Francis Jay M. Damit

Foreign Language Teaching Assistant

Host Institution: Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan

Award Year: 2023

FJ is currently the School In-Charge of Midkiwan Integrated School which started on January 4, 2023. He comes from the far-flung Barangay Tignapoloan in Cagayan de Oro City and proudly identifies himself as Higaonon – an Indigenous Peoples’ tribe in the Philippines. As a scholar, he finished Bachelor of Secondary Education major in English at Liceo de Cagayan University in 2014 with the distinction of Magna Cum Laude. In 2022, he finished his Master of Arts in Teaching English as a Second Language at the University of Science and Technology of Southern Philippines in Cagayan de Oro City, the same school where he is presently pursuing his Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Planning and Administration.

His professional experience began when he worked as News Reporter of Testigo and 24 Oras Northern Mindanao – the regional news programs of the country’s major media company, GMA Network, Inc. Thereafter, he worked as Speech and Language Instructor at Southern Philippines College and Capitol University. In November 2016, he joined the Department of Education as teacher at Besigan National High School, the farthest school in CDO Division and in August 2018, he was transferred to his alma matter, Tignapoloan National High School.

As the first alumnus to teach in the school, he devoted himself to deliver the best quality of teaching and learning experiences to his fellow Tignapoloanons. It is during this time that he taught not only English, Research, Media and Information Literacy subjects, but also served as Faculty Club President, Bids and Awards Committee Chairman, Coordinator for Campus Journalism and Research, and Chairperson for School Governance and Operations Division. During the height of the pandemic, he served as Regional Self-Learning Module Writer, Division Radio-Based Instruction Teacher-Talent, and later joined the DepED CDO Tsada TV Core Team as Director and Co-host. Until the present time, FJ is also an active volunteer in various organizations like Youth Opportunities as Regional Coordinator for South Pacific Cluster, GoodGov PH as Core Member for Education and Training and as member of the Media Educators of Mindanao organization. Most notably, he is recognized and awarded as 2021 Global Outstanding Teacher by LEAD Philippines, 2021 Outstanding Teacher in the entire Division of Cagayan de Oro City, Diamond Awardee as Learning Resource Innovator, and Best Paper Presenter in the 2022 District Research Congress.