VOLUME IV, ISSUE 1 | The Image

THE IMAGE

The Newsletter of The Reflection The Official Student Publication of the School of Education Volume IV Issue no. 1

December 2022

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Photo Courtesy of HAU School of Education—Student Council

The HAU School of Education—Student Council presented their accomplishment report and financial statement for the first semester, and responded to the questions of the SEd community at the MID-TERM State of the School Address (SOSA) via Zoom and Facebook live.

By Mary Joyce Dizon

Mid-SOSA bares transparency, accomplishment reports of orgs

By Rinards Pamintuan The Reflection pulled off MID-SOSA last Dec. 17 via Zoom and Facebook live in order to fulfill its role to be the checks and balances of the department.

By Mary Joyce Dizon

The School of Education’s student-leaders discussed their first semester’s transparency and accomplishment reports at the MID-TERM State of the School Address (SOSA) held via Zoom and Facebook live of The Reflection.

The Eduk council and six out of nine organizations presented their achievements and financial reports to the SEd community including the League of English and Language Teachers (LELT), Human

Kinetics Society (HKS), Kapisanan ng mga Mag-aaral sa Filipino (KAMFI), The Social Studies Circle (TSSC) among others.

The events and activities of the Eduk community were more on strengthening the relationship of the students in the department and also serving the people in need through outreach services.

The leaders from the council and organizations who participated in the aforesaid event also bravely answered questions coming from the Eduk students and the publication.

One of the biggest problems encountered by the council was its low budget for this academic year.

It is why they said they did their best for their fellow students to enjoy different events and activities despite the amount of budget given to them.

The Eduk council presented their reports live while the SEd organizations were asked to send a short video summarizing their accomplishments.

Unfortunately, the Association of General Education Students (AGES), Inclusive Education Society (IES), and Scienzophiliacs (SCIENZO) were not able to attend the SOSA. But they were able to send their accomplishment reports to Dr. Alma M. Natividad, the Dean of the department.

John Stephano Villegas, the president of IES, indicated that he was unable to attend the SOSA owing to his fluctuating schedule as a working student. He also pointed out that, "My officers are

instructed to attend the event, but even them have other commitments. In relation to the accomplishments of the organization, we also forwarded a copy of the file to our Dean. We can also offer evidence to support every event we had and every collaboration we agreed to.”

Adrianne Ocampo, the president of SCIENZO stated in an interview, “I have the decency to make time to highlight our organization's accomplishments, and I am proud of my organization's achievements, but personal emergencies occurred, and there are some situations that we cannot control.”

While Sherwin Miguel Nieves, the president of AGES, reasoned out that the lack of time and hectic schedules of his officers and him is the reason why they were unable to attend or even submit an accomplishment report.

In order to walk the talk, The Reflection also presented their accomplishments and financial reports to give light that Reple carried out various initiatives and good services both inside and outside the community.

The SEd community will have more events and activities in the second semester focusing still on serving the people inside and outside the department.

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BSEd stude champion in Nat’l Youth Convention

By Kyrylle Ocampo A BSEd graduating student of Holy Angel University raised the flag for Region 3 as she won in a national competition last Dec. 14, which was announced via Zoom.

Joan Aquino, a 4th-year Science major Eduk student, participated in National Youth Convention 2022 and was hailed as the champion in the Digital Poster Making competition.

The Center for Local and Constitutional Reform (CLCR) spearheaded the event with the theme, “Angat Lokal, Angat Kabataan: Malapit na Gobyerno, Mas Dama ang Serbisyo.” Aside from Digital Poster Making, they also have Essay Writing, Song Writing, and TikTok Challenge.

Aquino represented Region 3 and manifested her exceptional talent and skill in creating a digital poster. Despite being a first-time competitor in a national competition, she was able to come out on top.

In an interview, she explained why she decided to participate in the event. She stated that she received a call from the youth organization from the Mayor’s office of Mabalacat informing her that they wanted her to be their representative in the skitmaking category. However, due to time constraints, she chose to compete in the digital poster-making category rather than the skit-making category.

Aquino also admitted that she did not prepare for the competition because it was unexpected and she only had four days left before the deadline.

Furthermore, she said that her submitted piece was simply made out of boredom during her Christmas vacation.

In addition, Aquino shared and described her first-time participation in a national event and competition.

“Throughout the competition, it was pretty pressuring on my part since my competitors came from different regions and youth organizations around the Philippines. I’ve also seen that most of the submitted pieces were well-crafted. In addition, the competition organizers invited six highly calibrated judges, such as professional digital artists, to evaluate our work,” she said.

Along with her victory, she expressed her thoughts and feelings about being the champion of Digital Poster Making in NYC 2022.

