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Gabay holds 1st Scholars' Congress

by Jan Lane G. Canseko

IT WAS a meeting of minds as Gabay held its first ever Scholars’ Congress titled “Isko Ako! Discover the Scholar in you!” on February 16 at the John Gokongwei School of Management.

The whole day event was part of the Gabay Umbrella Project, “LIB: Selebrasyon ng Liberasyon Atbp.”

“This year, Gabay aims to become more relevant to the scholars, increase their involvement in our organiza­tion, and be able to address their other needs, aside from academic services,” said Gab­ay President Marc Ericson Santos (IV BS ECE).

“So what?”

According to Gabay Ex­ternals Head Al Agassiz dela Torre (III BSM AMF), Gabay already has its own projects for the scholars but it realized the importance of getting ideas coming from the scholars themselves.

“We feel that we need to sit down and discuss among ourselves our current issues as scholars, our identity, and our responsibilities,” he said.

“We want to make sense of being a scholar. We like to answer the question, ‘I’m a scholar, so what?,’ which is a question we never ask ourselves,” said dela Torre.

In the congress, the schol­ars were asked to identify the profile of a scholar, his or her needs, and vision for the scholars’ community in Ateneo.

“[One goal is to] inspire the scholars, orient them towards service, encourage them to participate in student activities, through the [Office of Admission and Aid’s] vi­sion, experiences of alumni scholars [and] hopes of their benefactors,” Santos said.

“Change-makers”

The speakers in the congress included Ateneo Alumni Scholars Association President Victor Claravall, Former Assistant to the Di­rector for OAA Tetet Briones and OAA Scholarship Officer Tin Escalona.

The scholars were then made to develop their ideas through discussions and group dynamics.

“We also hope to provide an avenue for them to ex­change ideas, and then we hope to come up with concrete proposals in order to be of more service to fellow schol­ars, and the whole Ateneo community,” said Santos.

It would be nice to see scholars supporting each other in terms of adjustment, academics, and becoming ef­fective change-makers in the society,” added dela Torre.

Unique experience

The final part of the pro­gram involved the presenta­tion of project plans, which consisted of proposals that might be implemented next school year through Gabay, other organizations, or the scholars themselves.

Gabay hopes that the scholars can offer diverse points of view that could prove useful to the Atenean community.

“We are banking on the uniqueness of the scholars’ experience and lifestyle in order to bring out ideas and a culture that may be valuable to other Ateneans,” Santos said.