Circa: Pagsulong, Pagyabong, Pagtuloy

Family Life and Child Development Circle Young Minds, Great Achievers

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TABLE OF

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Editorial Board…...………………………………………………………………………...……………...……..............2 In the Loop………...…………………………………………………………………………………………...……........…..3 Events/Highlights……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..…………...……....5-13 Circle Pursues Mental Health Initiative………...………………............................................…..……………....……......5 Circlers Breaking Out the Bubble………………….............................................................................……....……..….9 Circle Celebrates Teacher's Month………………………….………….………….......................................….....…....…..11

Launching of Circle Website....................................………………………….………….………….……..…………...…..…...13

Show and Tell…………………………………………………………………………………………...……...…...........16 Halalan 2022: What can we do for our families?………………….…………...…………....……………………......…....17-19 Artworks……………………………………………………………………………………………………….……………………......…………...20-21 Video………………………………….........................................................................………………………………......………………....22 Literary Pieces.........................................................………………………………………………………………….....………………....23

Playing is Learning..………………………………………...………………………………..………….......…........25 Trivia.........…....…………………...…………...…………………………………………………………………………………....…....……….........26 MEME for you, MEME for me…...……………………………....…..…………………………………………......…………...………........27

Back Cover……………………………………………………………………………………………......………………....33

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T

MEET THE

EAM

- Athena Santos Associate Editor

- Julia David Head Layout Artist

- Joshua Bolante Editor-in-Chief

- Mia Mirabueno News Writer

- John Robert Betic News Writer

- Bianca Tan Organizer

- Annie Pacis Feature Writer

- Francine Moreno Feature Writer

- Caryl Quiachon Organizer Circa

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- Sofia AcedilloLayout Artist

- Daen Cuanang Layout Artist

- Pauline Rilveria Publicity VP 2

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Circle Pursues Mental Health Initiative by: John Robert Betic & Isabelle Mirabueno

The Family Life and Child Development (FLCD) Circle was one of the awardees of the Top 10 winning organizations from Search for UP Student Mental Health Advocacy Projects 2021 (UP SMHAP) last October 2021 and the IB Gimenez - UP Student Organizations' Social Innovation Projects Excellence Award under Health, Sports, and Wellness category during the Parangal sa Mag-aaral June 2022.

The UP SMHAP was a part of the mental health advocacy entitled Sandigan, Sandalan: Training and Advocacy Programs for Mental Health of the UP Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs (OVPAA) and Office of Student Affairs (OSFA), a UP-system wide search for innovative Mental Health Promotion ideas that aims to encourage mental health advocacy projects among students. On the other hand, the IB Gimenez award is given during Parangal sa Mag-aaral 2022 to student organizations that had relevant and timely contributions to the Filipino community.

Left: UP SMHAP recognition. Right: UP FLCD President, Raven B. Frias, receiving the IB Gimenez Plaque and Certificates of Nomination and Recognition

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FLCD Circle introduced their annual initiative TAHANAN: Tayo–tayo para sa Pamilyang Pilipino as their entry for the search. TAHANAN is the organization's initiative for the Children's Month Celebration that aims to cater to children and other age groups and advocate for their well-being through recreational activities and learning experiences. "TAHANAN" was first launched in the Academic Year 2018-2019. From the recreational activities and seminars to the different online activities, the initiative did not let the sudden shift to online learning stop its advocacy. FLCD Circle started launching the Learning at Home Initiative to help students and families adjust to online learning.

Learning at Home (LAH) posts from FLCD Circle's Facebook Page

The organization expresses their vision to enhance these initiatives last Children's Month Celebration 2021 by launching the TAHANAN x Playdate and Mental Health Webinar. These initiatives were revamped to adapt to the families' current needs during the pandemic and turned into an org-wide event involving all of the organization's committees.

FLCD Circle's Children's Month 2021 schedule of events

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The Bahay-Bahayan 2021: A Playdate Initiative is also one of the Family Life and Child Development Circle's entries for the UP SMHAP 2021 and the IB Gimenez - UP Student Organizations' Social Innovation Projects under Health, Sports, and Wellness category "Bahay-Bahayan" is intended to be "an online initiative that aims to have playdate sessions with children aged 4-5 to help them cope with the pandemic," core head Sofia Acedillo said.

The initiative was led by core heads Sofia Acedillo, Gerard Quilala, and Elizabeth Bautista, followed by the rest of the core team – Athena Santos, Cheska Velasco, Aian Agtay, Sandrine Kallos, and Athena Medenilla. The core team was also divided into the planning, logistics, and tech teams.

The Playdate lasted five weeks, from October 30 to December 4, with two sessions each Saturday. The organization's students led each session, and alumni volunteers were tasked to implement the online educational play activities for the participants.