She stated, “I am delighted because my win was a huge surprise to me as it was my first time participating in a national youth competition organized by a government organization.”

Aquino added that joining the competition was a fun experience because it allowed her to showcase her talent and creativity. She then relates it to being a future educator, stating that creativity is one of the essential skills we must cultivate in ourselves because it is one factor that makes us efficient and effective teachers as we deliver wisdom and knowledge to our students. Thus, the competition served as one of her springboards to becoming a competent and ideal teacher soon.

Aquino was also one of the winners in the poster-slogan making competition of LATHALA, an event spearheaded by The Reflection during Buwan ng Wika.

REPLE among the Christmas Outreach providers

By Mary Joyce Dizon The Reflection, the official publication of the School of Education joined in an Christmas Outreach with the other publications of Holy Angel University at Sapang Bato Elementary School last Dec. 12.

The Christmas Outreach was initiated by The Angelite, the official publication of HAU. Together with The Reflection, The Solution, and The Enterprise, they were called the HAU Press Club.

As per the statement of Princess Payumo, the Editor in Chief of The Angelite, the main objective of the said outreach was to commemorate the Season of Giving and give joy to the children.

A total of Php 24,000 was used for the said program.

Each publication has their own contributions for the preparation up to the execution of the event. The Angelite served us the emcees during the event. The Reflection staffers bought the materials for designing the venue and prizes for the games while The Enterprise was assigned to buy meals for the beneficiaries and HAU Press Club. Then, The Solution staffers bought giveaways for the kids.

Reple is consistent in giving outreach throughout the whole first semester through their TALAKAD Donation Drive initiatives and their other partnerships.

Alaya 2.0 backs AGTES studes

By Rinards Pamintuan

SEd-CSC and its partners, through Alaya 2.0, donated learning materials to the students of Abelardo G. Tinio Elementary School (AGTES) last Dec. 9 as commemoration of National Reading Month.

100 beneficiaries in grades 1 and 2 benefited from the aforementioned second-wave project, which promoted literacy for pupils in need of some form of educational resource. Students from the selected school received educational materials through a collaborative donation drive project, storybooks, and a community learning pantry that will give assets to the learners.

The Alaya 2.0 project featured the Ambagan Drive, where Ambagan is a Kapampangan term derived from the root word "Ambag," which means "contributed".

The Ambagan Drive is a monetary donation drive that became the main source of cash for funding the entire program. The project does not end there because it also has inperson outreach at the school's cover court. Out of 100 students, 63 attended the outreach. But the remaining 37 students received donations from Alaya 2.0 with the assistance of AGTES last Monday, Dec. 12.

The project comprised six (6) partners, commencing with the TALA, the Co-Presenters which include The Reflection, The Angelite, and the Rotaract Club of Holy Angel University. The SISILM partnership comprised the media partners including the Kapisanan ng mga MagAaral sa Filipino (KAMFI), League of English and Language Teachers (LELT), and HAU School of Arts and Sciences Student Council.

Besides that, the Alaya 2.0 booklet, which contains a literacy and numeracy test for grades 1 and 2, was developed with the help of the Association of General Education Students (AGES) whereas the collected storybooks and textbooks in their department came from the help of Holy Angel University and Basic Education as a school partner.

Alaya 2.0 is planning to have an extended project for AGTES students next semester with the same purpose but a different approach.

Financial Saterment of Eduk Council and The Reflection (1st Semester of A.Y. 2022-2023)

3| NEWS

SEd duo co-organize Sinukuan Fest

By Rachel Rodriguez

Two SEd students witnessed the most-awaited celebration of Sinukwan Festival 2022 as part of the organizing committee.

Rain Alvarez, the current USEC-Chairman has been one of the organizers. Rachel Rodriguez, The Reflection’s Photojournalist was also one of the staff. Both of them are graduating SEd students from Holy Angel University.

Sinukwan Festival has been opened again after its two years of hiatus due to the pandemic. The said event was celebrated for 5 days, from Dec. 6 to Dec. 10.

The highlights of the festival was the street dance and free interpretative dance competition joined by different schools and municipalities of Pampanga on the last day of the festival.

