Galileo partner says diligent study is key to success
MANILA, Philippines -When Dr. Gerry Cruz was just a young boy, his mother instilled in him the need to study diligently. The eighth in a family of nine children, earning a living was always an issue in his family. His father was a comics illustrator, while his mother was a housewife. To make ends meet, his parents ran a little stall in Malolos, Bulacan, where they sold barbecue.
Despite a difficult childhood, Dr. Cruz and his siblings managed to top their classes. He was valedictorian from grade school to high school. Most of his siblings topped their classes and graduated with honors as well. They supplemented whatever they learned in school through extensive reading, like borrowing encyclopedias from a neighbor to brush up on their knowledge.
When it came to looking for a business, he thought of investing in an enrichment program that would be of use to the students of Bulacan.
He found a good partner in the Galileo Enrichment Learning Program.
“Galileo has proven to have a good track record in enrichment learning,” he says. “The think tank behind it is well-respected in the field, while the learning strategies utilized in the center are multi-modal and and suitable to the Philippine setting. It fits into my educational background and my wife’s as well. This is really in our field of interest.”
The Galileo Enrichment Learning Program offers enrichment subjects in Mathematics and English for children from three to 12 years old. It has close to 30 centers around Metro Manila and certain key cities in the country.
Dr. Cruz runs the Galileo Center in Malolos, Bulacan. He and his wife, Maria Cristina, share duties in running the center six days a week. The extra day that they have and any extra time off from the center are devoted to looking after their three children.
Managing an enrichment center runs deep in Cruz’s blood. As an honors graduate in Education from the Philippine Normal University, he also has a master’s in Literature and a doctorate in educational management from the same school. He was college president of the Bulacan Polytechnic College for 10 years before deciding to set up his own business.
“I love to teach people, not only kids,” he says. “I love seeing students graduate from college or from any post-secondary school.”
Although the Galileo Center in Malolos is less than a year old, Dr. Cruz says they have already had encouraging support from their friends, who have not only enrolled their children in classes at the center but also helped spread the word about their efforts.
“We hope to achieve our target of 300 students by Dec. 30, 2013,” he declares. “With the proper encouragement, I would like to see the children of Bulacan become the future leaders of the country.
The Galileo Center in Malolos, Bulacan, is located at The Cabanas, N1, second floor, Kms. 44/45 MacArthur Highway, Langos, Malolos City.
