Finding Their Voice: How Two AMTraC Scholars Turn Sacrifice into Self-Belief
Two scholars from Leyte and Samar prove that the right support can turn sacrifice into the start of a dream.
Two years ago, John Michael would have declined this interview.
Put him in front of a camera, and the young man from Southern Leyte would have looked away. But then, he leans in. A quiet confidence built by people who believed in him before he believed in himself.
That belief has a name. For John Michael, and for Jocelyn of Samar, it’s World Vision, alongside partners Isuzu and TESDA.
The two are among eighteen young Filipinos who graduated this year from Batch 25 of the Auto Mechanic Training Centre (AMTraC), a two-year Automotive Servicing Program by World Vision Development Foundation, Isuzu Motors Limited, and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA).
For both, the diploma means more than a skill mastered: proof a future doesn’t have to be limited by family hardship.
The Cost of Choosing
Long before AMTraC, John Michael had already started college, shifting from Electronics to Information Technology, until his sibling reached college age and family finances could stretch only one way.
He set his studies aside. “I knew how expensive college could be,” he said. AMTraC’s full support, accommodation and training covered, felt less like a consolation prize than a door opening.
Jocelyn knew that same math. Her father drives a tricycle and sells goods to support three children’s schooling; as the second child, her older sister’s education came first.
Then AMTraC found her. “That was when I felt I could continue,” she said. The program offered something rare: a path forward that didn’t force her to choose between her future and theirs.
A Safe Place to Grow
Technical training was only part of what AMTraC gave them. Through World Vision’s holistic approach, both found a genuinely safe place to grow. Not just as future mechanics, but as people. Safeguarding policies set a respectful standard, reinforced by team-building activities and regular spaces to say what they needed.
Two years ago, Jhon Michael would have declined an interview rather than speak in front of strangers. Today he calls himself someone who can communicate, lead, negotiate, and carry responsibility.
Jocelyn’s transformation was quieter. Naturally shy, she found her footing in one-on-one talks and team-building sessions that made room to speak honestly.
“Hindi lang sila nagbibigay sa amin ng suporta sa pag-aaral kundi nagbibigay din sila ng gabay at motivation,” she said, they don’t just support our studies, they give guidance and motivation, too.
That guidance steadied her voice in the moments she once dreaded most: speaking up in a room.
Learning the Trade
Alongside that growth, TESDA’s hands-on training and Isuzu’s industry-standard curriculum matched their new confidence with real technical skills. John Michael valued how fast lessons moved from classroom to workshop.
John Michael plans a career in automotive servicing, eyeing work abroad, and hasn’t let go of an older dream to study psychology. AMTraC is his stepping stone toward a future that supports both.
Jocelyn still dreams of becoming a teacher, working with children. Her automotive training isn’t a detour from that, it’s the practical route there, a way to build stability and support her parents now.
More Than a Certificate
What they carry from AMTraC is bigger than a diploma: the confidence to speak up, the resilience the impossible math once tested, and the conviction that where they started doesn’t decide where they end up.
John Michael already imagines passing it onto his family first, then to other young people standing where he once stood. Jocelyn imagines the same conviction passed in a classroom of her own, to some shy kid who needs the patience someone once showed her.
That’s the quieter promise behind what World Vision, Isuzu, and TESDA built together: real support doesn’t move a young person from uncertainty to purpose alone.
It travels with them, easing what their parents carry and reaching the communities they’ll return to.
It’s proof that circumstances don’t set the ceiling. John Michael and Jocelyn are already living it, and they’re only getting started.
Their stories show that making hope real goes beyond providing skills or opportunities. It’s about helping young people discover their potential, believe in their future, and create lasting change for themselves, their families, and the communities they will one day serve.
