Hive Community's Donations to JJSNHS Not Only Notebooks But Knowledge

The Hive Community in Davao City, represented by the @dbuzz Team, donated 500 notebooks to the students of Jesus J. Soriano National High School, a secondary institution in Davao City, Philippines.

The donated notebooks are just the beginning, according to the representatives from the Hive community, as they emphasized that notebooks were just material things provided by the community. The most important part of the ceremony is the assurance that there will be continuous education and training assistance from DBuzz to be given to the students.

The Hive community in Davao City will impart their knowledge and skills to the students of the JJSNHS for long-term partnerships and collaborations.

The gift-giving ceremony for the donated notebooks was held on Tuesday, October 17, 2023, inside the school's newly built conference function room. The 500 student recipients were represented by their group leaders, who will represent their classes.

The gift-giving was conducted inside the function room, and only the representatives of each section received the donations so that the regular classes would not be affected and derailed by the activity.

Present during the gift-giving event at Jesus J. Soriano National High School were representatives from various departments, headed by their school Principal, Mrs. Emy B. Goc-ong, and Officer-In-Charge Mr. Tranquilino Velasco.

Faculty members who were present during the donation drive were Ma'am Jenalyn Molina-Grade 8 Curriculum Head; Ma'am Mary Ann Palima-Grade-7 Curriculum Head; Mr. Mar Soriano-ICT In-charge, Mr. Brian Jake Barrios-Media Expo Teacher-in-charge, Ma'am Christine Concio-Journalism In-Charge, and Mr. Ralph Alac also from Journalism.

The Hive team from Davao City was represented by Mr. Ken Berey, DBuzz consultant and CEO of Blockchain Network Philippines (BNP) @blocknetworkph, Mr. Ed Umbao, founder of PhilNews.xyz and Team Leader of the DBuzz Media Team, Mrs. Emafe Rice @emafe, wife of DBuzz Founder Chris Rice and John Carlo Rafael @rafaelvlog, videographer and DBuzz Media team member.

Short Background of the Hive Donations to JJSNHS

Before the agreed date of release of the 500 notebooks from the Hive community, meetings were conducted, and some initial visits were in preparation for the October 17 gift-giving ceremony.

DBuzz Founder Mr. Chris Rice took an initial move to contact the school authorities for the said donations. He got the founder of the Davao DeFi Community, Sir Ruben Lacumba, the husband of Mrs. Lacumba, one of the teachers working at JJSNHS.

An initial meeting was conducted last August 11, 2023, attended by Chris Rice and Ed Umbao, representing the Hive blockchain and the micro-blogging platform DBuzz through the efforts made by DDC Founder Mr. Ruben Lacumba.

Present during the first meeting between the Hive representatives and JJSNHS were Principal Emy Goc-ong, JJSNHS Officer-in-Charge Mr. Tranquilino Velasco Jr., Adopt-A-School Coordinator Ma'am Jenalyn A. Molina and Mr. Ruben Lacumba from the DDC.

Second Meeting with School Officials Helping Them Buying Their Domain

Last August 8, 2023; Chris Rice and Ed Umbao visited JJSNHS for a follow-up with the initial meeting conducted for promised donations to the school.

Chris Rice and Ed Umbao onboarded Sir Mar Soriano and Sir Tranquilino Velasco this time. Aside from successfully onboarding the two teachers to Hive using the DBuzz platform, one of the most significant achievements was materialized.

During the discussions with Sir Velasco and Sir Soriano, they raised concerns about their technical difficulties in maintaining their websites. They were interested in learning more from the DBuzz team.

Chris Rice responded immediately by buying a domain for the school and creating an instant website through WordPress. It was hosted by Chris Rice's account, making the JJSNHS website more professional than the previous one, wherein they only used a free Weebly domain.

The school officials were enthusiastic and grateful for the instant technical assistance provided by Chris Rice in making a professional website for the school.

Preparations Before the Day of the Gift-Giving Ceremony

Before the @hivefest event in Rosarito, Mexico, Chris Rice ensured that all the necessary materials and donations for JJSNHS were in place and assured the school that the gifts would be delivered promptly.

Last September 18, 2023, the Hive Team visited @cliffhangerprint to make sure that all the notebooks that will be donated to JJSNHS were all prepared and ready for distribution, as well as the school supplies intended for San Francisco, Southern Leyte was also prepared and ready for shipment.

Ed Umbao, the founder of PhilNews.xyz, made sure that all things were prepared as he made a follow-up last October 12 for the agreed distribution schedule on October 17, 2023, at around 7:30 AM.

The items were delivered a day before the ceremony on October 17, and all the details were finalized regarding the venue, but there were some late changes due to some circumstances.

