HONG: An alumnus returns to DLSU to teach

Lasallian BSCE alumnus,William Hong, Doctor of Engineering graduate of Tokyo Institute of Technology is now a part-time faculty member of the Civil Engineering Department starting AY2013-2014. He is now teaching elementary surveying to sophomores but in the future he will handle courses in construction management and economics and infrastructure development in the undergraduate and graduate program.

Dr. William Hong at the top of the world!

A Message from Dr. William Hong

Back to the Future.

You know that slogan of DLSU, the future begins here? Well, its true!

My La Salle journey started in year 2001 as a civil engineering frosh. After graduating 4.5 years later, I thought that would be the end of my DLSU journey and the beginning of the "real world", as many would say. Or was it?

Sometime soon after graduating, I was called by my DLSU mentor for a scholarship offer to Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan. I was not sure what that path would hold for me, but it seemed promising. Two gruelling years later I would finish my Masters in International Development Engineering (IDE) with specialization in concrete and steel durability. I found myself becoming more and more engrossed in the academic and research world. I would be reading books, writing journal papers, and conversing with sophisticated individuals with sophisticated thoughts. What kind of future was this? I pushed on anyway. Three more years later I would attain a Doctor of Engineering degree, still in the IDE Department, in the field of resources and energy economics. I felt like I was on top of the world.

The picture I posted here was the time I climbed Mount Fuji. It is a destination you aspire for and work hard for. But when you are on top, you do not really stay there for long. You have to go down again and live the life you had when you started. What you can do, however, is to share what you saw from the top. It seemed evident to me that the experiences I had gone through in Japan were not to be kept only for myself. It had to be shared to those that would need it and would also share it back. I simply found myself strolling down a path that would lead me back to where the journey began.

A dozen years after starting my future here in DLSU, I find myself back. Back to start again. Back to share. Back to realize that the future is really where you begin it. To my dear students and friends, enjoy your years here while it lasts. The future is here and it is what you make of it.

Cheers!

William Hong, D.Eng