Wesleyan University honors GMA Network CEO Felipe Gozon's mother with learning institute

Wesleyan University-Philippines (WUP) has recently inaugurated the Carolina L. Gozon Institute for Lifelong Learning to pay tribute to GMA Chairman and CEO Felipe L. Gozon's mother.

During the inauguration ceremony held at The Manila Hotel, members of the WUP and the Gozon family honored the late Carolina L. Gozon, and remembered her inspiring life and the lessons she imparted on her children.

"My mother said that a good education is something that no one can take away from you," said daughter Florencia L. Gozon-Tarriela during her speech. "My mom taught us values: to be honest, to be fair, not to cheat."

A graduate of the University of the Philippines, Carolina started her own business by borrowing P20,000 as capital from her mother and supplying for Rufina Patis.

Even after losing her principal buyer, she bravely produced her own brand, Dalisay Patis, which ushered her early business success. She eventually went on to own a salt mine, start a quarrying business, and supply coffee seedlings.

WUP said that through the institute, it will celebrate the "faith-grounding, family-centeredness, and the undaunting and relentless spirit which propelled Mrs. Carolina L. Gozon into being not only one of the country’s successful women entrepreneurs but an exemplar to her children and community."

The Carolina L. Gozon Institute for Lifelong Learning is the centerpiece of WUP’s public service and social accountability thrusts, which aims to provide new avenues and opportunities for continuing education and skills training especially to disadvantaged Filipinos who are likely to struggle during the post-COVID-19 period.

In an interview with GMA News, university president Judge Benjamin D. Turgano described the institute as a "new development in global education."

"It has the potential of providing capacity building outside of the box, outside of the confines of formal education. And it is in the context of micro-credentials meaning short certificates that will have a ready translatable skill to the beneficiary and that would equip him to new realities of life: digitalization, gender sensitivity, all of these things," he said.

"The Carolina Institute… is Wesleyan’s vision of bringing social transformation to the most vulnerable sectors of society," he added. —JCB, GMA News