I was in my first year in college, walking around the campus, when I noticed this huge tarpaulin congratulating Mr. Vince Vergara, the sole delegate of UST who made it to the Ayala Young Leaders Congress that year. It served as my motivation and inspiration to do better so that I can also make it to that congress. I told myself, one day, there shall also be a tarp in my college’s building, congratulating me for making it to AYLC.

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It was late June when our SWDB Coordinator, Ms. Regina Policarpio, summoned me into her office to hand me over 3 application forms: 1 for an Essay Writing contest (which I was really hesitant to accept knowing that I’m not that good in writing), 1 for the Hitachi Young Leaders Initiative and the last was for the Ayala Young Leaders Congress. I almost didn’t care about the first two when I saw the AYLC application form. I told myself “This is it! This is what I have been waiting for”

Being in a university that boasts of 40,000 plus students, I needed to go through a selection process inside my school first before even making it as one of my university’s delegates. And so I did. I submitted my application form. I got called in for an interview with our SWDB Chair, and fortunately, I found my name in the list of the 10 delegates of UST for AYLC.

The 10 of accomplished our application online, and 7, including me, successfully passed the initial screening of the AYLC Secretariat. We were called in for interview last November 27, 2011 at the Ayala Tower 1 in Makati. Before we even get to be interviewed, all interviewees were given a piece of paper and was told to write a short essay about our passion. I told myself, oh great, another essay. I was actually more nervous about not being able to finish my essay than the interview itself! Then a few minutes later, it was already my turn to be interviewed. I believe the interview went well. Being the talkative me, I believe I consumed more than the allotted time for an interviewee, but I didn’t care. Haha.

Fast forward to December 17, 2011, as our Student Welfare and Development Board Chair, Atty. Antonio Chua handed me over the letter stating the result of the my final interview for AYLC, my heart was jumping out of my chest. As I receive the letter, he greets me with a smile, saying “Congratulations, you made it!” And I just jumped and shouted (a bit) inside his office. It was one of the best moments of my life.

The congress is not your ordinary leadership training seminar. I have attended almost every LTS since I was in grade school and none of them comes close to AYLC. Something in AYLC made me feel like the people who organized it really put a lot of thought into the activities and made sure it will not just develop our leadership skills but will also touch each and everyone of us in a deeper sense.

It also gave me chance to meet student leaders from various parts of the country and from different walks of life. I met seminarians, PNPA-ers (policemen and women in the making), PMA-ers (future soldiers of the country). The opportunity to just be able to talk to these people who had so much to share, interesting stories to tell, was just amazing.  They inspired me in many ways. It was a one-of-a-kind experience.

My workshop group will forever be special to me. I had 8 new siblings after the congress. I learned a lot from them, and I was able to share part of myself to them. Our workshop sessions were always fun and everyone was very open and participative.

I’m always excited whenever we were about to do an outdoor challenge because I went to the congress saying to myself that I shall accept all the challenges that shall be presented to us.

The panel discussions and talks in the congress were very engaging and interesting, as compared to the usual boring and lifeless seminars I used to attend in the past.

At the end of everyday during the congress, as we return back to our rooms, we would always find a letter placed on our beds. These letters were actually letters from delegates of past congresses and what amazed me is that every letter is personal. All the letters I received started with “Dear Pio”. And I believe that is another great aspect of the congress. Everything was personal and tailor-made for all the 80 delegates present there.

If I would be given the chance to relive just one moment of the congress, it would that moment when we were brought to the Don Bosco Chapel. It was a chapel situated on a hill. There, we were asked to find a spot where we can find solitude and silence, as we write a personal reflection letter addressed to our workshop groupmates. The music in the background, the cold breeze gently brushing through our faces, the feeling of being close to nature, just made that moment perfect for me to reconnect with myself. The letter I wrote that time was probably the “most personal” letter I have ever written yet.

Making it to the congress was indeed a turning point in my life for me because it made me realize a lot of things about myself.  The most important of which is the fact that if you really want to achieve something, work hard for it, couple it with strong faith, and you will achieve it.

“It’s not just a privilege; it’s more than just an award”

Indeed, being an Ayala Young Leader is not a privilege or an award. It is a blessing. After the tedious screening process all of us went through to make it to the congress, it felt really great to be finally be standing there together with the 79 other young leaders of this country. 

It was a great experience to be surrounded by people who share the same passion as I do. As Mr. JP Orbeta would put it, back in our communities/schools, we are big fishes in a small pond; but in AYLC, we are small fishes in an ocean. I was really inspired by the people I met in the congress.

