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Ms. Anna, known as Ate AK, was the Executive President of the UST Volunteers of UNICEF for the academic year 2021 to 2022. Her first year in joining UVU was during the academic year 2018 to 2019. Before she became the Executive President, she was first a Junior Volunteer Coordinator. In her 2nd year, in the school year 2019 to 2020, she became the Vice President for Advocacy and the Executive Vice President. While in her 3rd year, she served UVU as the Vice President for Advocacy as her second term in the position.
She is now a graduate of Bachelor in Arts Major in Behavioral Sciences. She is currently working in ABS-CBN’s foundation “Sagip Kapamilya” as a Program Officer.
Being an alumna of UVU, she keeps updated with the organization’s projects through constantly maintaining a close relationship with current members. She mentioned that she even purchased a UVU T-shirt during UVU’s 18th Founding Anniversary.
ON HER ADVOCACY FOR CHILDREN’S RIGHTS
Ms. AK stated that her advocacy ever since was to promote children’s rights. Her desire all started during her junior high school years, where she was a student catechist, teaching in elementary schools about religion. This experience exposed her to a newfound passion—which is to serve the kids.
“The more I grew older, the more my advocacy for children’s rights prospered.”
As she became a senior high school student, that’s when she first learned about the organization. Upon hearing that the UST Volunteers for UNICEF is a university-wide organization that aligned to her advocacy, she was thrilled to become part of it. However, university-wide organizations excluded the membership of SHS students. However, during her first year as a college student, she made sure that she was able to join UVU.
At first, she signed up for the Junior Volunteer Committee knowing that you will only volunteer for projects and events. What she didn’t know was that the committee involved radical leadership training. But when she thought of it, she said that “...andito na rin na lang din naman ako, and [since] I’m fighting for the same advocacy, might as well make the most out of it.” Little did she know that this decision changed her life. Because of UVU, her advocacy for children prospered, even up to this day.
When she became the Vice President for Advocacy in 2019, she stated that her primary goal was to bring awareness about children’s rights. For people to be informed about how it works, its importance, and how these rights can affect a child and their growth was her meaning of success during her term in the organization. Because her goal is focused on children’s rights, the advocacy committee exceptionally flourished during these years.
UVU AS HER HOME AND TEACHER
“UVU has been my home and also a teacher to me.”
Aside from UVU being her stepping stone in the social work in her career, UVU became her home because it is where she found comfort amid stress due to academics.
“Ang nagiging pahinga ko ay orgwork talaga.”
To see her advocacies come to life and being implemented was her comfort, despite being stressed from personal, academic, and other matters. Working with UVU’s members also relieved her as she considers them her friends and family, especially the Executive Board and the Advocacy Committee during her term. Despite having 2 years of her term in the online setup, the “pakikisama and pakikitungo” among the members were uplifting and hence, she felt the sense of Ohana within UVU.
“Stressful ang acads, stressful ang orgwork, pero sa orgwork, kakaiba ‘yung pahinga.”
UVU has taught her many things. One of which is the technicalities on children’s rights and how she was able to fulfill advocacy. Aside from that, UVU was able to hone her as a person in various aspects of her life: in terms of leadership, values, and character.
First, it taught her to become a considerate leader. She said that being one means understanding the members lives outside the organization. This is because just like her, the members also have a personal life, academics, and other orgworks that they must tend to. She said, “...you can’t just lead people eh, you need to be considerate and understanding of their own struggles in life.” Through this practice, only then will members appreciate how UVU works as an organization.
Furthermore, UVU also taught her integrity and honesty in all of her work. She believes that the quantity of projects would not matter if its leader lacks integrity. In decision making and everyday tasks, a leader is responsible for the entirety of its members and should thus be accountable for every decision they make.
Next, UVU taught her how to become a more communicative person. Because UVU involves working with various people, one will inevitably learn how to build their communication skills and know when to put a professional tone, and when to be cheery and casual to members. She said that being communicative means adapting to the people around you.
Lastly, she was able to learn time management. Since the academic workload in itself is heavy, she is also a daughter, a sister, a friend, an org member, and even more so a leader. Hence, she had to manage her time and set priorities. One of the tips she was able to suggest was to look at tasks at a bigger picture, meaning breaking down big tasks into smaller ones that can be finished in a day. With this, not only will one be able to accomplish heavy tasks in a spaced out manner, but also prioritize those tasks that need more attention. “You need to make priorities and make sure that all aspects of your life are working together harmoniously.”
“It’s normal to struggle in balancing everything going on in your life, it’s completely normal.”
Another tip for students who are struggling to have a work-life balance is to come back to your cause and purpose. In her case, she reminds herself of her purpose as to why she joined UVU, and why she’s still there. And when she realizes that it’s to fulfill her dreams, she becomes motivated and able to accomplish her tasks eventually.
