BENJAMIN Alves
Actor Benjamin Alves may have tackled different characters on television and the big screen, but the role he hopes to play in real life is that of a teacher.
Alves graduated summa cum laude from the University of Guam with a degree in English literature. “The plan was to teach in a university, but to do that, I have to first take up a master’s degree. I will do that eventually, when I’m much older,” the 27-year-old said.
Alves was one of the TV personalities who read to some 100 school children during the Inquirer Read-Along’s ninth anniversary celebration on May 21.
The actor said he took up English literature because of his fondness for reading and writing. “I’m an actor now, but when I was younger, I was really shy. I kept to myself and read comic books and magazines. It was only after high school when I broke out of my shell and went into acting,” he shared with the Inquirer.
To make money while in college, Alves said he also worked as an online English tutor. “I was already teaching people in Japan and Korea. This was while I was trying to find a place to go to where English instructors were in demand. I did that for a year.”
Alves is currently the ambassador of the GMA 7 Network Excellence Awards, which is now celebrating its 15th year. Its aim is to honor graduating students who demonstrate exemplary leadership, stellar academic performance and proactive social responsibility.
To date, the network has conferred the Excellence Award to 51 graduates of mass communication, multimedia arts, advertising, electronics communication engineering from different schools and universities in the country. An awardee receives P50,000 and a plaque.
“I’m willing to help in any way to make more people aware of GMA 7’s campaign, even if its talking to 5-year-olds here at the Read-Along,” he said. “They have their parents here with them. I’m sure they have brothers or sisters who are eligible for it. We’re doing campus tours for it, as well. I tweet about it all the time—if students want us to visit their universities, we’ll find time to do it. I want to guide them, especially because accomplishing the requirements can get really overwhelming.”
Alves’ participation in the Read-Along session was already his second. “I grew up reading these kinds of books. It’s nice that we have this to encourage kids to read at an early age. Hopefully, they’d grow up to be writers or teachers,” he said.
The actor added: “More than being able to act, it’s such a blessing that I am able to use, in some way, my college education to help kids. My sister is a second grade school teacher. I get ideas from her on how to catch and sustain the attention of these kids for at least 30 seconds. Education is a big part of our family.”
E-mail mcruz@inquirer.com.ph