Local IT giant Acer Philippines, Inc. recently honored members of its Acer Academy program during the awards night held at the Manila Ocean Park.
Acer introduced the new members of its growing Acer Academy program. The event also served as a platform to showcase its continuing efforts in strengthening its partnership with the academe in setting new benchmarks in the education sphere.
Loyalty awards were also given to schools that were part of the program for no less than 3 years. Benefits included rewards based on purchases where points are earned and can be converted into training opportunities, free devices for the school, discounts and freebies. For walk-in purchases at the Acer Concept Store, the faculty will be awarded with outright discounts upon showing of their school ID and upon availing of the Extended Faculty Purchase Program from the loyalty program. This offer is good for one year only.
The new members for Luzon include Metro Manila College, St. Dominic College of Asia, Adventist University of the Philippines, Immaculada Concepcion College, Don Bosco Technical College, Holistic and Development Center, and Faith Academy. The Loyalty awardees are Saint Pedro Poveda College, De La Salle University-Dasmariñas, and Holy Angel University.
Acer also showcased its various impressive new products for the education sector, particularly its latest desktops, laptops, tablets, projectors and other modern teaching equipment for today’s 21st Century classrooms during the event, themed “Dive into Discovery: Experience the world of innovation.”
Major event highlights include the inspirational talks from two of Acer’s latest brand ambassadors. Francis Kong, an award-winning business columnist and speaker, talked about the challenges he faced early on in his career and how he aspired for greater goals in order to succeed. Megan Young, Miss World 2013, on the other hand, talked about how her aspirations to succeed pushed her to achieve her goals through hard work and determination.
Prior to the Acer brand ambassadors’ speeches, an exciting “Mermaid Show” was performed by the Manila Ocean Park Mermaid team. Later in the evening, a thrilling treat was provided by Acer Philippines where member-schools toured the Manila Ocean Park and visited some of its most notable attractions like the “Oceanarium,” “Fish Spa” and “Trails to Antarctica.”
Carren Garcia, Channel Sales Manager, Acer Philippines, also provided updates regarding the program, which now has 97 members, a far cry from only 11 member-schools when the program started several years back. “The target was to grow the membership to 100 schools by year-end. Definitely we are on target of surpassing that number,” she pointed out.
The Acer Academy Program started in 2012. The membership now includes colleges and universities nationwide, with the biggest coming from Luzon, followed by Mindanao and then the Visayas. As member-schools of the program, the school and students enjoy several benefits such as Acer’s sponsorship of school events and activities, free training for the school faculty and IT personnel, participation in campus tours, and students of an Acer Academy program member are prioritized under Acer’s internship program where they get first crack at on-the-job or even possible hiring opportunities.
Garcia also announced that they are looking at growing the number of the program’s member-schools. More importantly, however, she said it is all about retaining more member-schools for it to be able to serve the academe. “Our plan next year is to engage even the students of member-schools and not just the faculty. We are also looking at creating an annual programming and design skills competition using Acer devices, technology and other gadgets. The mechanics is already being crafted. Initially, we’re looking at senior high school to college students as participants.”
Other plans, Garcia said, include the launching of the “Acer Cloud Professor,” which will utilize software programming and robotics, plus conducting outreach programs where Acer will seek the help of member-schools in identifying certain indigent communities by helping share technologies and other CSR-related activities.
For more about the Acer Academy Program, go to www.acer.com.ph.
