By Diamond Y. Melendres
It is popularly said that loyalty has to be earned and can’t be bought. Perhaps that is what sets Institute of Accounting, Business and Finance (IABF) faculty member, and two-time Ten Outstanding Faculty of the Year (TOFY) recipient, Rosemarie G. Buenconsejo apart from the herd of Tamaraw faculty members – her loyalty to the land of the green and gold as a former student and now as a faculty member.
Buenconsejo graduated from Far Eastern University (FEU) in 1999 with a Bachelor in Commerce major in Finance and joined different banking and insurance corporations. Her journey as a faculty member in her alma mater in IABF started when the dean of IABF gave her the offer to teach.
“I immediately grabbed the opportunity…and I enjoyed teaching. I enjoyed being with students so that started my career in the academe. I started as a part-time faculty member from 2001 and now I am already a full-time faculty member,” she shared.
During the early years of her career as a faculty member, it seemed as though Buenconsejo couldn’t let go of the University. There was a time when she had thought about leaving FEU and transferring to another university.
“What made me stick with FEU was the green and gold in me. My heart was really with FEU, [even] until now, it’s already my 15th year in teaching,” she shared.
She was in a dilemma when she took a one-year leave because her husband had to go to Qatar and work there.
She was faced with the difficult choice of whether to stay in the Philippines and continue teaching at FEU or start a new life with her family in Qatar.
“But maybe the passion to teach here in the Philippines and still be part of FEU won over the other decisions. And that’s the main reason I went back and continued teaching,” she admitted.
Having been a part of the FEU community for more than a decade – both as a student and faculty member – Buenconsejo has witnessed the growth of the University in its physical appearance, campus life, and academe. But according to her, the things that changed the most are the opportunities for students to experience.
“Throughout my stay in FEU, things are definitely different from when I was a student. There are more opportunities for students when it comes to leadership, training and experience. FEU was very quiet when I was a student, there weren’t a lot of events and active student orgs,” she recalled.
Apart from being a faculty member, Buenconsejo is a proud mother of a daughter and a son. Having children of her own, the possibility of the green and gold blood to run in the family is present. She shared an incident when her daughter, Gianina, was wearing an FEU jersey while watching a game of FEU versus De La Salle University (DLSU) – Buenconsejo’s husband’s alma mater.
Funny enough, her daughter sang along the DLSU hymn after the game. She would still like her daughters to be Tamaraws just like her because of the scholarship benefit that FEU provides for the faculty’s children.
“I’ll just leave the choice to Janine if she wants to be a Tamaraw or not. But I always bring her to work and she loves the place and the facilities,” Buenconsejo admitted.
During her years as a student and now an educator, Buenconsejo has been an active member of the Tamaraw community.
From being the president of FEU’s Society of Scholars as a student to becoming a member of FEU’s Commission of Election, adviser of FEU Organization of Junior Finance Executives she continues to impact the lives of students as an educator.
According to Buenconsejo, the best thing she has ever done for FEU students is to inspire them to become educators as well. As of now, she has four co-faculty members that were once her students.
Buenconsejo is currently pursuing her Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) degree at DLSU and plans to go back to FEU after finishing the DBA program.
Loyalty is a hard thing to come by. But Buenconsejo is proof that the green and gold blood that runs through her veins is what kept bringing her back to FEU.