The Reflection | The Official Publication of the School Of Education Editorial Board and Staff Academic Year 2022-2023 MARY JOYCE DIZON Editor-in-Chief MICHAELA NOREEN ELIZALDE Associate Editor for Internal Affairs

LEAH AMOR MANALO Associate Editor for External Affairs JESSALE JOIE PANDATO Managing Editor for Administration RINARDS PAMINTUAN Managing Editor for Finance KYTYLLE JANE OCAMPO News Editor TRISHA DENISE DIMABUYU Opinions Editor MARAE YVONNE GUECO Literary Editor JOHN MICHAEL DAVID Cartoonist and Head Broadcaster LOUIE REY VILLEGAS Layout Artist JONEL VELASQUEZ Technical Adviser

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EDITORIAL A Must for the Mass

In every community, there's always a leader that manages the government. As with the universities, there were student councils, organizations, and publications within each department. We can’t deny the fact that there were inevitable issues concerning every department, and not all students know about what’s going on within it. It is why having a leader that is open, inspiring, makes genuine contributions to the community, and manages fairly, is needed. So, students must reflect on themselves. Are our leaders really working? Where do our funds go? Are we assured that our money was used properly? Is it really necessary that our leaders be transparent?

Being a student leader does not only end with having the position that they have or their willingness to participate in each activity. They must also hand out transparency, which equates to building trust among constituents and having accomplishment reports of their progress and the projects they made using the monetary funds. For it is also the leader’s responsibility to have transparency. Leaders can prove to the public that they are capable and deserving of their positions by not only performing well but also by delivering accomplishments and financial reports. It is because it can help people to see if the report being presented is balanced with the projects that they have accomplished. For example, when the government allocated millions for creating a bridge, the breakdown of expenses and the quality of the project will determine whether the bridge is worth its cost. If there is no questionable information or record, the people will put their trust and faith in them. Trust will then be established among the leaders and the people.

Yes, leaders who seek fair and transparent governance are rightful for their chosen position. However, they must show it even after they win their position. It is also important that the individuals are not neglected, instead getting involved in every decision that has to be made. Sadly, in our government, there are leaders who are afraid and refuse to show their Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN). There are even some agencies who happen to have ghost employees. Imagine the money that has been wasted because of some personal interests. There are even portion of budget that goes straight to the pockets of incompetent leaders. Remember that these are the taxes that we pay to fill the pockets of unreliable and untrusty leaders. Same as with the funds that go to the projects and activities of our student-leaders, it came from the portion of the tuition that students or parents earn with their own sweat and blood. It is why our student-leaders should also present us with financial and accomplishment reports.

If our leaders are open to showing their records then we can see the fruit of the money that we pay. In this way, the questions we have in mind will be answered and confusion will be avoided. It is our right to know if the leaders that we chose can fulfill all the promises that they made during the election. However, if there are anomalies with the records, a slap in our face for choosing a clown in the position.

Information is power. By being open to discussing the data or records, leaders can make the people powerful because of the things that they

know about the plans and accomplishments of the leaders they chose. Establishing communication through reports can open the eyes of the people to the current situation. Hearing the financial statement can also make people determine whether there are inconsistencies. Moreover, by being transparent people can tell whether the leader is real or merely a crocodile who is disguised as a leader. There are a lot of leaders who just want the position but not the responsibility that comes with it. Isn't it funny we have a lot of leaders like this nowadays? They just want to gain money, respect, and recognition. But, when you ask them about their financial and successful projects, they cannot present even at least one. On the other hand, there are also leaders who have produced several projects but cannot show the breakdown of expenses which makes the project questionable. It is a shame that even though we have seen a lot of them in the government we still chose to sit them in the position where they are. Leaders who use projects to beautify their names and hide their corruption for their personal interests are not leaders, but just merely a politician who craves for money and power. Because being a leader is not just about producing it’s also about showing the process and the details of how it was done. With that, we hope that our student-leaders are not doing the same. For they are the future of the country and they should leave our school with clear records.

Accomplishment reports are important for individuals to know since they include documentation and successes of the group toward their activity. It detailed how things proceeded and the outcome of all the expenses and preparations. This will also serve as proof of their actions, and the outcome will judge their overall performance. Students must be aware of what these so-called leaders have already done. Being informed is to be a critic of the situation. Since we are the ones who can see and experience their implemented projects to aid the needs of the community, we can determine whom to sit next election. If we are informed, then we have the power to end the history of corruption and inconsistency. This will help us in becoming responsible voters in the next election. Lastly, without transparency and accomplishment reports, integrity is bound to deform, and the birth of corrupt minds will crawl within the high positions of authority. It also serves as a proof that the leader who is standing and holding a position of power is also the one who sits but performs nothing.

Transparent leadership demonstrates the full commitment of a trustworthy and honest leader.

Transparency is essential, and every leader should practice it within their organization. Visibility encourages accountability and informs the public about student leaders' actions. People vote for them not only for their own benefit but also to ensure that they can handle their responsibilities well. Each person was given the opportunity to vote, and we must pay attention to it and make informed decisions. Hence, we must criticize their recent works and accomplishments. Remember that there is no flame without a spark. Thus, we must watch from the beginning when they are running their position.

Be involved from the start so that you don't make mistakes afterwards.