The distribution was supposed to be held at the covered court. Still, the sound system had some technical issues, and the ceremony could also have caused some delays to the usual school activities. Hence, the organizers suggested changing the venue to the conference room.

Selected student representatives graced the ceremony, and not all the 500 recipients, but they ensured that beneficiaries would receive the books intended for them.

Gift-Giving Ceremony Proper

The DBuzz Team in Davao City, through Ed Umbao, made some extra efforts to invite some prominent individuals to support him, and he was able to get the nod of Ken Berey, the CEO of Blockchain Network Philippines, one of the most recognized names in the Web3 and BPO industry in the Philippines.

Despite being so busy with his marketing schedule, Ken Berey supported the Hive Team in Davao City as he arrived at the school one hour before the program with Ed Umbao, Emafe Rice, and John Carlo Rafael.

Hive User @mightymary Rekindles Interests on Hive

One of the teachers working at the Jesus J. Soriano National High School was teacher Mary, whose Hive username is @mightymary. She told Hive representative Ed Umbao that she is one of the pioneers of DBuzz as she was onboarded seven months ago.

Teacher Mary also posted an update regarding the gift-giving activities at Jesus J. Soriano National High School.

According to @mightymary, she was overwhelmed by the generosity of the Hive community to the school, and she was so grateful to meet the DBuzz team in person during the gift-giving ceremony at the school where she worked as a teacher.

Ma'am Mary then told Ed Umbao that she would be more active with the Hive community and was willing to share her experience with Hive and all her students.

Word of Encouragement from the Principal

Ma'am Emy Goc-ong welcomed all the guests at that gift-giving ceremony as she imparted her message of encouragement to the students and the stakeholders who helped them in one way or another.

During the welcoming address, the school Principal emphasized the importance of being a community. She quoted a famous quote that says, "It takes a village to raise a child," which is significant in the gift-giving ceremony held inside the school.

According to Ma'am Goc-ong, the entire community of people must provide for and interact with the learners and teachers because there are some aspects of teaching that experts are needed to support their educational curriculum. With the Hive community's commitment to technical assistance and mentorship, it's an honor to be part of the program.

She was so thankful for the generous gifts from the Hive community through the efforts of Chris Rice, @guiltyparties, and Value Plan for the notebook donations, which will be given to poor students who could not afford the much-needed tools on their educational journey.

Ma'am Goc-ong was also enthusiastic about future collaborations with the DBuzz Technical Team, which will provide mentorship and training to the students and faculty members.

Introduction About Hive & DBuzz

Ed Umbao, the founder of PhilNews.xyz, introduced himself as a former OFW working in Saudi Arabia who later ventured into an online business in Bacolod City after discovering that there was internet money way back in 2011. Whatever you earn working as an OFW, you can also make it through an online job.

From 2011 up to 2016, he was so active with the company and website that he co-founded PhilNews.ph, but after the success of Pres. Rody Duterte, as President, separated ways and joined politics in his hometown.

According to Ed, he will try to make things simple. He told the students that Hive is a government by the community of a community-based blockchain, and no CEO can represent the diverse online community.

Ed also explained DBuzz, which he described as a simple decentralized app, just like Facebook or Twitter, but with an integration similar to GCash. But the catch is that we can own our account on DBuzz, and even the team could give the students some insights about Web3. Part of the discussion by Ed Umbao was explanations, in layperson's terms, of some technical aspects of the meaning of Web1, Web2, and Web3.

He also encouraged all the students to learn from mentors and chose only educational materials online to help support their needs as students. Sir Ed also promised to conduct more intensive journalism seminars, copywriting, Search Engine Optimization basics, and training on handling a WordPress website.

Surprise Words of Encouragement from Ken Berey

After the presentation and speech made by Ed Umbao, the emcee, Sir Velasco, introduced Sir Ken Berey, the CEO and founder of Blockchain Network Philippines (BNP) and one of the country's most recognized speakers and entrepreneurs, to give inspirational talks about being a company founder, and to encourage students how to use Web3 properly.

The students and teachers during the program were surprised upon learning that somebody who they only knew by name visited their school to support Hive's endeavors to provide technical assistance to Jesus J. Soriano National High School.

Ken revealed to the students how he was able to establish the first and only Web3-focused BPO company in the Philippines and encouraged the students to learn more from the Hive community, especially with the DBuzz team who will be sending their technical people to help the school to improve their status in terms of technology advancement.

Right after the meaningful and engaging words of wisdom from Ken Berey, the questions and answers portion followed, and the culminating activities of the gift-giving ceremony was the ceremonial handling of the 500 donated notebooks to Jesus J. Soriano National High School located in Catalunan, Grande, Davao City, Philippines.

Let's share the magic of Hive with the world.