LEARNING BEYOND A CLASSROOM’S WALLS: SUSTAINABILITY AND INNOVATION SUMMER EXPERIENCE AT ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY
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When Kiel Domingo, a Business Administration major at Mapúa Malayan Colleges Laguna (Mapúa MCL) first signed up to join this summer’s Sustainability and Innovation Summer Experience at Arizona State University (ASU), the most innovative university in the United States, he was curious to “see what it’s all about.”
The second annual ASU Sustainability and Innovation Summer Experience program held in June of 2023 brought together a diverse group of students from ASU-Cintana Alliance partner institutions around the globe to empower them to become catalysts for change in their communities and equip them with the knowledge and skills to tackle global challenges.
Over the course of two weeks, Kiel and a group of 20+ other students engaged in diverse activities designed to foster their personal and academic growth. They attended classes, lectures, and workshops led by community entrepreneurs and ASU experts from various colleges and schools including the School of Sustainability and the School for the Future of Innovation in Society within the ASU College of Global Futures, Makerspace in the Hayden Library, and the Thunderbird School of Global Management.
Living the American Student Life
Living in Arizona, Domingo got to see and live for himself an America he had only seen and heard on TV. “In terms of actually watching stuff and then experiencing it, America is a sprawling, car-centric land,” he said.
“And that people thought I was local for the most part; maybe it’s my accent. I grew up having English as my first and primary language. But ours is a mixed household, so we grew up with Filipino and Cebuano, too,” Domingo explained.
He was paired with a Mexican classmate, and there was “no language barrier; we got along pretty well. We figured out that Tagalog has some Spanish, so I picked up on what he was saying most of the time when he spoke Spanish to his family in France. So interesting to find out that we have much more in common than we first thought.”
The ASU Sustainability and Innovation Summer Experience offered him two weeks filled with interactive workshops, inspirational lectures, hands-on activities, and immersive experiences focused on building sustainable and innovative solutions for the world’s toughest challenges.
“The program did help with my current studies, finding out that sustainability is the key to any business future,” Domingo said. “Many people are starting to think about the future, about sustainability in the products they buy, the services they get. And so, I think that sustainability is crucial in managing businesses.”
Warming up to the subject, Domingo continues. “I found out that sustainability requires innovation. That’s pretty much the heart of it because many ways humanity can become sustainable are unknown. We are the people that are used to researching all the time on how to do this better and to manage what we have properly.”
The summer stint gave Domingo the needed skills to excel in the future. Beyond experiences that focused on solutions-based learning about innovative and entrepreneurial thinking and sustainability for the 21st century, Domingo also learned new facets from different cultures of other international students like himself, getting the hang of commuting inside and outside of the sprawling campus grounds and, more importantly, enhancing intercultural competence, global awareness and developing a global network with fellow program participants.
Advice for Fellow Students
Domingo’s main takeaway from the entire experience?
“If you have the knack of getting people to work together for the common good, take pride in accomplishing something, learning something new, then consider being part of the ASU experience in Mapúa MCL. Grab all the opportunities to broaden your life experience!” he said.
Domingo is just one of the latest Mapúa students whose international experience underscores the university’s decision to join the ASU-Cintana Alliance, a global network of innovative universities in the US, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America. The network is working together to build and scale high-quality academic programs that respond to the member country's economic and social needs.
Mapúa MCL is in collaboration with ASU for the business and health sciences programs. This collaboration leverages ASU's innovation and global impact expertise to prepare globally competitive graduates by forging a collaboration grounded on three core pillars—global immersion, real-world experiential learning, and digital mastery.
For more details, visit the university’s site https://mcl.edu.ph/ and learn more about how a Mapúan education can further boost your learning experience.
About iPeople. iPeople, inc. (PSE: IPO) is one of the leading education groups in the country, with approximately 60,000 students. It owns seven educational institutions which together offer quality education to students across all income segments, with campuses in Metro Manila, Calabarzon, Bicol, the Visayas and Mindanao. Its schools include Malayan Education System, Inc. (Operating under the name of Mapúa University), one of the country’s leading engineering and technical universities, and its subsidiaries, Mapúa Malayan Colleges Laguna, Mapúa Malayan Colleges Mindanao in Davao, and Malayan High School of Science in Manila. Its schools also include the University of Nueva Caceres, the oldest and largest private university in Bicol, National Teachers College, the country’s pioneer private teacher training tertiary education institution, and APEC Schools, the country’s largest chain of private stand-alone high schools in the country. Learn more about iPeople at https://hoi.com.ph/
About Mapúa Malayan Colleges Laguna. Mapúa MCL is located in Cabuyao, Laguna, and offered its first programs in 2007. One of the best board exam performing private schools in Calabarzon, Mapúa MCL is the youngest ever school to attain CHED Autonomous Status in the country. It has also earned a 3-star overall rating from the UK-based Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) Star Rating System, one of the world’s leading higher education rating systems. It is also the first ISO 21001:2018 - EOMS Certified School in Calabarzon. With over 6,000 students, it offers programs in engineering, computer science, IT, multimedia arts, business, accountancy, hotel & restaurant management, health sciences, as well as senior high school. Mapúa MCL also began offering its first post-graduate degree, the Master of Science in Shipping Business in partnership with the Business College of Athens, last 2022. Learn more about Mapúa Malayan Colleges Laguna at https://www.mcl.edu.ph/
About Arizona State University. Arizona State University has developed a new model for the American Research University, creating an institution that is committed to access, excellence, and impact. ASU has been ranked as #1 in the US for innovation for 8 consecutive years by US News and Report, the leading U.S. universities ranking system. ASU is also ranked in the Top 100 in the world for academic reputation by 2023, and #1 Public University in the U.S. chosen by international students, according to the Institute of International Education Open Doors Report 2022. Learn more about Arizona State University at https://www.asu.edu/.
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