REFLECTION

When we were in Senior High School, we have different preferences with regards to the

courses that we want to take in college. We have utilized the two additional years in secondary

level of education just to prepare ourselves for the bigger world. As the school year 2019-2020

started, different names, people, faces, and dreams, were united as we took the course of

Bachelor of Science in Marine Transportation in Technological Institute of the Philippines. Some

of us came from different provinces and the others are currently living in Metro Manila. We are

uniquely different from each other but what we have in common is to be a captain not only by

our lives but of our own ship or sailing vessel. That is the main reason why we last for this first

semester of this academic year. We faced all the difficulty in coping up with various course

subjects and absorbing all the ideas that are necessary in our future profession.

All of us thought that Marine Transportation is an easy course program compared to other

courses but as days goes by, we have realized that it is not actually a stress-free course but a

challenging one. But as what elders say, nothing is difficult if you really love what you are

doing. That is why we continued to love and put our passion in it. One of our major courses for

this first semester was the Navigational Instruments with Compasses which was taught by

Captain Venancio Simon Sulit. Basically, when we say navigation, first thing will come to your

mind is an art and skill in handling, working, and navigating a ship. In 18 weeks of sitting in his

class, we can firmly say that we are now well-equipped with knowledge and skills that are

substantial in working in a ship. During his classes, he made us feel to act and think like a cadet

not just a usual student. He motivated us by sharing his knowledge and experience in actual ship.

With his teaching method, we are incited to give our best in everything we do here in three
academic years. He also instilled in our minds to take seriously every subject not just the

seamanship because we are not just familiarizing ourselves with the concepts instead we are

preparing ourselves for the higher level of experience. He let each one of us to discover and

explore the different ship concepts and routines on our own means and afterwards he will just

clarify some unclear things for better enlightenment.

Navigation is like our stepping stone before we go into more complex concepts and it is

very vital for our first year college students. The course subject of navigation plays a vital role in

our academic education as it teaches prospective shipmates the navigation skills and technical

expertise which are need to start our career as future seafarers. This course subject introduced us

to specialized skills such as plotting route and guidelines in using navigational instruments. This

unit of knowledge needed in in our workplace is greatly dependent on the nature of the work and

type of vessels where mariner is working. Navigation is very important for us because it molds

us to be a efficient seaman who can make a good navigators through our educations. Another

thing that is being taught by navigation is the safety on board which is very important to be

observed while working. Navigation teaches us by good working practices in managing the ship

at sea. This course subject provides us the abilities to go beyond a competent deployment of

necessary skills. In this subject, it made us to put ourselves in a picture and to think of wide

range of knowledge to perform the given work with safety. With this, each one of us can now

engage ourselves in all aspects of work that will be given to us when we are already working in

our work field.