Get to know the team that won the 2014 Public Relations Society of the Philippines Grand Prix last October and the prestigious Junior Anvil Award and see snippets of the OrCom life as they share their experiences.
ABEE MAGALLONA Aside from being known as the tall OrCom girl walking around CAS, Arabelle Magallona, more commonly known as Abee, is also known for he, for her great public speaking skills, her classy fashion sense, and of course for being part of the first UP Manila team to win the Public Relations Society of the Philippines Grand Prix. In addition to that, she is also a cinephile and bookworm. When she’s not working hard for her reports and papers, Abee spends her weekends performing as a professional singer. 1.) Tell us about your achievement/experience. We all had to sacrifice a lot of time for us to craft a successful campaign. We, as a team with Sir Barry, spent a lot of meet-ups outside of school, pitch trainings at one of Unilab’s buildings, and interviews with established PR professionals.I also had a lot of reflecting to do by myself. I was so close to giving up as we rarely slept -- we would sleep at 5 and wake up at 6. We still had to go to class and write papers, and still craft the #GoForPRo campaign. It was exhausting. However, the process itself was to prepare us to be better OrCom students and future OrCom/PR practitioners. It changed our lives because winning Grand Prix also paved way for us to receive a Junior Anvil Award – the most prestigious public relations award-giving body in the Philippines. 2.) How did you come to join the PRSP Grand Prix? Joining Grand Prix is not new to Paul and me. We were asked by Sir Barry if we wanted to form a team as early as the first semester of our third year when we were taking up OrCom 142 under him. We wanted to make a team comprising OrCom juniors, however, we were ill-equipped with PR skills as we didn’t have training because we haven’t taken up OrCom 105 yet (except for Paul since he took it a sem earlier). So we joined a team with OrCom seniors, but we didn’t push through because of our hectic schedules.So here comes senior year, Paul and I said to ourselves, we’ll finally make a team of really talented and promising seniors that we know had strengths of their own. Jomar DeVenecia is exceptional in graphic design and Nicole Navea is commendable in her public speaking skills. We all wanted to bring OrCom into a new light because we have never won the PRSP championship. But personally, I wanted to do something different in my last year. I was so used to joining international competitions in high school and I thought to myself, I haven’t joined any contest in college. Might as well join one now.
1 Comment
Reanne, an incoming Organizational Communication senior, is the outgoing president of AIESEC, the largest student-run organization in the world that advocates youth leadership. She is also one of the founders of the organization in the University. As a youth leader, she has taken various roles in the organizing committees for different AIESEC events such as Youth Speak Forum Southeast Asia 2015 and Strategic Conference 2014. Aside from AIESEC, she is also active in other organizations both inside and outside the University. She has volunteered for Gawad Kalinga and for CCP’s Pasinaya 2015 open house festival. Inside the university, she is also a founding member of Shoot UPM and was part of the organizing team for TEDxUPM. A self-proclaimed Padawan, this girl is on her way to becoming a Jedi Master.
1. Tell us about your achievement/experience. I think a big achievement is bringing AIESEC in UP Manila since AIESEC is considerably one of the largest international organizations in the world. It sounds all grand to bring it here but what I consider as a bigger achievement is to get people to believe in the organization. It is one thing to establish an organization but it’s another thing to have people believe in it. You wouldn’t have people to establish it with you if you didn’t make people see the essence of it-- of why the organization exists. Starting AIESEC with 20 people is my biggest achievement. Gian, an incoming Organizational Communication senior, is not a stranger to the UP Manila community. Aside from being responsible for bringing TEDx to UP Manila through TEDxUPM- an event that aims to bring together bright minds to foster learning, inspiration and wonder while provoking conversations that matte- he is also one of the founding members of three student organizations: SHOOT UPM, AIESEC UPM, and The Hope Project. Outside the university, Gian blogs at www.giannicdao.tumblr.com, applies for national roles in AIESEC in the Philippines, and is an official contributor at SM-Youth.com. He is passionate about photography, youth leadership, volunteerism, and ideas (and the movie Scott Pilgrim VS The World)
1. Tell us about your achievement/experience. Being a fan of the whole TED/TEDx format, I've always wanted to bring TEDx to UPM. For a while, I waited for someone to actually make it happen... but nobody did. It was during the four month summer that I looked up how to apply for a license and eventually I applied. After a webinar and lots of Skype interviews, they were just waiting for my revised program and we were good to go- but I deferred the license because of unforeseen circumstances. Fast forward to first sem of third year, I told Tricia Quintero about the whole TEDx thing and she convinced me to apply again. We were in CBTL for six hours a day, with a whiteboard in hand, just making a program to be submitted to TED. Two months later, we got our license from TED and on February 7, 2015, TEDxUPM happened- until now I can't believe that that dream became real. 2. How did OrCom help you achieve these? I'd like to think that OrCom provides you the discipline to do anything with great passion, work ethics, and execution. I owe it to the course for teaching me these values that were really needed to make something big as TEDx happen.
Jelou is an incoming OrCom sophomore with a passion for writing. In high school, she contributed to The Marian Chronicle in 2010--St Mary’s Academy of Sta Ana's school publication--until she was Editor-in-Chief from 2013-2014. Aside from this, she has received numerous awards for penning various play scripts in school. Early on after high school she decided to gather writing experience by applying as an intern for The Thing, an online magazine which is aimed at upholding the interests of teenage Filipinas. Currently, she contributes to I Know Write MNL's website, a community of teenage bloggers, and Feelings Factory, a Facebook page which produces stirring write-ups which are relatable to the youth. Just recently, Jelou decided to give up her internship for The Thing to give way for her vision of putting up her own online magazine with a few friends. Some of her other OrCom related interests are public speaking and photography.
