https://padlet.com/dlsu_soe_mzer/1av9ljctdlcoacdt Post memories and past activities (academic/non-academic) that transformed you. List down important individuals, communities, and organizations that you've worked with and related to your advocacies. Don’t forget to add a short description. en-us 2021-10-29 23:25:15 UTC 2022-02-02 07:55:25 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet.com/dlsu_soe_mzer/1av9ljctdlcoacdt/wish/2024801628 Like any SOE freshman, I think none of us were quite sure if SOE was the right choice. However, I don't know how it happened or even when but I just remember a thought that everything I've wanted to do, my advocacies, the work of an economist and everything that comes in between was simply falling into place.

Growing up in the province, I've always felt that I wouldn't be able to catch up or to be in par with everyone in my batch, but this man's simple words changed how I looked at excellence. He said, "Everyone is their own genius and by accepting yourself will you truly excel". Ever since that day, I stepped out of my boundaries, threw away what I thought to be my limits, and started living--- Carpe Diem.  ]]> 2022-02-02 06:57:57 UTC https://padlet.com/dlsu_soe_mzer/1av9ljctdlcoacdt/wish/2024801628 https://padlet.com/dlsu_soe_mzer/1av9ljctdlcoacdt/wish/2024827312 To this day, I can't help but feel amazed of the Lasallians I have worked with. Lasallians who continue to inspire me, even to this day. Its amazing how DLSU has more than capable individuals who never forgot their mission towards upbringing communities--- Lasallians who have showed their most Filipino virtue, Bayanihan. 

Throughout my entire college life, I have probably lost count of the projects or activities or orgs that I have joined. Along the way, we never forgot that the sole purpose of why we do such things all boils down to the people that we can help-- all boils down to the simplest and purest act of service. 

A few months ago, Cagayan (the province where I am from) was heavily damaged by a typhoon and after two nights of trying to scrounge up anything that we could to help evacuees, I got a call as soon as the reception was restored, It was from Lasallians that has been trying to reach me ever since that dreadful night. With no questions or favors asked, the Lasallian community was simply there. Through the support of DLSU, we were able to feed more than five hundred meals, give food and basic necessities to more than six hundred families, and 300 more learning kits to young kids whose learning materials were washed down by the flood. ]]> 2022-02-02 07:23:15 UTC https://padlet.com/dlsu_soe_mzer/1av9ljctdlcoacdt/wish/2024827312 https://padlet.com/dlsu_soe_mzer/1av9ljctdlcoacdt/wish/2024850938 I come from more than 5 generations of farmers. Ever since I was a kid my father would always bring me to our farm and teach me everything he knew, just like his father did (and I'd probably assume like his father did, then his father,.... well you probably get it by now). I never truly understood it at first but when I finally started tilling my own crops, or plowing the fields, I finally understood why we do, what we do. As simple as it may sound, knowing that you were able to feed your fellow Filipinos was fulfilling in itself. 

It was somewhat bittersweet when I learned about the realities of both the micro and macro stages of our country's agricultural context. Wherein our farmers have been struggling for decades and even though the technology is there or the studies and the research are there, there is a last-mile problem within the agricultural community in the Philippines. This is probably how I started meeting farming communities and helping out each other. We've managed to school farmers on the new ways how we can improve harvest, how we can reduce costs, and how we can be more efficient and I guess I've always found it fulfilling when farmers share that they managed to get a better harvest, or how some other communities would also want to learn more! 

What's even more amazing, is that, even though I started this thing alone, I now run it with a team of agriculturists with the same passion and advocacy that I have. It may have started really small, but crop after crop, farmer after farmer, we know that we can actually hope to feed all Filipinos!]]> 2022-02-02 07:43:11 UTC https://padlet.com/dlsu_soe_mzer/1av9ljctdlcoacdt/wish/2024850938 https://padlet.com/dlsu_soe_mzer/1av9ljctdlcoacdt/wish/2024865991 OVPEA, OTREAS, EXCEL, Econ org, Santugon, and a whole lot more! hahahah

I've always wondered why I joined one too many orgs in my college life but now that I think of it, I guess I'm actually thankful that I did! It is within these organizations and positions that I met a wonderful and amazing group of people that I share a whole lot of things with! From our own advocacies to our passions, and even to this dream of a better country! 

I have learned a lot from these past few years not just on SOE alone, but how can do better and most importantly about myself and I guess a huge portion of that comes from working with talented and passionate Lasallians. ]]> 2022-02-02 07:55:25 UTC https://padlet.com/dlsu_soe_mzer/1av9ljctdlcoacdt/wish/2024865991