A student whose dream to pursue college education was almost derailed because of African Swine Fever, graduated BS Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences magna cum laude, as an FSP scholar of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources. Ever studious, she was a Dean’s Lister and President’s Lister at the Pangasinan State University-Binmaley where she bagged several awards like Best in Thesis and, Most Outstanding in Fisheries Awardee.

𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲:
Residing within a piggery farm in Bulacan in her younger years and influenced by her parents, Jana Bless Tejada, 21, planned to take up a college course that is related to agriculture, physical and environmental sciences. This is why she wanted to enroll at the University of the Philippines where she passed the college admission test for agricultural technology course.

Life had other plans for her, though. Just before she was to start college, the piggery farm where her father was working was hit by the African Swine Fever and had to close operations.

“𝐈𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐮𝐬 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲. 𝐁𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐲𝐞𝐝, 𝐰𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐲 𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫’𝐬 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐁𝐚𝐧𝐢, 𝐏𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧. 𝐌𝐲 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐔𝐏 𝐋𝐨𝐬 𝐁𝐚ñ𝐨𝐬, 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝,” she recalled.

But in Bani, her almost shattered dream to pursue college education in agriculture began to take shape again. An uncle informed and encouraged her to take up the fisheries scholarship examination of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources. She did, placing third in the fisherfolk children educational grant, and later enrolled at the PSU -Binmaley.

“I did not know that there was a college course in fisheries. That got me excited because it is related to agriculture , sciences and research,” Jana Bless said.

When the pandemic caused by Covid-19 struck, “the scholarship was a big help to my family which was still reeling from my father’s loss of employment. Since classes were held online, I did not need to spend for fare or other expenses that schooling entailed so the scholarship money went to food for the family.”

On her third year, school doors opened for face to face classes. Bani was far from Binmaley and commuting was out of the question so Jana Bless had to stay in a boarding house. Her father has found new employment by then.

“That posed a challenge because I had to do budgeting myself, something that I had no experience about,” she recalled.

Jana Bless likewise fondly reminisced about her professors, some of whom were really strict, “but now I appreciate their strictness since we learned a lot from them.”

She now works in a Makati office of a company engaged in fisheries.
“My plan now is to go back to fishery research or hands-on works, or pursue post-graduate studies and join the academe.”

#𝐁𝐅𝐀𝐑𝐔𝐧𝐨 #𝐟𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