CONGRATULATIONS TO THE NEW EDITOR-IN-CHIEF!

This month's issue of Bulalakaw is very special. I know that being an Editor-in-Chief of a Newsletter entails a lot of hard work but I survived with the help of those people who are very talented in writing. But somewhere along the way, I have been thinking that I may have done my job well but I know that there is someone who can do it better. I wanted to ask her a long time ago but time did not permit it. Then last week, I was so in the mood to publish some articles which are really good for a newsletter so everybody would be able to know how dedicated we are to our hometown Pandan. I finally asked her to become the Editor-in-Chief of Bulalakaw and she agreed. I was so happy knowing her expertise to do this kind of thing. I am really so proud of her.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to present to you the new Editor-in-Chief of Bulalakaw, Ma'am Thelma Mantac Ramos.

Thelma Mantac Ramos is a native of Pandan, Antique. She obtained her Bachelor of Arts in Social Work at the University of the Philippines. After graduation, she taught English at Pandan Bay Institute for three years. Then she went back to the UP campus to finish her Master of Education degree and was thereafter employed as a research assistant at the university's Asian Labor Education Center.

In 1968, she immigrated to the United States. She established a record as the only Filipino teacher who has been hired in Kitsap County whose education and training were acquired in the Philippines. She taught at Bremerton High School in Bremerton, Washington, and was a state scholar for advanced studies in education at the University of Washington. In 1992, she obtained another Master of Education degree from Western Washington University, putting her educational qualification and attainment in the Ph D category per Washington's Public Instruction allocation model.

In the course of her teaching career in the U.S., she served as department head, chairman of the English department on accreditation, advisor of the Pacific Asian Cultural Club and KEY Club International, sports ticket manager, Bremerton High School's teachers union representative at the local, state, and national levels. She also served as a guest speaker at Washington Education Association's minority leadership training programs.

She retired from teaching in 1997. Her husband is also retired, and they have their home in Port Orchard, Washington.

So you see, with her qualifications, I know that I was never wrong in asking her to become the Editor-in-Chief of Bulalakaw! Cheers and applause to Mrs. Thelma Mantac Ramos! Welcome to the World of Mass Media and Communications in the Internet!

- By Sofie Estolloso Hofmann, Switzerland

March 01, 2002

Volume 2, Issue 1