Being her home, what she misses the most about UVU is the open-mindedness of its members, board, and committees, wherein everyone welcomes the suggestions of another, expresses their ideas vividly, and is also open to constructive criticisms that will eventually lead to the betterment of the organization. Comparing her previous work environment before versus now, student organizations to her were more lenient when it comes to tasks and deadlines, and one can surely work their way around. Meanwhile, to work means everything will be subjected to strict guidelines and rules.
Above all these, UVU was able to help her grow as a person by allowing her to stand for what she believes in and fight for it. Through instilling children’s rights and strengthening her passion, she was able to serve communities in a way that is sustainable, efficient, and effective.
TAKING A TRIP BACK TO THE UVU MEMORY LANE
Ms. AK’s favorite project in the organization is the BRAVE HEARTS, where members go to the National Children’s Hospital to visit children suffering from cancer. This is the project closest to her heart because it opened her eyes in a way that made her believe that children do not deserve to suffer from cancer.
“...iba ‘yung paghihirap na pinagdadaanan nila, kaya hindi dapat nila nararanasan ‘yun.”
One of her experiences in BRAVE HEARTS was when she was playing with a kid, all giggly and smiles. Suddenly, the nurse came in because the child needed a blood transfusion. The child cried and told them (UVU members) “Ayaw ko na po, tama na po, tama na!” Ms. AK had to step out of the room and hide her emotions. She believes that you should not let children see your weak side, and you have to be positive in front of them. When she came back, the child was silent and was not as giggly as she was before she left.
“And I guess that’s what has fueled me the most. Although we cannot cure cancer, there are a lot of ways that we can help children. There are different ways that could help a child to grow, to help them reach their full potential, and become the best version of themselves.”
On the other side of the spectrum, the biggest challenge she faced during her years in UVU was when projects had to transition from being conducted face-to-face to the online setup. According to Ms. AK, this was also the biggest difference between UVU back then versus UVU now.
Because she believed that the projects are most effective when conducted in the face-to-face setup, it was a challenge for her to come up with activities that are more creative and will make participants more engaged to the project in the online setup. She needed to think of unconventional and innovative ways to ensure that the project is successful despite conducting them via Google Meet or Zoom. Brainstorming with the rest of the committee and informing the participants about the goals and benefits they will receive from the project enabled them to overcome these challenges. She also said that the determinant of a successful project is not about how many participants attended the webinar, but it is whether they were able to absorb and apply their learnings from it.
But now, as we can all see, UVU’s projects thrive even during the online setup, with more gimmicks, engagements, and creativity observed, and this is because UVU was centered upon its beneficiaries’ needs.
Her motivation to overcome challenges within the organization is all its beneficiaries—the children. During the pandemic, “that’s when children need us the most,” since the attention of the mass, government, and NGOs were focused on health and food security during its peak. The people who she worked with were also key to overcoming these.
A MESSAGE FOR UVU’S 18TH FOUNDING ANNIVERSARY
As an alumna, it is difficult to participate in the projects of UVU all the time, but there are small ways that we can advocate for children’s rights even in our everyday life.
Holding the advocacy close to our hearts will drive volunteerism, passion for the org, and its advocacies. Just the thought of keeping your advocacy in mind everyday, and in every decision you make, will enable one to be of service for the kids.
To UVU’s Members:
“To UVU's current officers, I would like to congratulate every one of you for doing such a great job because I understand the struggle and challenges that you face everyday to ensure that the organization is running and is in its best element. You are the best role model and ambassador of UVU's advocacies. May you all be blessed with more strength and potential to lead our organization to its goals. We all thank you for the service to the organization and its stakeholders. Let the passion of volunteerism in your hearts burn even more.”
To UVU’s Alumni:
“As an alumni myself, I admit that it is hard to keep track of every event, project and initiative that UVU is currently implementing. I also know that it is hard to give priority to our advocacies, but even so, we should never forget how UVU has nurtured and directed us in to our current paths right now. We all have something that we learned from the organization and we must be thankful for it. Big actions for our advocacy may be hard to do right now, but small steps towards contributing to it will always contribute to its success. May we never forget our purpose and the people that we advocate for.”
To UVU’s 18th Anniversary:
“UVU has always been a notable organization and its successes are because of the people behind it. May it be the executive board, the committees and the members, we have all been a part to make UVU what it is now. Being the primary partner of UST when it comes to children's rights is not too far up ahead because we have all done our best to make sure that we uphold the organizations' values, principles and advocacies. May we all continue to stand by UVU, especially during the times that the people we advocate for need us. #AllForTheKids, always.”