MY STORY
“A place of understanding and dialogue is what I dream of especially here in Mindanao and my hometown Basilan.
I am a peace advocate by nature and by nurture. And I’ll fight for peace and understanding with dialogue as my firearm.
I believe that peace is not impossible if together we will make it possible”
Mark Conrad R. Ravanzo or fondly called by his friends as “Maco”, is an awardee of the Search for Outstanding Volunteers of the Philippine National Volunteer Service Coordinating Agency (PNVSCA) under the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA). His ardent passion in community service through volunteerism is indeed remarkable; he promotes making volunteerism a way of life – a culture. Originally from the Island of Basilan, Maco came to Metro Manila with full of dreams, just like any other probinsyanos’ mindset. Now residing in Mandaluyong City for five years, he inspires more people with his exceptional achievement and excellence in his chosen field. He is a visionary man, a volunteer, a teacher, an inspiring and motivational speaker, a youth activist, a community organizer, a nation-builder.
Maco is currently working as Program Coordinator in Metrobank Foundation, Inc., (MBFI), the corporate social responsibility of the Metrobank group. He handles the education programs of the Foundation namely: the Y.E.S. (Youth for Excellence and Service) scholarship program of Metrobank Foundation in partnership with Manila Tytana Colleges, formerly the Manila Doctors College; and the Metrobank-MTAP-DepEd Math Challenge (MMC) which is a nationwide mathematics competition for more than 500,000 elementary and secondary students for Public and Private schools in partnership with the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Mathematics Teachers Association of the Philippines (MTAP).
One of Maco’s significant contributions in the Foundation is the introduction of Operation MATHew (Mathew is the official mascot of MMC, also a brainchild of Maco). Operation MATHew is the pay-it-forward of the winners of the Math Challenge where they tutor underperforming students in math. Because of the positive feedback and effective results of the project, Operation MATHew was presented in an international conference in the University of the Philippines National Institute for Science and Mathematics Education highlighting its best practices. It also won an Anvil Award by the Public Relation Society of the Philippines (PRSP) and a Quill Award of the Association of International Business Communicators Philippines (IABC) for its great impact to the stakeholders. Another is the “G.I.M.I.C” or Getting Inspired and Motivated in College for the scholars which he recently introduced. GIMIC is a series of youthful formation activities for the Metrobank Foundation scholars which aim to instill in them the value of paying it forward through their individual passion. These are just some of the works of Maco which are not really part of his deliverables in the Foundation but exerts his efforts to further influence and create an impact to his stakeholders. Truly, he is an exceptional individual worthy to emulate.
With these, as one of the high-flyer employees of the Foundation, Maco was chosen to represent the Foundation to be featured in the “Dream Exhibit” of Metrobank Foundation’s 35th Anniversary celebration joining other personalities in the likes of Dr. Jossette Biyo (the first Filipina to be named after a planet), Carmela Lao (the first Filipina to get a silver medal in the International Mathematics Olympiad) Dr. Pagsi, renown outstanding teacher and the like.
He has also become a faculty at Arellano University Plaridel Campus in Mandaluyong City teaching National Service Training Program every Saturday.
Professional
Work
Volunteer
Work
All at the same time, he runs a national volunteer organization called I am M.A.D. (Making A Difference) which he founded six years ago. I am M.A.D. helps children mould their values, encourage selflessness, instill love, peace and spirituality, and eventually make a difference in their own simple yet meaningful ways. I am M.A.D. is a National Finalists for this year’s Ten Accomplished Youth Organization (TAYO) Awards by the National Youth Commission and Office of Senator Bam Aquino.
I am M.A.D. (Making A Difference) is a three-day outreach program for youth volunteers engaging children (grades 4 to 6) to enable them to be passionate future Filipino citizens championing love for others, love of the environment, love of country, love of parents and love of God; to empower them to be catalysts of change as young as they are; and to embrace them to nurture their passion to make a difference by providing their basic educational needs as scholars.
To enable these children to be passionate Filipinos, the M.A.D. workshop is conducted on the 1st day of the outreach program which has several activities such as storytelling, team building activities, games and obstacle courses, all advocating the "10 M.A.D. Commitments", which are the following:
1. I will pray and thank God every day.
2. I will smile and greet people around me.
3. I will eat nutritious food every meal
4. I will share my food to those who doesn't have.
5. I will throw my garbage in the trashcan.
6. I will play with fairness and sportsmanship.
7. I will return any lost and found items to the authority.
8. I will study my lessons before going to bed
9. I will hug my parents and tell them how much I love them.
10. I will start making a difference within myself today.
On the 2nd day of the outreach program, community activities are initiated together with other community people such as tree planting, clean-up drive, brigade eskwela and the like to empower them to be young nation-builders and instill in them their responsibility to the community.
To further nurture their values and assist them to finish their education and reach their dreams, we adopt and embrace them as scholars for a school year and provide basic educational needs such as school supplies in June as the classes starts, a gift during Christmas and a special token in March as they finish a school year. The volunteers look for sponsors for each child.
On the other hand, I am M.A.D. also capitalizes the youth volunteers as medium of inspiration and influence. Our volunteers is one of our claim-holders, too. Through the outreach program, we let them experience first-hand on how volunteerism magically works in making things possible through personally facilitating activities during the M.A.D. workshop with the kids and be part of the admin and logistical tasks in the program; explore their passion towards helping the lost, the last and the least, and immersing them with the community – their culture and way of life; and most importantly engaging them as part of a one big family of M.A.D. volunteers, investing in building fun and positive relationship among all the other volunteers through various solidarity activities. Yes, all of these happen in the three-day outreach program