AB 32.4

December 2011/January 2012

Volume 32 Issue 4

! r a e Y w e N Happy

how barkada started 2012

Anong Balita Committee 2011-2012 Editor-in-Chief Emeline Allenegui Culture Editor Luigi Cava Sports Editor Bryan Agahan Photography Dillon Sanchez Monthly Staff Writers/Designers: Aina Abad Nicole Jane Calinawan Marie Kris Dominguez Kelsey Estrada Cody Guerrero Manny Lava Andrew Lopez Czarina Obieta Julianne Pineda Roderic Suarez Andrew Yeo Contact: pr@cppbarkada.org Steez-E-Board

Table of Contents -2-

ACADEMICS

Barkada, Academics, the Real World, and You 8 Academics Month 10

CULTURE

PACN Auditions 18 A Word from Your Culture Chair

19

Past Cast Testimonies 20

SPORTS

A Word from Your Sports Chair

20

SOCIAL

Christmas Party 6 Barkada’s Got Talent 16 -3-

Spotlight Member

Paige Gutierrez

Year: 1st Major: Undeclared (maybe Graphic Design or Civil Enginering) Likes to: take photos of her life, family, and friends About Barkada: She looks forward to becoming closer friends with everybody in Barkada and she wants to “continue to bond with the best Ate in the entire galaxy, Nikki San Juan”. She most definitely wants to have Disneyland trips with all the Barkada Disney Passholders

- MARIE KRIS DOMINGUEZ

Winter Babies 12/22 12/24 12/25 12/29 12/29 12/31 1/5

Danilo Fajardo Amy Luo Christian Sekhanan Alex Edrada Michael Tanedo Joy Ernacio Eric Liu

12/22-1/31 Don’t forget to greet them Happy Birthday this month!

1/6 1/7 1/12 1/18 1/23 1/25 1/27

Kevin Custado Marion Hamor Jorge Chin Michelle Macasero Shea Salinas CeeJay Borbon Megan Duke

- AINA ABAD -4-

Tinikling Workshops January 18, 2012 When: wednesday. 6PM Where: Music Building

Flyer by CODY GUERRERO

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-RODERIC SUAREZ

Barkada, Academics,

You

the Real World, and

By Vinz Lim

(Barkada Alumni ‘09, Lifetime Member)

I

’m pretty sure you’re all digging Barkada at the moment. All of these friendly members with different personalities. All of these dope events like Friendship Games, “social nights,” Ski Trip, Barkada’s Got Talent, etc. There are so many things to list off, but did you also know that Barkada also helps you out academically and much, much more?

YEAH. The month of January in the Barkada calendar is Academics Month. A whole month dedicated to enlightening you, the student, to help you with your undergraduate endeavors. We’re all here at Cal Poly Pomona for an education, right?

Back in 2005-2006 (my freshman year), I was a commuting student going back and forth from home and school. The drive from Pico Rivera to Pomona was roughly 25-30 minutes going against the flow of traffic, so it wasn’t much of a hassle. I would attend my classes, go home, study, and repeat until the weekend.

That was my fall quarter at Pomona right before I got super involved with Barkada.

Looking at life now, I’m glad I decided to come out of my shell with Barkada because if I kept the commuter lifestyle consistent, I would have been absolutely demolished by the real world. I’ve seen a couple of my friends who were just like me going to and

“...if I kept the commuter lifestyle consistent, I would have been absolutely demolished by the real world.”

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from school struggle to find a job after they graduated. Their job search was long and strenuous and they often found themselves rejected. To this day, they have been out of school for nearly three years and are still jobless.

Now you’re asking yourselves, “What does this have to do with Barkada?” Well, even if you’re not aware of it, being a part of a college organization like Barkada can do wonders for an individual. Barkada gives you, the member, a place to grow with other people. Barkada also presents members with opportunities to grow further with Advisory Board, various academic/culture workshops, and collaborations like SCPASA The thing about school is that they don’t teach you the essential skills needed in the real world. They don’t teach you about networking with people, setting goals, managing your time, weighing/taking risks, being an effective negotiator, and being a leader. Those are the things my friends severely lacked and are barely wising up to it now.

I learned those essential skills immediately when I ran for Executive Board. During my first year as Historian. I was overwhelmed by the insane amount of detail and effort it takes to be on EBoard. Here I was, mister arrogant funny guy and party animal, humbled and tamed. I would spent two more consecutive years on board as Culture Chair and President. I had built myself a monster résumé with skills ranging from handling multi-

“...being a part of a college organization like Barkada can do wonders for an individual.” media, to producing and directing a production, to being an effective leader. Knowing people with the hook-ups came in real handy too. Stuff that really impressed employers interviewing me.

Now, I’m not saying to abandon your studies and join Barkada E-Board and you’re set for life. I just used myself as the example. Clearly, I would not be a college graduate if it weren’t for frequent visits to my counselor so I know what I need to do without doing things blindly, managing my time efficiently, and studying hard. As soon as I graduated I felt like I could take on anything. Not only have I gained an education, but I educated myself and honed the skills needed to stay afloat in the real world. I graduated Cal Poly with a pretty sweet GPA and the start of a journey toward a bright future.

