Not everyone who attends graduate school gets the chance to become an international scholar or go to a prestigious university abroad. Dr. Mark Preston Lopez is blessed to have achieved both. Dr. Lopez was hired as an instructor I at Mountain Province State Polytechnic College (MPSPC) on July 13, 2013 after obtaining Master of Arts in Gender and Cultural Studies at Simmons University in Boston, Massachusetts, USA in 2012. Before coming to MPSPC, he served as Executive Assistant III and Chief of Staff, Office of the University President of the Nueva Vizcaya State University for five years. He taught for 3 years at the Central Luzon State University in Nueva Ecija.
When Fulbright sent an announcement to MPSPC about the availability of scholarship programs, Dr. Lopez applied in early 2015. After a rigorous screening process, he made it to the short list who were invited for a panel interview. After a few weeks, he learned that he qualified for one of the four slots of Fulbright scholars in the entire Philippines of the 2015-2016 cohort to pursue a PhD in the US. As a Fulbright scholar, he was provided the following: a round-trip international travel, monthly maintenance allowance, tuition and fees, book/supplies allowance, and health and accident insurance. He filed his application to American universities of his choice, and was admitted to 3 different universities; however, he was advised by the Philippine Fulbright Commission to pursue his degree at the University of Florida (UF). He was officially admitted to UF in mid-December of 2015 and was scheduled to attend his classes in early January. Because of the limited time to prepare all his documents, he went through a series of problems that delayed his departure for the US. In fact, he received his US visa the day before his flight to Gainesville, Florida, and he had to miss his classes, chase his professors and catch up with his readings.
“Living in the States was both overwhelming and challenging,” said Dr. Lopez. “The perks of living in America includes living convenience, eating food from different countries and food you never tasted before, and enjoying the convenience of a first-world country like speedy internet,” he added. But the difficulties will never go away. Like any other newbie in town, he also had a hard time adjusting to the new place, culture and the academic life in front of him which was totally different from the system in the Philippines. And of course, fighting home sickness was in his list. However, his strong will and determination to overcome those challenges dominated his anxiety. He established a support group who helped him adjust to the life in the US. He met new friends and looked for other Filipino graduate students who accompanied him during his stay at the University. Moreover, he focused on his studies and worked hard.
However, the Fulbright Scholarship was only good for two years. Dr. Lopez had to find available assistantships to fund his studies. The University of Florida provided him a teaching assistantship that also got him to teach undergraduate classes in the College of Education at UF for two semesters. His tuition fee and insurance was waived by UF and he was also paid by the University in exchange of his teaching load. On his third year, he was granted a research assistantship by his academic advisor, Dr. Maria R. Coady but had limited privileges, and one of which was paying for his own tuition fee from his monthly income. This was a difficult time for him, but he applied for the partial financial grant provided by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) in the Philippines which helped him through until he graduated. Dr. Lopez emphasized, “Studying abroad is financially heavy and draining, and so one has to be aggressive in outsourcing financial help through legal means.” As a scholar in a foreign country, he was only allowed to work for 20 hours a week.
Dr. Lopez had also to seek extension of his study leave for one year since his approved study leave with pay was only for three years but his doctorate degree normally required 4 to 5 years to complete. The MPSPC Board of Trustees approved his request, but he was able to return to the College a semester earlier than was expected.
The last months of Dr. Lopez in the States were the most difficult time for him. His dissertation study went through a series of major revisions. He spent sleepless nights, as any other graduate student would experience, trying to meet the demands of his advisor and committee members on the quality of his dissertation. He confessed about almost losing his mind during those times, having suffered depression and anxiety.
Dr. Lopez officially returned back to work on September 2, 2019 after graduating in August 2019. “When I came back, there were mixed emotions. I was excited to come home and be with my family, I was excited to go back to work because I missed teaching and the people I worked with. But at the same time, there was some anxiety because I did not know what was ahead of me, personally and professionally”. He added that the temptation to stay and work in the US was very strong, but he was also conscious of “giving back” to his institution and the community who will directly benefit from whatever he can share. He also hoped that things will work out positively at MPSPC despite the odds and the challenges.
With his return, he strongly wanted to inspire his colleagues about finding and grabbing opportunities for professional development. He disclosed about his hopes that in addition to Ms. Dimog’s scholarship and educational opportunity in Taiwan, other faculty members shall also be more open to exploring the wide world outside. In a similar fashion, he also plans to impart many things to MPSPC, considering all his achievements and the erudition he obtained abroad. As the current OIC-Chairperson of TED, he prioritizes leading his colleagues in working towards Level IV Accreditation. He admits that the internal pressure within him is heavy and pulsating and in fact, he is praying for miracles to help them go through it. Yet, he is confident that with his colleagues’ enthusiasm and dedication, they will collectively do their best to work for it.
He also wants to uplift the morale of the faculty of Teacher Education to enable them to enhance excellence and quality in their teaching that can also produce quality graduates. He added that he wants to address one grey area, that is, the “sleeping” culture of research in the department. To do this, he aims to strengthen the research programs of the Department and its corresponding extension component, inspire more faculty members to do more research studies because he believes that these are vital for them to develop professionally. He also plans to strengthen the Department’s partnership with rural school districts and provide assistance to rural teachers so that they will also develop professionally and deliver quality service to their students. “MPSPC’s teacher education program should be a hub of preservice teacher professional expertise and a center of development,” he said.
With his desire to inspire others, Dr. Lopez had this to say, “Go out and explore the world. There are lots of opportunities out there waiting for us. Do not let fear and anxiety stop you from going out and explore the vast opportunities that we have. You can never know if you are qualified or not until you try it. Face it so that you’ll realize the parts of you that you have not discovered yet. Unleash the potential you have in you and use it so you will not only learn within MPSC but also from vast world outside”.