More than anything else, this congress helped me identify and admit a lot of my personal weaknesses that I used to neglect before. I have learned that one of the greatest values of a leader should be humility. Humility in accepting one’s mistakes, humility in asking for help.

Excerpt from the letter I wrote at the Don Bosco Chapel:

“Through the learnings I have gained from here, I hope to become a more effective leader in my organization, a better son to my parents, and a better citizen of this country. I will listen more to my constituents, recognizing that they are my colleagues and not people who work for me. I will also start learning to take the backseat when I know someone better can do the job for me. I will also initiate change whenever possible by challenging the current status quo. And lastly, whenever I feel down because of the huge amount of pressure on me or when I start doubting my leadership capabilities ever again, I will simply open my AYLC Journal and relive the days of this Congress. Guys, Salamat sa Inspirasyon!”

AYLC is indeed a unique, once-in-a-lifetime, one-of-a-kind experience because it is a journey that starts where it ends.

April 16, 2012 will be

• the deadline of filing of Income Tax Return of employees.
• the start of Summer Classes for most colleges in UST
• the beginning of 2 new series in ABS-CBN primetime block
• the launch of Nokia Lumia 800 phone.
• the birthday of Pope Benedict XVI
• the start of US-PH military balikatan exercises

And most importantly for me, on that day, which is about 28 hours from now, I will already be leaving the portals of my teenage years and will now be saying hello to my 20th year of existence.

Time flies. Indeed. It has already been 20 years and a lot has changed in me already. Both physically and emotionally. But I think the most important change in myself would be in terms of maturity.

Perhaps it’s true that maturity doesn’t come with age but I believe after all the experiences I had so far, my maturity is now at that level wherein I already know how to react to certain situations properly and not only rely on  instinct and impulse.

Birthday for me is a special day. It is that one day in that 365 cycle that everyone treats you like a prince and you get to have that license to do, and sometimes get, everything that you want.

But I’m not the type that throws a big party or invites my friends to go to a bar, on my account, to celebrate my birthday. I would usually just hear mass in the morning, spend my day in the house and eat dinner in my restaurant of choice with my family to end the day.

To shake things a little, I hope to receive a surprise this year on my birthday. What kind of surprise? I don’t know. I think that’s the very essence of a surprise. It’s not the gift/material thing that you receive in a surprise but the effort that the people put in organizing that it that makes it special.

I got my lowest grade in college this sem. And I know, I deserved it.

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I am a grade-conscious person. And I admit that. I don’t see anything wrong with being one, provided that you don’t do crazy things just to be able to get your desired grade. Being grade conscious only means you put serious effort in what you do, and you want to be given the right grade-equivalent for those efforts. 

Modesty aside, I have had a good grades since I started college. During my first year first sem, while waiting for the release of grades online, I was just hoping for the best while praying I don’t get a 3. When grades were released, my grades exceeded all my expectations. And from then on, I have set standards for myself. I made sure I don’t get anything lower than 1.75.

I felt happy that I was able to meet that standard for quite sometime, until I reached my third year first sem. 

When I saw the list of subjects for were to take up, I was taken aback by the fact that Statistics and Probability is one of them. I told myself, “Oh no. Math again. :(” I have known, since I was in elementary, that Math has always been my waterloo. I have been trying my best always, but I just don’t think Math will ever be good to me. And true enough, I have proven myself right again.

For the first time in my college life, I got a 2.25. And I got that in my Statistics and Probability subject. 

Upon seeing my grades online this sem, it’s as if my world stopped for a few minutes. I was just there, sitting and staring at my grades, asking myself, “Is this for real?” And when everything sank into me already, I felt really depressed. For the first time, I got a grade lower than 1.75. I didn’t know how to react. Perhaps because I know, deep inside that I actually deserve that grade. I did what I can do, but I guess it just wasn’t really enough.

Days after the release of grades, I kept on seeing statuses of people in Facebook, saying that grades are just numbers and it really won’t matter much later. This line actually pisses me off, as I believe it does every other grade-conscious person out there. For me, grades matter and it will matter, at least while I’m still in college. 

But then I stumbled upon the status of one of the professors in my college, Mr. Alvin Ringgo Reyes. His status says:

“Back in college, I got 2.25 in Computer II, 2.75 in Modern Trigonometry and 3.0 in Basic Volleyball. Back at present, no one asks what my grades were and even if I tell them, they won’t care. Grades are temporary madness.Be more concerned of things that are more important, and longer-lasting, like building a good reputation, having real friends, and sustaining happiness day by day, each moment of your life.” 

This really struck me in the sense that I was able to realize what really are the “more important” things. 

I am taking this positively and I promised myself this will be my first and LAST grade lower than 1.75. 

Fin.