iACADEMY recently held an Open House event at their new iACADEMY Nexus Campus in Yakal, Makati City and the experience is making me want to go back and do high school and college all over again!
Well my day at iACADEMY started early with a short forum about what the school is offering to would-be senior high school and college students in terms of programs, tracks and courses delivered by professors and industry professionals who were once students of iACADEMY.
Two years ago, the K-12 and Senior High School program was adopted to the country’s educational system and schools are still on its learning phase but are now better equipped compared to when the program was just starting. And in the forefront of all these changes is iACADEMY since 2005.
They currently have two campuses in Makati – the first one is located in Bgy. Bel-Air along Buendia (Sen. Gil Puyat Ave.) and the new Nexus campus in Yakal. The school provides shuttle services for students so they can conveniently go from the Nexus Campus to Buendia and vice-versa.
Mr. Jake Aragon, the Vice President for Academics and the Senior High School Principal gave us a briefing of what iACADEMY is offering their Senior High School students.
Aragon said that iACADEMY offers specialized programs which are geared towards preparing students for a highly competitive professional world.
Through a balance of theory-based and experience-based learning opportunities and with guidance from a faculty of practicing professionals, students are able to gain industry-relevant knowledge that will make them assets to future employers.
According to Aragon, a future-geared education challenges the traditional mindset of what’s in store for students after graduation.
“But that has to happen. The change can be so fast, it’s hard to catch up. The world is changing and we’re already using amazing technology that our students need to learn. We’re taking it to the next level. It’s awesome if we could put our students at the forefront of their future lives and careers.”
The iACADEMY Senior High Programs
- Academic Track
- Humanities and Social Sciences (Educators, Journalists, HR Practitioner, Lawyers)
- Accountancy, Business and Management (Accountant, Marketing, Sales, Entrepreneurs)
- Arts and Design Track
- Multi-Media Arts (Advertising, Film Making, Audio Production, Graphic Designs, Photography)
- Technical Vocational Track (TechVoc)
- Computer Programming (App/Software Development, IT Professionals, Engineering)
- Animation (Storyboard Artist, Animator, Concept Design, 2D/3D Layout, Animator)
- Fashion Design (Stylist, Designer, Merchandiser)
- Robotics
The forum focuses on new and popular strands offered in the Senior High School programs of iACADEMY which are Robotics, App Development, Graphic Illustration and Audio Production.
For App Development, John Gregory Jose, the lead software engineer and mobile developer expert of Novare Technologies summarized the significance of this track in the world today.
- Every gadget and computer in the world now interconnect and operate using apps. Apps are more than just social media (Facebook, Instagram) and games like Minecraft. Apps help us navigate our world and, in the future, operate our home gadgets and appliances.
- Apps deliver our food, book our hotels and trips. We work, study, play, and even repair ourselves using apps.
- Graduates will be ready to create apps, teach others to use apps, or help operate apps in corporate and educational settings.
For Graphic Illustration, Des Feliciano, creative team head at Leo Burnett/Blackpencil Manila aside from providing a backgrounder on what graphic illustration or multi-media arts is all about, also gave participants with several principles that artists (or would-be) should live-by:
- Do not say negative things about your work
- Compete and go for awards
- Compete not with other people but with your self
- Nothing is free
- Be nice
- Never stop learning
- Never give up
- Network your works
- Learn the fundamentals or the basics
- Be creative, always
- Pay it forward
- Get advice from professionals or those who are already in the industry
“When you talk about graphics illustration now, one of the key trends is augmented reality. Like Pokemon Go. Today, we use augmented reality (AR) to help ourselves learn better. Imagine being able to train someone to put together a motor, or perform a surgical operation, using AR. In order to be able to do that, you have to have a realistic mock-up of all those objects you are putting together, or the organs or tissues you are operating on. Those are created by graphic artists who specialize in 3-D,” said iACADEMY Assistant Principal for Senior High School, Mel Obedoza
For Audio Production, Paulo Agudelo, sound engineer and musical scorer of ThirtySix-O Media shared how rewarding it is to have a career in audio production.
Another iACADEMY strand for senior high is Audio Production. This is a field that is crucial for TV, video, movies, and even extended reality and augmented reality. There’s even such a thing as 3-D sound. People communicate and learn better with video and augmented reality, and even through animation. None of that are possible without audio production.
Agudelo said that there is money in sound production – from the set and editing of TV or film features, to advertising jingles and all app based programming like games and such – everything is so much better with sound. And if you’ve got the proper skill set, then you’ll be in high demand.
Lastly for Robotics, we heard stories from Angelyn Mercado an underwater robotics researcher who was recently featured as “the Filipina who led a Japanese robotics team to victory” during the Okinawa Open Sea Competition in 2017.
Mercado said that robotics is the future and commended iACADEMY for having this as part of the senior high program. She also said that the practical application of learning robotics will give any student an edge in just about any field but particularly in engineering, electronics, computer science and programming which may be beneficial for those who will pursue careers in business processes, artificial intelligence, manufacturing, transport and other industries – or you can just go on building more efficient robots of the future.
Aside from the Senior High programs, the iACADEMY College programs offers a significant edge from the other schools with over 200 industry and internship partners such as ABS-CBN, IBM, Microsoft, Project Runway, Saatchi & Saatchi, Knowledge Channel, Zalora, One Mega Group, Neun Farben, Leo Burnett, Toon City, Unity and many others.
Students of iACADEMY are required to work full-time for at least 960 hours as part of the internship program which provides them a greater chance of being hired instantly after graduation or prepare them for their chosen careers after college.
The iACADEMY College Courses
School of Computing
- BS Computer Science (Software Engineering)
- BS Entertainment and Multimedia Computing (Game Development)
- BS Information Technology (WEB Development)
School of Business
- BS Business Administration (Marketing Management)
- BS Real Estate Management
- BS Business Administration (Financial Management0
School of Design
- BS Animation
- BA Multimedia Arts and Design
- BA Fashion Design and Technology
iACADEMY also introduced during the Open House their newest college course which is the Bachelor of Arts in Psychology.
After the forum, we then went on a short tour of the Nexus Campus.
- Classrooms
- Computer Labs equipped with Cintiq computers and Wacom drawing tablets
- iMac Lab
- Auditorium
- Mini Theater
- Library
- Cafeteria and Student Lounge
- Clinic
- Gym
- Lightbox Room
- Fashion Room
- Sewing Room
- Green Room
- Sound Room
Here’s a short video of the tour:
The iACADEMY Nexus Campus is a 12-floor modern school building equipped with spacious rooms and modern facilities that supports a learning environment. Notably, this campus have included an “all-gender” restroom, a multi-faith meditation room and an student idea room.
For those interested of applying to become one of the iACADEMY game changers, here are the three easy steps to follow:
- Take an entrance exam, just present the following:
- 1pc 2×2 ID photo
- Photocopy of current school ID
- Photocopy of birth certificate NSO/PSA issued
- Pay 350 Pesos entrance exam fee
- Tour the campus
- Final Interview
Accomplish everything in one day, pass the exam and interview, and you’re in!
The iACADEMY campus is at 7434 Yakal St., Brgy. San Antonio, Makati City. For more information, call (02) 889 5555, or send a message at [email protected].
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