First Ever National Environmental Conference

The ANECON is a three-day convention on climate change that targets student leaders involved in environmental initiatives or student council members from various colleges and universities around the Philippines. The conference would entail interaction between experts and participants, team building and outdoor activities, workshops, presentations, and resolution-building.

OUR VISION-MISSION:

The Ateneo National Environmental Conference (ANECON) is envisioned to promote awareness of the various consequences posed by climate change and to integrate theoretical foundations and practical solutions into the role of the Filipino youth in addressing issues regarding climate change.

In this light, the ANECON seeks to formulate resolutions through (1) factual grounding and analyses from renowned experts in the field of environment; (2) interactive discussions and experiential learning; and (3) commitment building efforts embedded on actionable and result-oriented activities that the participant will undertake after the conference.

visit http://anecon2010.com for more details, but please do hurry because the deadline for application would be this wednesday.

----

If you can't make it here, there's always the Ateneo-Harvard PAIR's 7th National Conference

For three days, with over 100 speakers invited from Chiz Escudero, to Karen Davila to Deither Ocampo, it will be the biggest and most prestigious conference in the country. Discussions will be divided into three main panels: Business, Politics and Environment.

Seoularis Holiday Bazaar

The Seoularis Holiday Bazaar has a mission of providing the grandest shopping experience this yuletide season. We will show the world a different kind of shopping through the ambiance focused on the fusion of the Parisian and Korean culture. Paris, the grandest fashion scene in the world and Korea, a culture that's close to our hearts will definitely be something worth indulging in.

Interested to be a tenant in this season's grandest Holiday Bazaar? Contact Jessica Bello now at 09178965856! One call is what it takes - we take care of the rest!

Red Shoes

I was browsing through my mom's facebook page when I suddenly saw these pictures.

I think I kinda know where I got my obsession for red shoes.

I miss my lola. My siblings and I only see her one week every 2-3 years.

Truly a Blue Christmas

There's this annual event in our school called Blue Christmas where children in depressed areas are invited for one day. Great initiative! But I have a bit of a problem with this project.

I think we should not only invite children from depressed areas. Blue Christmas should be for all classes - no matter how poor or how rich you are. I feel that the more well off children are being discriminated in these kinds of activities. Some children who study in the most expensive schools can feel more detached from their community - isolated that's why they are also cold to empathy.

If I had to be very critical, I sometimes think that we are just doing these out reach programs just to caress our elitist egos - so that we'd know that we are doing something - but do they need this? What does Blue Christmas really offer on the part of the participants and the facilitators? 

We assume that these people need help so we give them temporary rays of hope. We slap to their faces that they are poor so let us help you. Benevolence can sometimes be the worst form of marginalization. We passively increase the separation between the rich and the poor by not combining both classes. Does the purity of the spirit of Christmas truly experienced by these kids? I can't help but ask myself, who needs Blue Christmas more? Them or us? I'd stop myself here.

Being an international relations org, we sponsored a flag making class. I wasn't an official facilitator so I just took some photos while the kids did their thing.

The classroom next to ours was doing this game called Pinoy Henyo. This class is sponsored by Yago's friend. 

Different orgs/students/departments were sponsoring classes for these kids - each having their own activities. When I saw what other groups are doing, I kinda felt that flag making was way boring. Haha!

After lunch, everyone gathered in our field where there were inflatables and a program. The kids danced and sang. I rained a bit so they kinda have to cancel some activities.

Behind the Scenes of "Sucker for an Issue"

This was done in the building which houses all the orgs. All we had was a camera and a flash, so it might not look that professional. But we had an experienced photographer (Anne), an all around project head (Ling - who also did the styling of the hair and clothes) and a stunning model (Isa - who I used for the past 3 promos). Thank you also to Jamie for taking the behind the scenes.

This promo would involve distributing 1000 lollipops around campus where the lollipops would have a tag with an issue that falls under the three main panels (Business, Politics and Environment). So people would be literally suckers for business, politics and environment! 

It would also have instructions on how they can sign up for our 7th National Conference on January 21-23.