree (major in Economics) from the University of Santo Tomas. She earned units for Masters in Education (major in Curriculum and Instruction) from the University of the Philippines. Her corporate world exposure (20 years  banking  experience) provided her with a clear vision of what type of education and  training can enhance  efficiency  in the use of human  and  technological resources which will boost  productivity  to combat insufficiency.

Ms. Ocampo’s efforts along with the collaborative support of the teaching and non- teaching staff, the curriculum and instruction as well as the teaching strategies and participative learning styles of YAIS are regularly reviewed to ensure that the learners are exposed to real life scenarios. Lessons are sourced by teachers not only from books but also from daily struggles of people. Domestic and international social issues are always alternative sources of information for discussion concerning lessons provided in books.  The vision, mission, and aspirations of YAIS are put to fruitful actions by the enthusiasm and team spirit of the school.

Innovative Curriculum and Instructions

YAIS delivers science school- based curriculum and instruction on the core curricula. The core curricula includes; Science, Mathematics, English language, and Civics. Accounting Business Management (ABM) and General Academic (GA) are the two strands offered by the school for senior high school level. Japanese as a foreign language course is provided from  the elementary level (Grade 5 & 6) to the  secondary level (Grade 7  to Grade 12).

Reading and writing of the Katakana and Hiragana characters is the part of Japanese language curriculum. Senior high school students are taught Japanese language with emphasis on the application of the language in the work place. The school has teachers with expertise in oral and written communication who handles the course proficiently.

YAIS is known for its novel trends in teaching technology in its instructional designs.

Achievements Bestowed upon the School

In June 2006, YAIS was conferred the Most outstanding Science Integrated School, Las Piñas City, (Philippines) Award by the Agora Institute for Marketing Excellence jointly with the Philippine Marketing Practitioners Association. The award comprised the citation for well-financially managed school with stringent adherence to sound marketing and accounting principles and precepts.

The YAIS students who appeared for  the annual National Career Assessment Examination (NCAE) from the year 2009 to 2017 received extraordinary general scholastic average scores ranging from 85% to 99+%. The impressive test scores were the outcome of innovative academic programs in core-curricula taught by the school.

In January 2017, YAIS was honored with affiliation of the Tokyo Metropolitian Kokusai High School (Komaba, Meguro-Ku, Tokyo, Japan), a public international school funded by the Tokyo Metropolitian government. Tokyo Metropolitian Kokusai High School is an IB World School which offers an academic course for the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program. The association between the two schools resulted in exchange of the best practices in curriculum standards and instructional designs. The student exchange programs and class immersions for limited and specific number of schools days in a school year were implemented.

The school’s pioneering teaching techniques assisted high school graduates to qualify the entrance examinations of reputable colleges and universities in the Philippines (University of the Philippines, University of Santo Tomas, De La Salle University, Mapua University, Philippine Normal University, etc.). Various academic programs of YAIS are recognized by the Department of Education which are Pre-school (P-036, Series of 2008), Complete Elementary (E-023, Series of 2004), Complete Secondary (S-006, Series of 2008), and Senior High School (SHS 0157, Series of 2015).

Educational Treats for Students

YAIS have faith in the student’s abilities and therefore have implemented curricular/co-curricular and extracurricular activities to develop training and learning potentials of the students. The school arranges Quiz bees (math, language, science, civics, Filipino language) for the elementary and secondary level, twice a week of October (Celebrated on the occasion of founding anniversary of YAIS). Sports competition, Literary and Cultural exhibitions/competitions are organized for students.

Educational field trips to historical places, museums, science theme parks, factories and orphanages are arranged by the school. Along with these,  fund raising activities (food booth, out-of town products booth, Christmas items and décor booth) are also planned by the school. Sports are considered as crucial part for the holistic development of students and keep away an idle child from unwholesome activities. Students enthusiastically participate in sports, music, and arts club after regular classes. All these activities keep children occupied and thus YAIS is proud to have campus free of illegal drugs.

