Reflections and crossroads: Weng’s retrospective career journey after 37 years

After 37 years as an Administrative Assistant of the Department of Environmental Science (ES), Ms Rowena C Argones, fondly known by many as Ms Weng, has officially retired from active service in the Ateneo de Manila University. To celebrate her contributions from those fruitful years, I sat down to have a conversation with Ms Weng for her to share the experiences, memories, and lessons learned during her tenure.

Ms Weng was introduced to the ES program back in 1995. She is one of the first members to work as a full-time staff alongside with Emilyn Q Espiritu, PhD, the current Executive Director of the Ateneo Research Institute of Science and Engineering (ARISE), and Ms Jewel Racquel Unson, a faculty member of the department under the leadership of Toby Dayrit, PhD, the Program Director amidst that time. But even if she achieved this unique milestone, her greatest accomplishment remained on being an essential part of the ES Department’s success on its initiatives. “Bottomline, whatever the ES Department is today, and has achieved, I'm proud to say that I'm part of that,” she said.

The former Administrative Assistant also cherished the privilege she had of working alongside colleagues. Ms Weng recalled that she had to meticulously plan and give the extra effort needed to assist the faculty’s needs. “Most of the people in ES, we’re not happy if we just do things. Nandoon talaga yung magis. We do our best in everything that we do,” she added. These tasks include entertaining messages and queries, accommodating urgent requests from various administrative offices, and even ensuring that snacks and coffee are still available in the department’s pantry. Ms Weng’s utmost duty is to generally give support whenever needed.

On the other hand, students who have interacted with Ms Weng have realized how impactful she was. Even if some of them have changed programs during their college life, the students persisted to be steadfast within the community. She emphasized that despite ES, not being their home program anymore, they are always welcome to keep their connections with the department. As a consequence of this relationship, many ES alumni have regularly invited them to their important occasions. “The service and care we extended to students make them come back, and visit the department after graduation,” she stated.

Of course, in any voyage, there were bumps that cannot be prevented. Whenever the going gets tough, Ms Weng asserted the power of prayers to be helpful in fortifying her resiliency towards surviving any challenges. Additionally, she is grateful for her friends who accompanied her even in the low points of her life. She considers any help from her friends as a blessing that she will never take for granted. “I go to these people for their wisdom and guidance in solving these challenges as a leader. I really appreciate them,” Ms Weng praised.

When asked about the insights she had gained after three decades, Ms Weng promoted that exerting the greatest effort and doing it on behalf of God is the sincerest act you can do. “You can’t please everyone, but still, you need to do your best in everything. Kasi, in the end, it is between you and God that matters,” she said. This practice had consistently propelled her to manifest humility and kindness with the people around her. She explained that if one is doing it to glorify God, then they would be kept afloat regardless of the chaos surrounding our daily lives. That is how solemn a responsibility is for her.

At the moment, she plans to visit Europe and the United States again, with the aspirations of becoming an American citizen someday. She takes care of her potted plants as well, which has become the current means for her to relax. But most importantly, Ms Weng continues to keep in touch with colleagues from the ES Department even after retirement. Her heart is situated with the faculty and students because she considers all of them to be her “second family.” Ms Weng proudly dictated, “once an ES is always an ES. That is why we are [indeed] an ES family.”

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Text: Michael Lopez II

Header photo: Christiane Oriana

Photos courtesy of Ms Rowena Argones