ALL FOUR of Forestry Batch 2005 successfully hurdled the Forester Licensure Examination given by the board of forestry in the cities of Manila, Baguio, and Davao on June 6-8.

This is a welcome feat for MMSU especially at these times  when forestry graduates have not been performing very well in their licensure examination and enrolment for the program have been dipping each year.

Giving “new hope” for the continued offering of the program are:  Bryan A. Camalig, Rick U. Dumadag, John Mark C. Maduli, and Romulo Herminigildo N. Magabilin Jr. who took review sessions at Nueva Vizcaya State University (NVSU) in Bayombong which produced a tenth placer in the list of top examinees.

They are among the 203 passers of the said examination who recorded a national passing of 40.60 percent.  Five hundred graduates from all over the country took the test.  Graduates of the University of the Philippines in Los Baños dominated the ten highest places in the licensure examination with nine entries including the first five places.

Dr. Jose T. Agustin, newly appointed chair of the forestry department and former forestry review coordinator who accompanied the students when they took the test in Baguio City, said that the passers were basically “excellent materials”, one of them having been a DOST scholar.  They also went through in-house review before they left for NVSU.  The fine performance this time by the graduates can also be attributed to the support of the present administration which provided the students not only the necessary moral boost but also some logistic support, Agustin said.

The new foresters, who will take their oath July 7 at the Manila Hotel, were presented June 16 during a welcome program for CAF first year students, shiftees, and transferees.