15/04/2026
GROWING THROUGH IT ALL
For Marie Glenn Geronan, associate dean of the School of Allied Health Sciences (SAHS), success didn’t come in carefully separated chapters — career first, marriage later, stability before sacrifice. Instead, everything happened all at once.
“I started my career early and at the same time, I also started my family early. So for me, that was the winning moment, to have both career and family life,” Geronan shared.
Two years after graduating in 1990, she began teaching as a clinical instructor. At 23, she was also a young mother. While many of her nursing batchmates pursued opportunities abroad, she chose to remain at San Pedro College (SPC) — the same institution where she earned her degree.
“I was not really planning to go abroad just like most of the nurses. In fact, most of our batchmates were actually working abroad. So I never dreamt of working abroad. I was happy to work here at SPC and at the same time, near my children.”
Her decision of staying had anchored her life in one place. Over time, she moved from being a clinical instructor to nursing coordinator, and eventually to associate dean of the SAHS, leading the Respiratory Therapy (RT) program — a field she pursued later as a second degree, graduating in 2019.
But professional growth was only half of the story.
“It was really difficult. There were a lot of challenges, a lot of moments [when] you have to cry. But you just have to cry, then bangon. If you fall, then stand up. And anyway, there is always tomorrow.”
After 20 years of marriage, she became a single mother. Raising three children alone while maintaining administrative responsibilities required more than time management — it demanded endurance.
“Basically, I raised all my three kids alone. And that is with the help of Christ the Lord, [and] with help of SPC. If I was not here, I would not have had a good job. Life was not really easy. But surprisingly, you will realize, ‘Huy, nakayanan mo.’”
Leadership, too, became personal. She entered a nursing culture known for strictness and fear. When she became a coordinator, she chose a different approach.
“I started to open our office to welcome the students. Para bang you have to make friends with them … Although there was that gap, there was openness so that they would be allowed to come, to talk.”
“You have to be a mentor, but also, sometimes, a mother," Geronan says, describing how she brings her role as a mother into her role as an educator, balancing discipline with empathy. For her, growth — whether in students or in herself — requires acceptance.
She reminds students to stay focused on where they are headed. Her guiding principle remains simple.
“I am actually a believer of the ‘8 Habits of Stephen Covey,’ and my most favorite is the second habit, which is to ‘begin with [the] end in mind,’” Geronan says. “In one rotation, it’s going to be 12 days. If you just live your day, report, complete the number of hours, your 12 becomes 11. Your 11 becomes 10, diba? And just look at the end,” She adds.
The principle is simple but consistent: begin with the end in mind, trust the process and keep moving forward. Growth, she says, is continuous.
“To grow professionally and personally — for me — it is a continuous learning. So di mo kasi masabi na na-learn ko na ’to. So it will always be a continuous learning and the important key there is to be empathic. You have to have the integrity to be fair, and very important also is acceptance.”
Her path was never perfectly sequenced. It was layered, overlapping and at times overwhelming. Yet in holding career and family together, without choosing one over the other — she found her defining moment not in a single achievement but in endurance.
Words by Yanni Abby Ventura
Photo by Carl Ezekiel Apalesis
Layout by Meka Alvaro
22/04/2026
22/04/2026
22/04/2026
22/04/2026
22/04/2026
22/04/2026
22/04/2026
22/04/2026
15/04/2026
15/04/2026
15/04/2026