Given that the core team was also responsible for creating the content for each volunteer group, Sofia recalled their struggles, "We only had a few core team members and the workload was quite plenty since each session is carefully made from planning to execution.”

"I think what worked well for us was taking the sessions one at a time.

We had a system of task delegation and having set deadlines for deliverables each week," Sofia said.

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Now that the playdate initiative has drawn to a close, the core team is left to evaluate the success and fulfillment brought by their initiative.

"The warm smiles, small 'thank you's, and excited 'see you next week!' tell us that the children were able to enjoy the Playdate's learning experience. That's what shows us the success of the initiative," Sofia said.

In the end, the Playdate was well-received by the child participants and by the members of the organization as an initiative that embodies FLCD Circle's goals and objectives for the Filipino children.

The organization also launched its official podcast series - the Circle Time podcast that discusses Family Life and Child Development as a discipline and other issues involving families and children. It also features special guests who are experts in the field.

Raven Frias, the president of FLCD Circle, expressed her relief that they could do everything they could to serve the members of the communities and all of the people they were trying to reach in this kind of set-up.

"I feel honored to be a part of this initiative, and I know that Circle deserves this win and so much more for the great work we and our alumni have done for the Filipino children and families,” she added.

She also expresses her conviction that the organization is on the right path, and she is excited to know what the future stores for them.

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by: John Robert Betic

Family Life and Child Development (FLCD) Circle conducted a webinar last November 27, 2021 at 9:30 am, entitled “Breaking out the Pandemic Bubble: How Children and Adolescents Adapt with Social Isolation.”

The whole program was themed based on a bubble including the promotional materials. According to Isabelle Mirabueno, Core Head for Publicity, this is a reference on how social isolation can be compared to being trapped in the bubbles alone.

The webinar topic was centered around mental health due to the current endeavor of the organization to raise awareness for it especially to children and adolescents. It also aimed to raise awareness on the possible short and long term effects of prolonged pandemic-induced isolation to them, orient parents and other constituents on the appropriate course of actions for it, encourage parents and guardians to be mindful of the behavior and emotional state of their children and to help FIlipino households create more open and supportive environments for their children’s best interest.

The core team of the event invited speakers in order to achieve the goals and objectives. The speakers were picked according to Bronfrenbrenner’s Ecological System Theory. According to Ms. Rizia Reyes, Core Head for Programs and Techinical, she wanted to find resource speakers that represent the children and adolescent’s microsystem, mesosystem, and macrosystem.

“Finding speakers, for me, was one of the hardest portions of planning the webinar. Since we have set categories for the speakers, there were cases where none of them would accept the invitation mostly due to scheduling conflicts, 9

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FLCD Circle's Children's Month 2021 promotional posts for the webinar.

and, sometimes, there would be categories to have two or more people who accept the invitation For the latter case, of course, it's hard because it's awkward because we were the ones to invite them.” Francis Moreno said, Core Head for Externals.

Despite the challenges, they were able to invite three speakers namely Teacher Tina Zamora, a leading resource speaker on family life, progressive education, parenting and child development and representing the microsystem, Dr. Abigail P. Lozado-Laganao, MD, FPPA, FPSCAP, representing the mesosystem, and Sir. Prednison Morales, currently the MHPSS consultant of UNICEF-Philippines and presenting the macrosystem.

The event was successfully conducted and they were able to attain the goals and objectives. According to Ms. Reyes, based on the evaluation, the event was able to enlighten the Filipino family members about Mental Health and how we can help and support one another as we cope with loneliness and social isolation brought about by the ongoing implementations of lockdown measures across the country.

According to Mr. Joshua Bolante, one of the participants, the whole experience was an eye-opener for him. He was able to learn on how to keep the children and fellow adolescents healthy and safe during the pandemic.

The event is a part of the organization’s series of events for the celebration of Philippine Children’s Month as declared by the RA 10661, also known as National Children's Month Act of 2015.

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Ms. Happy Aranjuez, one of the core heads, said that they thought of a theme that will encompass the event's purpose, which is to give our thanks and appreciation to by: John Robert Betic

them.

The Family Life and Child

Beatriz Pineda, one of the core

Development (FLCD) Circle

heads, also added that the event's

showed its gratitude to

exhibits give off a vintage,

teachers around the world by

handwritten letter vibe to give off

paying tribute to them in the

that feeling of warmth and

celebration of World Teachers Month last October 2021.

nostalgia. With the coldness given by always being on the screens, She thinks it balanced it all out.

The event consisted of different posting exhibits, like a playlist, recommended Shopee buys, mustwatch movies, and applications and websites for teachers. They had a DP blast to promote the different exhibits.

