Realizing giftedness and responding in gratitude: A grounded theory of university graduates' commitment to excellence and service

• Main Author: Luz, Caroline Joy de Ramos
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2008
• Subjects: Theory and Philosophy
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_doctoral/185
• Institution: De La Salle University

Using grounded theory, this research inquired into university students' commitment to excellence and service. Thirty-five personnel and 60 graduates of De La Salle University participated in the study, which revealed that students undergo a basic social process of committing to excellence and service. The key principle in making this commitment is realizing giftedness and responding in gratitude. This is encouraged through: 1) the university's commitment to excellence and service 2) academic programs balanced by extracurricular activities; 3) supportive learning environment: friends and peers, models and mentors, support structures to balance the trimester; 4) exposure to diverse realities: the poor, the different, the difficult, the best, and the possible; and, 5) cultivation of depth through reflection. Implications of the theory and recommendations for future research are presented.