I got Cal Poly Pomona Barkada to thank for that.

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ACADEMICS

MONTH I

t’s Academics Month! Make sure you start off Winter Quarter strong by going to study sessions and attending special events organized by your very own Academics Chair, Danielle Delos Reyes.

Take advantage of the tools Barkada is providing you with. This is a great opportunity to learn from past Barkada members and brush up on your professional skills. You can definitely get advice from career people, but you won’t be getting the personal response and connections you can receive from people that were young, broke, members like you!

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Resume Workshop

EVERY job needs a resume. If the first 2 minutes of a resume are not impressive to the employer, the person will have a very slim chance of being hired. Every single person who is looking to get a job, internship, grad school, etc. will need it to show who they are and what they have done on a single sheet of paper.

Being able to show your talents, accomplishments, work ethics, personality on a resume is of huge importance in the working world. They are the key to getting a job anywhere.

At Resume Workshop, I will be showing how to put a resume together by showing and suggesting what should be in it. I will also including a small exercise that will help a person understand who they are and how great they are so that they feel confident in putting their own accomplishments on a resume. I will also be available to proofread and help narrow down resumes to be more professional and presentable.

- DANIELLE DELOS REYES - 11 -

The

ALUMNI

Speaker Panel The Speaker Panel is a very personal way of getting to know the Alumni of Barkada. They’ll share their experiences of being a Barkada member while handling school, work, other clubs and personal things. They also give input about the club and how it has helped them with their jobs, internships, grad schools, etc. It’s a good way to get connections for a possible future job by getting advice on how to get there.

In attending Alumni Panel, you’ll get to connect with past Barkada members to gain knowledge, wisdom and advice on how to survive the after college life. It is also a good way to get to know alumni who have been on board before especially if you are interested in running for a board position in the future. The advice and connections you make are the most rewarding and fun aspects of the Panel.

Andrew Amante, Vinzon Lim, Greg Veracruz, Christops Rodriguez, Rj Tongol and many others will be there.

Don’t miss out! - DANIELLE DELOS REYES

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PREZI Software

Workshop

Presentation is everything. Need to impress teachers, employer, or fellow students? Traditional Powerpoint just not good enough? Let us introduce Prezi to you if you haven’t heard of it already. With technology advancing, you may need an edge over others in presentation. Prezi is a software used for sharing ideas. Using a virtual canvas, users can make a presentation “zoom.”

The asthetic effect makes information much more interesting by creating a visual narrative.

Need another reason to go? I, Emeline Allenegui, used the most basic elements of this tool for my campaign speech last year. Even with simple design and brief content, the audience enjoyed the visual. It was insane, the positive response I received despite its simplicity.

Take advantage of this tool! More and more students are beginning to use it, and this presentation editor may very well be the next standard. Be ahead of the pack and learn now!

Stress Management According to a national survey by Time Magazine, college students are more stressed out than ever. Needless to say, negative stress is unhealthy and may affect you physically, mentally and emotionally. As Barkada members, we understand that you may have a lot to juggle. Barkada itself, school, other clubs, work, etc. Learn how to manage your everyday activities while keeping your cool at this workshop! This is an invaluable resource you can take with you for the rest of your life.

Workshop

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- EMELINE ALLENEGUI

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Spotlight Member

Dom Plata Year: 3rd Major: Civil Engineering Enjoys: playing sports such as basketball and tennis. He also likes to sing and listen to music About Barkada: What he looks forward to is participating in this years Sportsfest and PACN. He really wants to be apart of the cultural dances for PACN. He also wants to meet more people throughout the year and become closer friends with everyone especially when we have socials with other schools.

- MARIE KRIS DOMINGUEZ

Fun and Stuff Joke of the Month

by Carl Gallardo & Dane Solomon

How do you get a watermelon pregnant?

You Pakwan!

Not funny? Ask them to repeat it in person.

Still not funny? Submit a joke to the Anong Balita!

Trivia!

For each correct answer means 1 entry to the End of the Year Banquet raffle. Email your answers to culture@cppbarkada.org, subject trivia 1. Who is the current President of the Philippines?

2. What is the current campaign for the Philippines’ tourism by the Dept of Tourism?

3. What is the Philippine national dance?

4, What month does the Philippines celebrate their independence day?

5. What’s the title of last years PACN?

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January 5, 2012

BGT

This year’s Barkada’s Got Talent was arguably one of the biggest and most diverse yet. New and previous performers alike shared their unique talents on the stage. Experienced performers seemed unfazed by the big crowd waiting to see what they were going to do while in the spotlight. But for many first timers, being in front of a huge crowd could be intimidating. As Dom Plata, who sang and choreographed Guapo Naman’s NSYNC performance shares, “I was really nervous. I haven’t sung in front of a crowd by myself in a long time but I still enjoyed it. I’m already thinking about another song to sing for next year…dancing with Guapo Naman was EXTREMELY FUN. When I found out about BGT dancing to Bye Bye Bye was one of the first things that came to mind so I asked around to see if anyone else would be down to learn the dance and luckily I found people who were more than willing to perform it”.

