Tiebreaker Times contributor and former Ateneo Blue Eagle (swimming) Aldo Tong became the first Filipino to receive a masters degree from the prestigious Dream Together Master program at the Seoul National University, last December 19.
The program is funded by the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism of Korea and the Korea Sports Promotion Foundation. Dream Together is a global sport development program that is aimed at educating future global sports leaders.
Some of the program’s distinguished mentors include sports scholar Joon Ho Kang, Bettina Cornwell of the University of Oregon, father of modern sports management Packianathan Chelladurai, award-winning sportswriter and best-selling author Alan Abramson, Olympic Games specialist Lisa Hindson, among others.
“This is the culmination of the 17 months of the program where I was able to not only earn a degree but also make friends both from Korea and abroad,” said Tong about the experience.
“With the experience and knowledge that I gained, I hope that I can do my part in helping develop and grow Philippine sports and help the Filipino athlete,” added the member of the class of 2018 that consists of 28 students from all over the world.
Tong, 30, graduated from the Ateneo de Manila University with a degree in Applied Mathematics major in Mathematical Finance back in 2009.
He became part of the school’s Finance faculty afterwards while moonlighting as the swimming head coach of Ateneo’s juniors swimming team.
He joined Tiebreaker Times back in 2014. He covered events such as swimming and water polo.
