When all good things must finally come to an end
Thanksgiving and closing message
Marian Panganiban
School of Economics Representative, 2007-2008
There are those who view the University Student Council (USC) as the pinnacle of student leadership where the best and brightest students gather to serve the university. The there are those who view it as nothing more but an empty, gold-plated shell – illustrious only for its past prestige but not for its present substance. After being part of it for almost a year, I can say it is neither.
Like any team charged with the responsibility of executing vital tasks, the USC is riddled with many organizational problems. The call for me as a college representative was to bring in the high standard of professionalism and work ethic typical of Econ students but sadly quite unheard of in the past USCs. The goal was to make the USC a locus of empowered leaders who are accountable to the people they serve. As much as possible, we wanted to make the USC truly a gathering of the best and brightest student-leaders, no matter how difficult the process is – hence the first semester theme, “Bringing out the best in you, delivering the best from Econ.”
But the challenge remains for the USC to be truly responsive and relevant to UP students, particularly Econ students. How do we capture the imagination of Econ students so that once again they’ll find in the USC the inspiring leadership they are looking for? So we explored new venues through which we can tap and inform more students, we “blazed new trails,” so to speak. We invested our efforts in making information about the USC more accessible, brought high-profile leaders to engage students in the discussion of national issues, and helped produce and distribute the pioneering UP Centennial Planner – all novel efforts the hopefully will outlast my stay in office.
All these efforts were made possible because of a hardworking and dedicated team of staff members (volunteers) of the Office of the Economics Representative. The committee did not formally exist nor function before but I am very happy to say that it has played a pivotal role in realizing our goal of making the USC – especially the College Representative – felt by the students, and of providing a viable training ground for future student leaders.
I’ve always believed that a good leader knows how to inspire train other people to become leaders themselves; beyond all our pioneering and concrete achievements, it is them that I am most proud of. So to the seniors of the committee – Fatima, Jaymie, Golda, and Brylle – your wide experience and overwhelming willingness to help saved me in times of stress. To Billie, my Chief-of-Staff and wonder girl, whose creativity, initiative, and outstanding potential are only collectively exceeded by her humility. To the ever-bibo sophies – Audrey, Gene, Monique, Joel, Pakaye, you always manage to lighten our meetings and our work load with your amazing energy and sense of humor. I feel very optimistic about Econ’s future with you around to help SESC. And to our sole freshie, Niki, who was brave enough to take the challenge of being part of one of the more demanding committees of SESC - you epitomize your batch’s exceptional involvement in council events. Hopefully, the experience motivated you more to serve UPSE.
My term has officially ended and I have successfully turned-over the maintenance of the Econ Rep Blog to Pierre Reyes, our next College Representative, as well as my other functions in the council. I trust him well enough to make everything fun, exciting, and purposeful in the council the way we have this year.
This year has been one of the most tiring but fulfilling years of my life. Hopefully, while the USC is still far from being the pinnacle of student leadership we envision it to be, our efforts led it closer to making that vision a reality. It was a privilege to work for the USC, a great pleasure to work with the SESC, but the greatest satisfaction came from serving you.
