This is a qualitative study which explores different factors affecting the career decision-making of Grade 10 students leading to a choice of becoming a teacher. A total of 388 students participated in the study with 40 students from Metro Manila who conveyed they are pursuing teaching as a career. Data analysis involved coding and categorizing of responses with defining of emerging themes related to students' motivation to teach. It had two levels of data collection: survey questionnaire to gather student's perceptions about teachers and teaching as a profession and a focus-group discussion to validate salient themes that emerged from the responses to the survey questions. The findings revealed that early exposures to the role of teachers and influence of close family members contributed to the preference to pursue education as a program in tertiary education . Moreover, the student-participants had positive regard for teachers and the teaching profession. The students described their teachers as having positive personal characteristics, which served as model for them. On the other hand, the positive and negative perceptions regarding the teaching profession surfaced. Lastly, the study recommends that orientation programs include parents of students and model teachers of the schools to strengthen the students' interest to pursue teaching.

Women’s involvement in community activities is common in university-designed extension programs. This paper explores the life stories of women who believed there were changes in their quality of life and relationships with their families and other women as a result of participating in these activities. Focusing on producing gourmet gourami (bottled fish), a focus-group discussion was conducted among nine women-volunteers in a rural community in Quezon, Philippines. The academic and community collaboration produced women who perceived themselves as equals to their partners and advocates for change. This translational process from theory to practice was seen as helpful by the participants and led to motivating others to participate. The research may be a platform for stakeholders, especially academicians and policy-makers, to consider concentrating on how university-learned ideals and knowledge can be beneficial for community members.