By Anne Blanqueza & Aubrey Miguel | Posted on September 24, 2021
With all the challenges the pandemic has brought upon us, there is a need for us to be stronger now more than ever. Despite these trying times that may have exhausted our spirit and passion, the Rotaract Club of Uptown Santa Rosa continues to uphold its motto “Fellowship Through Service.”
By reminiscing about the virtue to inspire leadership, we realized that we canawaken this call to action through a seminar titled, “SELF-E: Self Enhancement Leadership Workshop” last August 21, 2021.This session aims to explore how to deal with people, think like a leader, and speak effectively in public spaces. With 60 participants including the esteemed speakers, club officers/members, and invited guests, the event was filled with interactive games and valuable lessons wherein participants were able to incorporate these into their daily lives and to improve themselves further.
Special speakers and invited guests included Romano Franco Huraño from Santa Rosa Science and Technology High School, Carlo H. Joquino of Rotaract Club of Laguna Bel Air, and Raissa Kaye Dayandayan of Malayan Colleges of Laguna. The first activity in the workshop was called “CriSeas”, a play of words with crisis and sea. Participants were grouped in order, to rank 15 items based on their importance as they try to survive on their own at sea. Subsequently, the second activity was about enforcing and implementing the lessons learnt in the workshop through an impromptu speech.
The first guest speaker was the President of Interact Club of SRSTHS S.Y. 2019-2021, Junior City Councilor of Santa Rosa, Laguna (Batch Beta 2k19), Assistant VP for legacy Projects at Kabataan sa Kartilya ng Katpunan (2019), Singer-songwriter and aspiring artist, Artist of MusikaPubliko Community, and Baybayin Advocate from Baybayin Buhayin Inc. The Rotaract Club of Uptown Santa Rosa introduces Romano Franco Huraño as he shared his wisdom and insights on “How to Deal With People.”
Our third guest speaker was an Impromptu Speech Festival Champion in 2015 at Malayan Colleges Laguna (MCL) Cup, Extemporaneous Speech Competition Champion in 2019 at PRISAB Literary and Musical Competition, and Extemporaneous Speech Competition Champion in 2019 at NAPSPHIL Provincial Literary Competitions. The Rotaract Club of Uptown Santa Rosa introduces Raissa Kaye Dayandayan as she shared with us her wisdom and insight on “How to Speak in Public.”After evaluating each teams’ scores, the second group was the most successful in surviving on this kind of “cri-seas.”
Our second speaker was a former SSG President of Labas Senior High School, former Division Federated Supreme Student Government President of the Division of Santa Rosa last school year 2019-2020, former Interact Club President of Interact Club of Laguna Bel-air, Life-Changing President of Rotaract Club of Laguna Bel-Air for the Rotary Year 2021-2022, and Vice President- Public Relation of Mabuhay Toastmasters Club. The Rotaract Club of Uptown Santa Rosa introduces Carlo H. Joquino as he shared with us his wisdom and insight on “How to Think Like a Leader.” The survival game “Cri-seas” stimulates the critical thinking skills of leaders wherein they must use their insights from the previous speakers in order to interact with each other and initiate a plan to success. Imagine, the participants rented a yacht because they want to sail across the Atlantic Ocean. However, a fire breaks out and the crew have been lost whilst trying to fight the blaze. That is why they salvaged these items on the list and they have to make sure to prioritize the correct items in order to be rescued.All of the participants were split into two breakout rooms wherein each would choose a random number on the screen. Once the number is clicked, it will automatically present a random topic. The participant will now make an impromptu speech about the topic for 1 minute. This activity aimed to help the participants to apply what they’ve learned from the third speaker about public speaking.
When the seminar ended, we believe each participant was able to bring home valuable knowledge they can share to their community. With our objectives successfully fulfilled, we trust that this will mark the start of lightness as leadership thrives amidst the darkness.
