This school year student leaders from Ateneo de Naga University once again scored wins in major national competitions such as the Ayala Young Leaders Congress, Jose Rizal Model Students of the Philippines, and Top 25 Young Marketing Leaders of the Philippines, among others.
Model student
Gabriel Asuncion became the tenth ADNU student to win a slot in the search for Jose Rizal Model Students of the Philippines.
Asuncion, the former President of the Supreme Student Government, received the recognition from the Order of Knights of Rizal (OKR) during the awarding ceremonies at the national headquarter of OKR in Manila in time for the commemoration of the death of national hero Rizal on 30 December last year.
The University nominated Asuncion to the search after going through competitive paper screening and panel interview organized by the Office of Student Affairs. Upon hundreds of school nominees across the country, he was selected as one of the finalists and eventually winner after paper screening and facing a panel interview.
As the search’s criteria, the JRMSP’s judges considered Asuncion’s academic performance, leadership and social involvement to be outstanding and reflective of Rizalian qualities and the virtue of love of country.
Prior to this achievement, Asuncion was selected as one of the delegates to the Ayala Young Leaders Congress 2014.
Life-changing AYLC
In the 17th installment of the Ayala Young Leaders Congress, Associate Justice of the Supreme Student Government, Ron Ephraim Roluna, joined 80 other students who successfully passed through a rigorous school and national screening processes, which concluded with the panel interviews in 18 to 21 November last year. Out of the 718 student leaders nominated by top schools and universities nationwide, 165 successfully qualified as interviewees. This number was further trimmed down to 81 after the interviews.
Focused on the theme: “Authentic Leadership: Being True, Being You,” Roluna embarked on what he affirmed to be a “life-changing leadership journey” that hoped to deepen the delegates’ desire for service to the community and love for the country.
The AYLC is the flagship program for youth development created by the Ayala Group of Companies as its concrete expression of its commitment to national development. After 17 years, the AYLC continues to pursue its goal of developing a corps of servant leaders who will hopefully contribute to uplifting the lives of Filipinos.
After the congress, Roluna and other delegates were challenged to develop their advocacies and come up with projects for the community. There were alumni of the alumni who have started with projects as inspired by their experiences in the AYLC. For instance, Sonia Marie Bacares (Batch 2014) conceptualized an anti-corruption project, Organizational Accountability and Transparency Training. It was pilot-tested among student organizations in ADNU, and is set to be shared to local organizations in Camarines Sur this year.
Outstanding Anak Expat
Multi-awarded student leader Paul John Legaspi became the first ADNU student to win the search for Outstanding Expat Pinoy Children. On 15 December 2014, the program organizer Bank of the Philippine Islands honored Legaspi and nine other children of overseas Filipino workers.
Legaspi is the lone winner in the category, Ibang Klaseng Community Leader.
Consistent with the search’s criteria, Legaspi belongs to the Top 10% of the college population, has co-curricular and community involvement, and has a father who works abroad.
He previously participated in national programs such as the Ayala Young Leaders Congress 2013, Search for the Top 25 Marketing and Sales Management (MARKPROF) and American Chamber of Commerce Business Orientation Program, and a winner in the Ten Outstanding Students of Bicol in 2014.
MarkProfers, Ateneans with big ideas
Three students from ADNU hurdled several screening processes and a 7-weekend bootcamp in marketing leadership to earn slots in the search for Top 25 Young Marketing Leaders of the Philippines 2014. They were: Kim Aimei Seng, Jerald Joseph San Pablo and Legaspi.
The search was organized by MarkProf, an organization that provides a stimulating marketing leadership bootcamp with real case studies guided by marketing experts, executives and business strategists to hone the abilities and potentials of selected graduating college students.
Bicol’s best volunteers, debaters, cheerdancers
SOAR 2015 to awardee Ateneo Sarong Bangui Junior Eagles was the first student organization from ADNU to win as regional awardee in the Search for Outstanding Volunteers for 2014.
Further, the members of Remontados Debate Society were back-to-back champions in the Bicol Intervarsities, held on January 16 to 18, 2015, and in the Savonarola Debate Cup, 31 January to 2 February this year.
Both ASBJE and Remontados had previously won competitions in local and national levels. ASBJE was finalist in the national search for Ten Accomplished Youth Organization (TAYO) and recipient of Naga City Mayoral Awards – Jesse M. Robredo Youth Award in 2014. Remontados, on the other hand, scored multiple wins in the Raul Roco Cup and Luzon Inter-Varsity Debate Competition, both in 2013.
Meanwhile, in the cheerleading scenes, the Ateneo Golden Cavalry secured the championship in the MILO Collegiate Division Cheer and Dance Competition held on 24 August 2014. In the same year, the school’s cheerleaders won first runner-up in the Peñafrancia Fiesta Regional Cheer and Dance Competition on 22 September.
More achievers
In the Aboitiz Future Leaders Summit last year, four Ateneans were chosen, namely: SSG officers Jorge Borsong and Lailani Murillo, and Elihidos co-founders Paul Kyrex Bueza and Seng. This yearly summit talks about leadership and management concepts and shows how these are concretized in a corporate environment, providing opportunities for the student delegates to interact, network, and establish ties with executives of the Aboitiz Group, as well as with their fellow delegates. Through plenary discussions, teambuilding exercises, and team challenges, the summit also aims to bring out the best from the student delegates, inspire them to develop a renewed hope in the country, and encourage them to strive for excellence in all things.
Aside from his Aboitiz stint, Borsong was the sole delegate from ADNU to the Nestle Management Immersion for Leadership Excellence or M.I.L.E. From a thousand of applicants, Borsong joined 29 other chosen students from across the country. They experienced personal mentoring, immersion in business processes, complex business challenges and self-development activities.
Meanwhile, in the ongoing search for the Ten Outstanding Students of Bikol, two students made it as finals, namely Joy Karen Damasig and Roluna. The announcement will be in March.
In the Philippine Model Congress (PMC), held at the Senate Hall in Pasig on September 13 to 14, there were three students who represented ADNU. They were James Nathaniel Refugio, Mark Joseph Euste and Jim Vincent Largo. In the PMC, participants simulated congressional debates, engaged in workshops and learned from transformative guest speakers. The conference hopes to give students the opportunity to tell congress what matters to them.
The Ateneo de Manila University made its own version of the PMC on 22 to 23 November. Here, 28 ADNU students participated.
International Opportunities and Beyond
The University has maintained its reputation both in the local and national settings. In JRMSP, for instance, ADNU has consistently won yearly from 2007 to 2014. In AYLC, with 32 delegates now in the list, ADNU is one of the schools which have produced the most number of delegates in the leadership program’s history. In the search for the Ten Outstanding Students of the Philippines, eight ADNU students have so far emerged national winners and three national finalists.
Recently, ADNU has also been participating in international events, like the Japan-East Asia Network of Exchange and Youth Program and Kizuna, Ship for Southeast Asian Youth Program, Asian-Korean Youth Exchange Program, and the International Youth Development Summit. In JENESYS and Kizuna alone, 21 of our students have already been given the chance to go to the different prefectures of Japan for immersion and disaster response training from 2008 to present.
The OSA, in collaboration with other offices and stakeholders, will continue to expand its coordination with external linkages and the promotion external development opportunities for student leaders and organizations, to contribute to the school’s formation programs. OSA will maintain its established systems and structures for fair nomination process, and to provide services such as coaching, mock interview sessions, assistance in the student’s application.
by Rodolfo SB. Virtus Jr
