Jason Gamir – Civil Engineer

My name is Jason Gamir, and I have chosen to dedicate my passion towards being a civil engineer. It has always been that way, as far as I can remember.

I grew up playing with Legos and, as soon as I could read, collecting Archie Comics. Looking back, I realised it was this habit of building and reading that fueled my dream of being a civil engineer.

I was the middle child among three boys until the age of 11; for that was when my sister was born. Both my parents were unemployed, and so I pursued my studies through scholarships and financial support from my relatives. I saw families as organisations and that in order for it to be successful, it had to have a leader. As a teenager, I had a clear picture of what I wanted and did not want to become; and that was to be a leader, not a bludger.

I loved Arithmetic and English, I looked forward to these classes while most of my classmates dreaded them. In junior year, I became the editor-in-chief of our school paper and if you look at my records, you will see that I graduated as the class valedictorian. I took up civil engineering and during my days in the university, I set my mind to not only learn inside the classroom, but to be educated in every waking hour with the practicalities of life.

During a conference in the Department of Interior and Local Government XI, we worked in groups of three and were asked to choose a location where we would like to be assigned to work on a potable water supply project. One by one, the locations were enumerated, and one by one, groups would raise their hands to get the places they wanted, until they mentioned the Municipality of Magsaysay. You could hear a pin drop in the room, a second call and everyone still hesitated.

A week before this conference, the Municipality of Magsaysay was struck by a 6.8 magnitude earthquake, their municipal hall was destroyed, three persons died and many more were injured. Aftershocks of similar magnitude were expected to happen. Knowing this, I consulted my groupmates and told them that this may be a difficult and dangerous project but I believe we can do this, and if we can provide potable water for the people of Magsaysay then at least we can say that we did our part for our countrymen.

With the group in agreement, we took the project. Six months later, among the 18 groups assigned to different locations, we were the first one to have an approved design and we successfully turned over the plans to the local government unit in the area.

The moral of the story is that when I was asked to carry out a difficult task, my dedication, disposition, and leadership persevered.

If I could compare myself with a book, it would be The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli. “The Lion cannot protect himself from traps, and the fox cannot defend himself from wolves. One must therefore be a fox to recognise traps, and a lion to frighten wolves.”

For a copy of Jason’s resume please click here.