The core team also collated short messages from the students and sent them to each FLCD Teacher on the last day of the celebration to commemorate the event's ending.

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Teacher's Month exhibit

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They also posted a collage of the videos of the students saying things that they are grateful for their teachers. They also give the teachers tokens of appreciation for their dedication and efforts.

The core team shared that the exhibits were designed to benefit the teachers and make their jobs easier or even lighter. The message and video serve as a platform for students to help express how grateful they are for their teachers.

"I would say they're like one of those unsung heroes, because they really play such a huge role in molding people into who they are today or who they will be in the future, but they're underpaid, and their calls and concerns are often neglected,” Beap said.

Beap also hoped that teachers will be able to receive the gratitude and recognition they deserve for their efforts and everything that they do for their students.

“My message for the teachers is to simply never give up because they have raised a lot of changemakers. They should be proud of themselves and of their profession because without them, we would not be able to dream, and achieve those dreams we have as children,” she added.

The said event is part of their annual initiative to celebrate the said event as they get to study and experience the struggles and challenges of teachers firsthand. The event lasted for one week, with the theme "Dear Teach, I Hope This Finds You Well."

Teacher Month Celebration is a month-long celebration around the globe to commemorate and honor the efforts of teachers.

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The launching of FLCD Circle’s website represents the goals of the core team to create an easily accessible website that shows what the organization and the course stands for.

The team began their planning on September 6, after which Happy Aranjuez started coding on Google

by: Isabelle Mirabueno

Sites beginning from September 15

The Family Life and Child

until the website’s official launching -

Development Circle launched its

a process which lasted for

first official website this October

approximately one month.

8, as an avenue to cater the organization’s growth in

Behind the scenes, the creation of the

membership and influence in the

website did not come without its

online setup.

struggles. Happy shared that she had trouble creating the features and

This venture was made possible

content she had in mind due to Google

through the efforts of the

sites’ limitations. However, by making

website’s official core team;

the most out of the available features,

Sandrine Kallos and Diane

she still achieved her plans by

Pesalbon who led as the core

resorting to a more minimalist layout

heads, followed by the rest of the

with the help of Joshua.

team composed of Joshua Bolante, Happy Aranjuez, and Julia David.

Meanwhile, Sandrine mentioned that the obstacles she encountered as one of the heads revolved around the website content and communication since the online setup calls for asynchronous work. Fortunately, Google sites included collaborative features, so the team relied on Messenger to communicate while constructing the site.

FLCD Circle's website homepage

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Overall, one thing that Happy Aranjuez and Sandrine Kallos had in common with overcoming their

2. What was your vision/goals for

obstacles was the consistency of the

FLCD Circle’s first website?

support and teamwork within the core

My vision was to have a simple user-

team.

friendly website that will help the audience get to know not only about

“Walang burden or pabigat. Everyone

the organization, but also the course.

was doing their job, and that’s what I

The overall colors of the website use

appreciated the most,” Sandrine said.

the same palette of the organization so the branding is also closely

This marks a new step in FLCD Circle’s

associated with the org.

ventures towards more effective means of virtual promotion and

3. As the creator, did you encounter

information dissemination. As the

any difficulties along the way? If

organization grows and leads more

so, how did you manage to

initiatives, the website will also evolve

overcome them?

and document what FLCD Circle has in

Yes I did encounter difficulties

store for future projects.

especially in the layout because google sites is quite limiting and I imagined the website to be dynamic

Happy Nezza Aranjuez Website Creator

and would include different embedded features, but I was able to achieve my plans by keeping it minimal and making use of what’s available in google sites. Another

1. How long did it take to create the

challenge for me was the inputting of

website?

We started planning for the website on September 6, I started making the website on September 15, I finished the draft on September 28, and the website was finally published on October 8.

the content, especially the images.

This is why I am thankful to my core team, especially Joshy because he really helped me in placing the members; images and he even went beyond and also edited icons for the events page.

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Sandrine Kallos & Diane Pesalbon Project Heads What was your vision/goals for FLCD Circle’s first website?

We wanted it to be simple pero complete. Like something that’s easy to navigate, but at the same time it’s readable and hindi dragging to check out. Of course, FLCD Circle is our pride so we wanted to be able to bring justice to how our org has been doing and why we’re proudly a member of it!

Who are the core team members of

What did you feel as one of the core

the website?

heads when the website was finally

Diane Pesalbon (head), Joshua Bolante, launched?

Happy Aranjuez, Julia David

It was very fulfilling, really. But more so, it was heartwarming to see how all

What was the biggest challenge that of us literally poured out our time and effort to make sure the website is the you encountered along the way?