Enlightening Students with Socio-economic and Cultural Aspects                             

Nourishing young minds with a sense of gratitude, wisdom, empathy, kindness, socio-economic and cultural aspects will definitely benefit in building a better world. Therefore, YAIS supports the efforts of non-governmental institutions in taking care of the environment and some allied activities.

YAIS conducts Citizenship Advancement Training Program through which it participated in International Coastal Clean-Up in 2018 and was granted a certificate of commendation from Philippine Coast Guard- Ocean Conservancy on September 15, 2018.  The school also received a commendation from People for Treatment of Animals (PETA) for supporting the institution’s efforts to send an aging and lonely elephant (Mali) from Manila Zoo back to its sanctuary.

YAIS supports the efforts of local government of Las Piñas city in clean- up drives. As a part of yearly scouting school encampment activities, the scouts help in the sweeping of barangay roads after which the brooms used are donated to barangay council. Donation of old books, workbooks, etc. to the barangay council library is offered by the students of YAIS with the motto of ‘Share an old book and help a child read’.

In the Philippines, Christmas is the happiest season of the year and during this season, most of the generous acts in all ways and forms are performed by the school. Sharing blessings or gifts is the greatest joy one can feel and therefore, YAIS students and staff actively shares their blessings with the less fortunate. The Students Government Association (SGA), request simple and useful gifts from teachers, students, friends and thereafter distribute it to the social workers of Children’s Joy Foundation. A short and sweet Christmas party is arranged for the orphans in the Children’s Joy Foundation. YAIS students actively participate in uplifting of stress caused to children affected by typhoons. The students share excess coins for donation which are used by the Department of Social Welfare and Development in Las Piñas City.

Livelihood education  to increase family income  is  clearly demonstrated  thru practical activities as an integral part of YAIS’   curriculum and instructions. Vegetable gardening is a sight in school campus. The money earned after the harvest is collected by the Office for Students Affairs as immediate and available funds. The funds are later used for donations to charitable institutions like Philippine Tuberculosis Society, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts of the Philippines.

Exceptional Funding Programs

Department of Education offers a voucher program for the senior high school students of YAIS. Graduates of the Junior High School from public schools are given admission in YAIS and the fees are paid through the voucher program. Recipients of voucher need to pay for books and school uniform. Honor students also receive discount grants from YAIS, discounts in school fees ranges from 15% to 50% depending on the honors received. Students  in the Varsity Sports Program are likewise entitled to some discounts in school fees, books, and other miscellaneous items.

Developing Students in their Career

The immersion program of YAIS provides students the exposures to career opportunities. The school arranges on the job-training (OJT) programs to G12 students for hands-on work experience. In local settings and school immersion, the Junior High School and Senior High School students are encouraged to test their skills by acting as teacher trainees for a day during their Workshop Schedule. The teaching activities will help develop the oral and written communication skills of the students. The creativity of students is encouraged by assigning them with the responsibilities of stage decorations for particular events. Also, club activities like Music, Dance, Reader’s, Writer’s, and Sports club are offered to develop competencies of Junior and Senior High School Students.

Accomplished Alumni of YAIS

Some  students who progressed from YAIS to their respective universities with flying colors and became successful in their career are Marc Brian  Rigor (staff  at the  Civil Aeronautics Aviation Board),  Kathleen O. Flores ( Media and Communications Instructor at the Singapore School Manila,  author of  English book  (for the secondary level) and  news reporter at the NHK Manila- Japan Broadcasting Corporation),  Dr.  Nagatoshi  Ebisawa  (licensed medical doctor at the Makati Medical Center),  Ma. Esperanza D. De Los Reyes (licensed nurse at the  Manila  Doctors Hospital) and  Elijen Love U. Saez  (Account officer at the Office of the Secretary –  Department of Finance-Philippines).

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