{"id":1213,"date":"2023-09-14T09:33:00","date_gmt":"2023-09-14T07:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lpinstitute.dev.onpressidium.com\/news\/frias-education-youth\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T12:28:35","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T11:28:35","slug":"raven-frias-student-dedicating-her-life-to-education-commitment-on-all-fronts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.learningplanetinstitute.org\/en\/news\/raven-frias-etudiante-dedier-sa-vie-a-leducation-sengager-sur-tous-les-fronts\/","title":{"rendered":"Raven Frias, Learning Sciences student: dedicating her life to education, committing on all fronts"},"content":{"rendered":"

Born in the Philippines, Raven Frias has been involved in education and social innovation for several years, working with various organisations. As such, Raven has forged many links with the Learning Planet Institute: she is a student in the Master of AIRE<\/a> and a member of the International Youth Council<\/a>. To give the younger generation a voice and decision-making roles, the Learning Planet Institute invited her to also join its Scientific Council<\/a>. Meet a student with an abundance of positive energy!<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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\"Raven\r\n
Raven Frias<\/sup><\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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\"Education:<\/figure>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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It\u2019s a rainy afternoon in March 2023. Raven Frias joins me at the Learning Planet Institute lobby and we sit down in one of the small basement lounges. Raven begins to share her story. \"I\u2019m Filipino. I was born in Manila, and I grew up here. -<\/em>\"\n\nFrom an early age, Raven was interested in education, particularly for young children. \"What made me want to work in the education field was the everyday situation in the Philippines: access to education is very difficult, and pupils often quit school very early. \u00bb This was not the case for Raven, who considers herself privileged: \u00ab I\u2019m one of the lucky ones. I was able to go to the University of the Philippines (the national university), and benefit from a scholarship.<\/em>\"<\/p>\r\n

At the University of the Philippines<\/a>, Raven studied BS Family Life and Child Development. \"I\u2019d already had the chance to work as a kindergarten teacher<\/em>\u201d, she says. \"I wanted to continue in that at university.<\/em>\" Because she was such a good student, Raven\u2019s family saw her as a doctor. \"My family wanted me to become a doctor, but I already knew I wanted to be a teacher. It really was my dream job<\/em>\". Raven knows what she wants, and it worked out well for her. She graduated Magna Cum Laude in 2022, receiving the \u00ab Gawad Tsanselor 2022 \u00bb award for \u00ab the most outstanding student for combined excellence in studies and public service. \u00bb<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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Raven Frias - \u00abGawad Tsanselor 2022\u00bb \u00a9 UP Diliman Information Office<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n
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If Raven is rewarded for her commitment to the public interest, it isn\u2019t because she attended university and teaches: she is also deeply involved in the nonprofit sector. \"In 2021-2022, I was president of an NGO called Family Life and Child Development Circle<\/a>. We were a team of around fifty young people and we ran the \u00ab Tahanan \u00bb project (which means \u00ab home \u00bb in Filipino), through which we ran learning sessions with children. We read them stories, did activities, and so on.<\/em>\"\n\n
\n\nDuring the pandemic, Raven and the Tahanan team organised online game sessions every Saturday, covering topics such as mental health, hygiene and helping children to become self-reliant. \"We would create songs to help them take care of themselves, explore their environment, or strengthen ties with their families\u2026 It was very interesting!<\/em>\". The Tahanan project has since won several awards for social innovation and education.<\/p>\r\n

Beyond her studies and community involvement, Raven is looking to explore the world of educational research. \"I wanted to meet people who, like me, wanted to make education more accessible, more fun, more engaging<\/em>\" she explains. In the course of her internet research, Raven came across a call from the International Youth Council<\/a>, launched by the Learning Planet Institute. The year was 2021. Raven applied and was accepted into the first cohort of young activists.<\/p>\r\n

The aim of the Youth Council is to put youth in the spotlight so that they can play their part in strategic decision-making on key issues for the world of tomorrow.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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We were 18 interested and committed young people in fields such as education, health, sustainability and identity. We came from all over the world. It\u2019s an incredible community. We met every month online \u2013 quite a challenge with the time difference!<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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Within the programme, Raven has made lifelong friends. \"I feel that wherever I go in the world, I\u2019ll feel at home. It\u2019s great that we\u2019ve stayed in touch after the programme. I\u2019ve already seen some of my friends from the Youth Council: one of them came to visit me in the Philippines, and others have welcomed me in France. We exchange ideas on our respective projects, but above all we\u2019ve become real friends. We\u2019re like a family. I can\u2019t wait to go and visit the others!<\/em>\" she smiles.<\/p>\r\n

Raven is very grateful for her experience with the Youth Council. \"It was a great opportunity that showed us how much fun it can be to make a difference. We created a real community. I was part of the education group; there were 5 of us, and it was really nice to see that we were like-minded on different continents. We organised an online Christmas party with games for the Youth Council team, which was great fun. I love bringing people together!<\/em>\"\n
\nRaven also had the opportunity to represent her home country at the Hitachi Young Leaders Initiative<\/a> in Singapore in summer 2022, which brought together young leaders from Southeast Asia to collaborate on innovation for well-being (Objectif de D\u00e9veloppement Durable n\u00b03<\/a>). Thanks to the Youth Council, Raven was able to speak at the LearningPlanet Festival<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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It was a very inspiring space. It\u2019s gratifying to see that we can go from a field activity to an event where we meet policy-makers and social entrepreneurs, and where we can take the floor to multiply our impact tenfold!<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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LearningPlanet Festival at the Learning Planet Institute \u00a9Quentin Chevrier<\/sup><\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n
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Since the start of the 2022 academic year, Raven has been enrolled in the AIRE (Interdisciplinary Approaches to Research and Teaching) Master\u2019s degree<\/a> in Learning Sciences, by Universit\u00e9 Paris Cit\u00e9<\/a>, hosted at the Learning Planet Institute.\n
\n\"I stayed in touch with the Youth Council\u2019s coordinating and organising team. I had enjoyed the experience so much that I asked them what they were doing. The team urged me to apply, and I was accepted into the AIRE \u2013 Learning Sciences Master\u2019s programme, while at the same time obtaining a mobility grant to study in Paris. Students come from all over the world and have different ages and experiences, so it\u2019s very enriching. The idea for me in doing this Master\u2019s programme is to meet different players in the education sector.<\/em>\" As if Raven hadn\u2019t already done some of that \u2013 but she\u2019s still exploring new horizons.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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