1. Tell us about your achievement/experience I had my first magazine writing experience when I applied for The Thing (online magazine) August last year. I had always wanted to embark on something peculiarly fulfilling right after graduating from high school, so when they called for writers, I told myself to not be hesitant as not to regret in the future. Through The Thing, I learned about the basics of how an online magazine works: the processing of article topics and drafts, the brainstorming for the production of fresh ideas, and a lot more. Truth be told, the fact that I had a deadline to chase after even hyped me up. April is an incoming OrCom senior with a heart for service. She started early on by being the College’s First Year Batch Representative last 2012 through which she headed Escape 2013--the year’s freshman party. That same academic year, April became the founding president of Shoot UP Manila--the university’s only service-oriented photography and videography organization. This year, she managed the partnerships for TEDxUPM, which she organized with some of her fellow OrCom batchmates. She is also a member of numerous notable student organizations like AIESEC UP Manila and Sigma Alpha Nu Sorority. Next academic year, April will be starting her term as one of UP Manila’s USC councilors. With a vision and drive like hers, UP Manila is definitely in good hands.
1.Tell us about your achievement/experience Shoot UPM was originally a blog by my friends and I in freshman year. It later became an organisation earlier in my sophomore year as we realised that we wanted to be able to serve other people in school through photography. We grew from 7 to 15 people. We then launched the recruitment for the organisation. From this, the rest was history. The first year of Shoot UPM was not a walk in the park, though. It was hard but all worth it. As I end my term as Shoot UPM’s Pioneer President, it’s important that we choose the next leaders of the organisation wisely since they will be directing where Shoot UPM is going next year. In the years to come, I still imagine Shoot to be true to its values but improving in how they carry out the goals of the organisation. I imagine it to be bigger in terms of membership and in clients. Tricia, a junior Organizational Communication student, is currently a writer for Candy Magazine, one of the most popular magazines for teenagers. She is a self-proclaimed lover of creative writing and has wanted to work in media for the longest time. Candy magazine has provided this avenue for her. Tricia tells us about this experience.
Tell us about your achievement/experience. 1) Applying for Candy was something I did in a whim. It was a spontaneous decision because I have always loved creative writing/journalism, and that's something that I don't get a lot from OrCom because it is mostly technical writing. Working for Candy is more fun than I imagined. At an early point in my life, I am already given the chance to feel how working in the media is like. How did Orcom help you in achieving this? 2) Well, I mentioned before that there is not much exposure to creative writing/journalism in OrCom. But, I think that Orcom has helped me become well-rounded and to be very versatile in my work. Nadinne Capistrano, Paula Apolonio, Raymond Ruedas, Rose Enriquez, and Maruss Sinsay – the Prodigy Team – are the five OrCom students who recently won in the 2014 Philippine Student Quill Awards for their publication, Prodigy Magazine. Read more about them and their experience as Organizational Communication students.
NADINNE CAPISTRANO Nadinne is known to be an artsy senior OrCom student. She likes to draw and doodle and make illustrations. Although she admits that she is not that good in putting her thoughts into words as she is more of a visual person, her creativity is what gives her an edge when it comes to her work. She has shown this when she worked as a creative and copywriting intern for Creative Gateway Inc. where one of the clients she worked for was McDonald’s. 1.) Tell us about your experience. The experience was a roller coaster ride for me. Everyone was busy juggling their own responsibilities and then we had to add this to the equation. The passion made up for it though as each of us were assigned in our area of strength and interest. It took a while before results were announced and we actually forgot about it so I was caught off-guard when they told us we won. 2.) How did OrCom help you achieve these things? All the writing, campaigns and plans, creatives, etc... everything you do in OrCom, basically. You get to do these a lot so you get to hone your craft. On top of that, you'll really start to value teamwork and time management. With all the papers, exams, pitches, and reports, you really have to budget your time well and put your teammates into consideration as well. Roland, a senior Philippine Arts major, is one of the founders of Salinlahi, the official Philippine Arts organization of UP Manila and is one of the most sought after theater talents of the university. He has been performing theater work, both on- and off-stage, for 5 stage plays already. Roland tells us about how PhilArts has helped him through all of these.
1. Tell us about your achievement/experience. When I entered UP, I actually wanted to shift out of the PhilArts program. However, things did not go as planned when I got a 5 in a major subject. It pulled my GPA way down and I had difficulties shifting out. Looking on the silver lining, I can thank that experience for happening because it gave me the opportunity to experience two of the best workshops of the program, PA 120 (Theater Arts) and PA 163 (Production class). These classes gave me the opportunity to speak in front of large crowds, be confident in front of other people, and be able to make people laugh. These classes actually made my batchmates and I to stay in the course. We enjoyed what we were doing. Other workshops classes include Photography classes wherein I was able to learn how to use a DSLR camera manually. We also had a Filmography class which gave us the chance to make our own film and explore our filmmaking and acting skills. The PhilArts program does not only give its students theories on art, but also classes which enable them to explore their creative abilities in different fields. That, in itself, is an achievement. 2. How did PhilArts help you achieve these? The PhilArts program gives a wide range of workshop classes that helps students explore their creative and art skills, from acting and directing to photography and other forms of art. |