Dr. Jhoanna Rhodette Pedrasa is a Professor at UP Electrical and Electronics Engineering Institute (EEEI). She is also currently serving as the College Secretary of the College Engineering.
Also, she is a loving mother tp two beautiful girls and wife to another UP EEEI professor, Dr. Michael Angelo Pedrasa.
Why did you choose to be a part of UP EEEI?
To be honest, when I applied to EEEI way back 20xx, teaching was not my first choice. I was eyeing work in industry, which was my first preference. My parents urged me to enroll in the graduate program though, so teaching while earning my MS was the best way to go [yes, masunuring anak lang talaga ako haha]. But I have no regrets, as what started as a short-term plan, became a permanent career path for me. Applying in UP as a faculty may not have been my first career choice upon graduation, but staying in UP EEEI was and is definitely my choice.
Ma’am Jhoanna’s story highlights the fact that even though some things don’t go the way we intended, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it would be a life filled with regrets. She admitted that her degree program, BS Computer Engineering, wasn’t even her first choice. She wanted to take BS Computer Science or something in the Humanities field (e.g. Creative Writing, etc.). There were even instances when she wanted to shift to BS CS during her first two years in UP but her fear of getting delayed from graduating on time pushed her back.
By the time I got into my 4th year majors and we had the networks, computing architecture, embedded systems courses, I was hooked. I realized I really enjoyed working with hardware, and the rest is history…
What do you love about being part of EEEI Community?
It’s a bit difficult to single out – it’s a combination of the creative enthusiasm of the students, camaraderie of the faculty and staff, the EEEI facilities, the great campus environment. I am amazed every year at what our students can accomplish, especially in their final year projects.
What is your message to all the members of the EEEI community?
I know it’s a cliche, and probably all other personal development book would say this better than me – but don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Mistakes and failure are part of life, so for me it is better to make those mistakes and learn how to recover from setbacks sooner rather than later. There is no single path to success, however you define success to be. Life is more like one of those “choose you own adventure” series books where multiple paths eventually lead to a finite number of endings. Some paths are shorter, some longer, but eventually you will get where you want to be. sometimes life will lead you to paths that you never thought you wanted to be, but once you get there you realize it was better than what you wanted at the start.
Sometimes life will lead you to paths that you never thought you wanted to be, but once you get there you realize it was better than what you wanted at the start.
What are some of your advocacies that you may want to share to our EEEI Community?
Kailangan talaga advocacy? I will just quote my daughter Hannah: “Stay in School. Don’t do drugs. Eat your fruits and vegetables.” 🙂 Not really advocacy, but a belief in “work-life balance”. Raising my family while working is very challenging but somehow life got simpler too – my priorities are crystal clear. Yes, there are days when my family drives me crazy but overall my family continues to inspire me to work, like an endless battery source.