In the teaching arena she calls a classroom, she displays her superpowers one couldn’t even fathom.  She can calm down the harshest weather of tantrum outbursts from her pupils, she can empathize with the ordeal of her students with them and most of all, she bears her own problems with incredible strength, she solves problems with speed, she flies to the highest emotions and remains durable in spite of the ugly things the universe throws at her.  She is Storm, Rogue and Wonderwoman all rolled into one. She is a teacher.  

Ma. Aira Chenessa Benitez-Aguilar, fondly, called Cheenee by all, is one of the first Grade Six graduates from Batch 2001.  She finished the degree of Bachelor in Elementary Education Major in Special Education at the University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJR) in 2011, her Masters in the same university in 2014 and is currently pursuing her Doctoral Degree with the same specialization. 

Presently, she is the Chairperson of the Department of Teacher  Education at the University of San Jose-Recoletos. As DOTE chairperson, she won prestige for her department by bagging the Championship Award in the Best Teaching Model Implementer (Synchronous Approach Category), at the CHEDRO 7 ASEAN Month Teaching Models Competition 2021.

She has been teaching in USJR since 2013 as a volunteer Special Education center teacher, then as instructor of teacher education and SpEd courses in the College and Graduate School of Education. She is an international Bloom Software Technology Expert, ESD Fellow, and inclusive education advocate.

Besides teaching, she has also been working closely with some programs with USAID, GRN, UNESCO and other local partners primarily, on the development of contextualized and localized learning materials and Education for Sustainable Development. She is currently working as one of the trainers on GCED (Global Citizenship Education), developing and implementing trainings in the region.

In her entire teaching career she wears the hat of both a teacher to students and a teacher to teachers, too.   

“I am passionate about learners loving learning, and helping teachers teach, not subjects, but children.  Cultivating the culture of excellence with a heart among teachers and learners is very challenging but I know I am capable of doing this because STEFTI molded my being, fit to do every task I face with excellence and compassion.”

Looking back, she recalls that STEFTI indeed empowered her through the holistic various learning experiences and opportunities she was provided. Asked to describe her STEFTI experience, she sums it up in one word: life-changing.

This explains why she is the self-sufficient, strong, and confident educator that she is now.