By Frances Gabrielle Pascual |
Photo by Frances Gabrielle Pascual
On the 6th and 7th of March, which are also the designated operating days of this year’s IGNITE 2024 in the Ateneo de Davao University Senior High School (AdDU SHS) campus, all Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) learners and sections, regardless of sub-strand, have launched their own unique class fundraising booths with the objective of raising funds and reaching their target amount, with the proceeds going to their chosen partner community.
Part of the Leadership Development Program’s (LDP) curriculum is to partake in a type of community engagement with a chosen community; however, one of the initial steps to community engagement is to collate funds that will become the financial support of the said chosen communities of the learners.
The activities have been available to all of those who reside on campus, be it the students, teachers, administrators, or staff, and said booth activities have a variety in them, from entertainment and relaxation to a mini shop in and of itself, as some booths focused on selling pre-loved items and merchandise in hopes of collecting more funds for their chosen communities. Some activities that have been showcased in the fundraising booths include, but are not limited to, photobooths, DIYs, chill rooms, arcades, and ukay-ukay.
Amidst all of the wonderful fundraising booths created and put up by each of the STEM sections, there were still some challenges that the STEM learners faced prior to the opening of their booths for IGNITE. Pauline Mabanag, one of the STEM learners that was interviewed, said that she has experienced challenges, particularly in terms of what to really do for their section’s fundraising booth.
“(...) Siguro, one of the challenges kay kung ano talaga ‘yung gawin namin sa booth. Kasi there are so many options, ta’s parang we felt like ‘ah kapoya uy’, ‘imposible man siguro yan’, ‘yang ganyan ganyan. Pero, ginawa talaga namin ng paraan. (...) Nag-ano kami ng kahit konti lang na billiards kasi ngayon, uso man ang billiards, so meron kami diyan sa booth, tapos nag-tulungan talaga kami as a class.” She explained.
Having many ideas for the booth is both exciting and rather difficult, but the learners managed to agree on what to offer in their respective booths. Of course, no matter how much planning the learners will put into their LDP fundraising booths, there will still be that lingering feeling of anxiety despite the excitement, wondering if everything will go well.
“Very anxious, because, even though we had everything planned, we had the floor plan, we had all the materials we needed, it was really anxious because we didn’t know if we could pull it off as good as we wanted to or as good as we thought we could. (...) This is a big project. You’ve seen the layout, you’ve seen what we had [been] planned. (...) I guess you can say we were anxious to see if, like, ‘can we really pull this off’ and ‘will it be a failure or will it be a success?’.” Suzanne Villarente, another STEM learner, remarked, highlighting the feelings of anxiety despite all of the preparations prior to launching their booths to the public for IGNITE.
When IGNITE began its operations and the STEM fundraising booths were open to the public, entertainment, relaxation, and shopping became staples of everyone’s IGNITE experiences. What were once mixed feelings became more complex and sophisticated as more people visited the booths to check on what services they had.
Dyniel Yoshino, another STEM learner, narrated in her responses that her feelings towards operating her section’s booth were quite hectic in general, even if some parts invoked happiness.
“It was very hectic since we were given small [sic] time. For us, siguro, like other sections, small [sic] time lang nabigay, so hindi siya masyado thoroughly na plan. Oo, maka-happy na nag-benta kami ng merchandise for our fundraising, which is for a good cause; however, medyo na ano lang kami sa time. Ayun, happy naman at the same time since meron din nagabili,” Dyniel said.
With the booths running during IGNITE as well as the variety of activities and services given by the STEM learners through their booths, it’s no surprise that new skills and experiences will be learned from the event. Suzanne noted that the experience of handling the booth led to bonding between classmates as they all made their class booth work.
“I can say there’s a lot of—I guess you can say a lot of bonding because this is the first time that our section has ever properly made something this much of, like, an event. (...) So seeing everyone bond and work together, like seeing everybody try and handle things one on one [sic]... it’s really nice to see.”
Yet, the booth experience is short-lived, as there were only two days of IGNITE for the STEM learners to exhibit their mini stores and provide entertaining activities and comfort and relaxation for the AdDU SHS family. Still, it didn’t mean that some target funds weren’t achieved during those fleeting two days.
When asked if the learners think that they could reach their class’ target fund amount for their partner communities, Pauline answered that she thinks they can reach their goal. “For me, yeah, syempre! Hard work gud ‘to! Ta’s, syempre, para sa akin lang naman, feel ko talaga, like, pasok sa standards.”
Suzanne has expressed the same sentiments, noting that their class can reach their set fund goal from their fundraising booth.
“Yes. (...) I strongly believe that we can hit the target amount purely because of the fact that our booth is very—I guess you can say ‘broad’. Broad in the sense that it is something that everybody might want, if it’s resting, if it’s stickers, or if it’s just a place to relax and be with people. (...) Our booth is somewhat—it’s for everybody, basically. You don’t have to really limit yourself to be in our booth. So yes, I firmly believe we can hit the target [amount].”
However, in the case of Dyniel, her thoughts are the opposite of those of the other STEM learners that were interviewed.
“Personally, like, nakita ko [na] kung ilang nakapasok sa ating room, hindi natin mahi-hit ang target fundraising natin since- hindi man siya, like, impossible, since first kay ang mga students, divided masyadong [ang] kanilang attention sa different booths since maraming booths, and siguro, part na rin ‘yung parang maraming similarities sa mga booth, and parang, ‘yang- hindi natin ma-hit siya since siguro ang ibang students hindi na makita [ang] ating booth, ganyan ganyan.”
Nevertheless, whether the target amount in fundraising was reached or not by each of the section’s booths, everything was done for a good cause for the community engagement of the STEM learners in the LDP subject, and all proceeds will go to the chosen partner communities, no matter how much was collected. Embodying the Sui Generis values of an Atenean, new experiences were gained, and all monetary support will surely help the partner communities achieve their objectives.
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