Let Your Smile Change The World: Evangeline de Jesus

A veteran in the guidance counseling field, Evangeline de Jesus has made significant contributions in the Philippine Psychology field over the years.

Currently a consultant in an international corporation, Evangeline started out as an elementary school teacher upon her graduation from the Philippine Normal University.

Coming from a poor family, Evangeline made her way through life with her values – “sipag at tiyaga” – to become one of the cornerstones of Philippine psychology and guidance counseling academe.

Evangeline de Jesus has made significant contributions to the guidance counseling field over the years.

Passion for teaching

She took up a teaching job at the Eulogio Rodriguez Elementary School in Mandaluyong City. This was where she found one of the most rewarding experiences in her life: teaching gifted children.

“That was very challenging to me,” she shared. Evangeline taught grade one children during her days teaching elementary school. “They came to you without anything. They don’t know anything, they don’t have anything.”

“That’s why I stayed in the teaching profession quite a bit long, because I was challenged by these students” she said.

Teaching elementary students was one of her most challenging and rewarding experiences.

The Guidance Counseling Bill   

Along the years, Evangeline has made waves in the guidance counseling scene in the country. She served as president of the Philippine Guidance and Counseling Association in 1993 and 2003. She authored countless psychology books used in colleges and universities all over the metro.

While taking her doctoral degree, she and other UP students drafted the beginnings of what would be known as R.A. No. 9258, or the Guidance and Counseling Act of 2004.

She was Ad Hoc Chairman and a member of the implementation committee of the Guidance and Counseling Act of 2004.

The law was a legacy left by Evangeline and her colleagues, as it seeks to professionalize the practice of guidance and counseling in the Philippines. The guidance counseling act sought to change the landscape of guidance counseling by professionalizing it, meaning, it was to be regulated and sanctioned by the government. This helped the guidance counseling scene in the country flourish to what it is today.

Evangeline served as the Ad Hoc Chairman of the Guidance and Counseling Bill of 2004.

Filipino Values

Throughout her teaching career, she has abided by her personal values. She believes that the right mindset is all you need to achieve anything.

However, she believes there are certain values she wants to teach to students. “But honestly, my value is really to inculcate to them the value of honesty, sincerity, integrity, and openness.”

She believes this sense of openness is what helped her design her books and programs in the field of Psychology. “If your students are open, your students will tell you if they like it or not.”

Let Your Smile Change the World is a campaign of Affinity Dental Clinics to feature individuals who work behind the scenes to deliver projects and advocacies that bring smiles to other people. These people are movers and shakers in their field, and seek to bring about positive social change in the world.