Even the most reluctant of performers like Marlon Gomez were encouraged by all the spirit surrounding the event, “Performing is something I usually do not do due to stage fright. My first performance was somewhat a disaster. I thought performing at BGT would be a step to get rid of my stage fright so I said why not. It’s better to do something and fail, than nothing at all”. There were also very many surprises that night. Nice Things Productions performed their renditions of YouTube-popularized songs. Christops Rodriguez, who founded Barkada’s Got Talented, had a few tricks up his sleeve, surprising the audience and his special someone at the end, “I’m happy that I did it! It felt so right bringing that surprise to the event I started. It actually made my event so much sweeter for me. It couldn’t have been so perfect without the people I care about and - 16 -

I’m glad I got to share such an amazing moment with the club I love.”

Apart from surprises of the night, there were also many BGT staples like Addicted 2 Adobo formerly known as Barkada Band. Daniel Verdejo compares his experience this year with the band from previous years, “Last year, I was just a band member but this year I was the one coordinators of the band, along with Dane Solomon. It was very challenging juggling the band, school, family, and work but overall, it was a really amazing experience and I am honored to have helped form and coordinate this band.” Even the Steez-E Board lent a hand in helping make this year’s show a success with their “How I Met Your Mother” spoof. Perhaps one of the most notable talents of the night was Guapo Naman dancing to NSYNC’s “Bye, Bye, Bye”. Group member Jean-Luc Felix agrees, “The NSYNC dance was definitely the highlight. I’m going to remember that for a long time. I have to thank Dom Plata for the choreography.”

It was a very busy night as the crowd was entertained with more than two hours of performances and food served during intermission. Other BGT performers, Cody Guerrero and Chrystle Vita, note this year’s event “had a lot of people who wanted to perform and watch” and that “there was a lot more spirit and involvement this year. There were twice as many performers, more audience support, and this year set a high standard for years to come.”

The audience laughed, smiled and swooned between the hosts jokes, show spoofs, sweet surprises and unique talents. The night ended with members and external school students impressed with this year’s Barkada’s Got Talent.

- CZARINA OBIETA - 17 -

Above: The BECs for the past 5 years (Christops Rodriguez, Anjelica Pazmino, Lauren Motus, Zugey Kumagai, NJ Calinawan), have made BGT the success it is today.

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PACN AUDITIONS 1/19, 1/20 This could be your hand!

Yes, this is a story hint.

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What is PACN? A word from your Culture Chair

According to cppbarkada.org, “Pilipino American Cultural Night or PACN is one of Barkada’s biggest events representing various issues that affect the Pilipino/Pilipino-American community through the art of theater and traditional Pilipino cultural dance.” After weeks of practices, Barkada members perform live in front of their friends and families in one spectacular evening.

What does PACN mean to you? PACN is my “final exam” before I graduate as a Culture Chair as it is where I will be tested. This is also where I will get to know the members of Barkada more, and teach some Filipino values and characteristics through my script and the dances.

What should people be looking forward to in your story? It is a simple story about a family from the Philippines who have an opportunity to live in the U.S. and the people that surround them. It is a “dramedy” with a touch of romance.

Why should people do PACN? People should do PACN because this is the time when you get to know your Barkada members and build friendships. This is the time to show your friends and family the art of entertainment through singing, dancing and acting. Plus, if you went to Friendship Games, and will participate in SportsFest, you don’t miss the last big event of BARKADA! - LUIGI CAVA

Past Cast Testimonies

David Geronaga Lead in Ikaw Parin Audition: The directors made it really fun where i could go out of my box and unlock hidden talents Practices: It took a lot of time and effort, but honestly, it was worth every penny seeing the end result Why? People should audition because its a life changing experience that you will never forget.

Justin Rodriguez Lead in Kung Wala Kayo, Wala Ako Audition: It was very nerve wracking, but something you want to experience at least once in your life Practices: It’s time consuming but it’s worth it because you get closer to everyone especially Carl Gallardo (Emeline: He wasn’t even there).

Performance: Awesome. It was scary at first, but it felt just like practice.

Why? You never know what’ll happen, you might get lead role!

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Kat Robeniol Lead in Wala Kang Katulad Audition: Exciting. I had the most amazing partner (JRod) Practices: They were fun.

Stressful, but worth it because you see progress.

Performance: It felt really short, but it was amazing.

Why? People should definitely audition because it opens other doors and interests. I never knew that I liked acting, but I absolutely loved it.

A Word from the Sports Chair Hello Barkada!

It’s your Sports Chair here, and I just wanted to say welcome back from Christmas break! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season, but its time to get back to business. And by business I mean… SPORTSFEST! I know many of you still do not know what it really is, but don’t you guys worry. In a few short weeks, you will soon get to know just what exactly Sportsfest is! Hopefully by then, you guys will be as excited as I am. It may be at the end of the quarter, which I know is far since we just started school and all, but trust me when I say this...the quarter will fly by. My sports coordinators and I have already begun working to make this Sportsfest the best it can be! It will be a tough quarter, but at the same time extremely fun with so many events starting. I just hope you can rise to the occasion. - BRYAN AGAHAN

Upcoming...

January

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