The description of the events. We were best version we can put out there. Like we were really a team, walang burden working hard on the spot to define them pero it was easy naman, we just had to look for the provided descriptions from the previous posts

or pabigat. Everyone was doing their

job, and that’s what I appreciated the most.

regarding said events. Another is the communication since we don’t do them together talaga but the good thing is, the website we used can be collaborative, like we can work on it at the same time so we utilized

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messenger nalang to communicate

Visit the website at:

while working on the site.

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With the election season creating a buzz, political issues and various electoral

candidates seem to be hot topics in every Filipino household as well as in social

media. Along with this, it is perceived that the proliferation of fake news and

misinformation on election and political topics could potentially jeopardize the

ability of an individual to vote for worthy

candidates. Thus, the main concern lies on the primary motivation of the voters in electing their candidates.

The Filipino family is directly involved in

these affairs. Every Filipino is part of the

vote as they are also the decision-makers of the society that will choose the Philippines’

next leaders. Many people have even proudly advocated for their chosen candidates,

encouraged people to vote, and shared facts

about each one as a way of convincing those who are unsure to vote for that candidate as

well. Some of them have even volunteered to

do house-to-house campaigning and gave out campaign materials out of their own will.

Furthermore, there is an inner aspiration among all of them to experience good

governance and to be led by worthy and

qualified leaders in order for them to secure a better future for their children and their 17

families.

But at the same time, there are also other people who have shared misinformation

and fake news by spreading hate and lies

towards those who disagree with them like black propaganda and false negativity.

There has been a rise in the number of

paid trolls which have exacerbated the spread of false information to the

advantage of unworthy candidates.

According to Rappler (2022), the Meta platform has already taken down 400

facebook accounts, pages, and groups that were involved in disinformation and hate speech ahead of the Philippine elections.

Along with this, although some politicians vehemently deny cases of vote buying,

actual videos and some witnesses certify that this act is still prevalent with the giving of envelopes and bags full of goodies.

"... there is an inner aspiration among all of them to experience good governance..."

One of the reasons why some people

accept the small amount of money from

their involvement in these unscrupulous deeds is for their family—to provide for their basic needs even for a very short while.

However, wouldn’t it be better to have a

leader that values integrity and love which are also the core principles in a family instead of being a peddler of misinformation? May it be Furthermore, this makes the voting scene quite complicated and tainted with

anomalies which has been a constant issue in Philippine politics and elections for many years.

One thing to recognize when voting is that

a single vote has a long-lasting impact for the years to come. The future of the

Philippines is in the hands of those in

power, and voting the right candidate

dictates the future of every Filipino. The person who is seated in power will lead

our country for the next six years. You do not vote just for yourself, but for your

engraved into everyone’s heart and minds that every vote has a huge value as this dictates

the future of every Filipino family based on the leaders’ capacities and principles in

leading the country. We need a leader that will put the Filipino family’s needs at the forefront of his or her agenda.

"We need a leader that will put the Filipino family’s needs at the forefront of his or her agenda."

children, and the future of your nation. If

it is the desire of everyone for the youth to grow up in an inclusive, safe, and

supportive environment, choosing the

right leaders, especially the presidential candidate, is part of that.

A general look at the various motives of

people in voting stems down to the main motivation of aiming for the betterment

and attainment of a promising future for

every family. Whether Filipinos engage in a clean, honest, and peaceful election

through positive campaigning or others

being involved in unprincipled deeds like

fake news and negative campaigning, the primary drive will always be for the benefit of the family.

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It is important to stress that whether it may be the election season or not,

families should be encouraged to have open discussions about politics with their children and with other people. It is necessary not to dictate what others think, but truths and facts should be constantly provided.

Encourage an open mind with them, and everyone must be free to critique

their potential future leaders all throughout their term. It is vital to have a leader that is in line with the principles of everyone as moral human

beings. Many families are hesitant in bringing up these discussions with each other, and they say that politics does not matter. But sadly,

everything in life is political. Everyone has responsibilities as citizens to vote wisely, and to educate people on making the right decision. It is

important to remember that a single vote is powerful since the future of various families relies on electing a trustworthy leader.

The Filipino family has always been resilient, so may that resiliency be used to bounce back with a great set of leaders.

Reference

Rappler. (2022, April 7). Meta removes Facebook accounts to tackle disinformation ahead of PH polls. Retrieved from Rappler:

https://www.rappler.com/nation/elections/meta-removes-facebookaccounts-tackle-disinformation-philippine-elections/ 19

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Join us on our YouTube Channel as our members and invited guest speakers talk about everything FLCD.

Click on the thumbnails to watch the videos on YouTube!

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By: Semicirclers

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