By Sandro Salazar, BACOMM 4- OJT
Senior High School students took initiative to pitch a project for the Aeta Community of Brgy. Leong, Cabatuan, Iloilo provides equal rights and equitable education.
The CPU Senior High School Department hailed as Top 1 for the conducted project pitching of CPUR I CREATE SDG (Sustainable Development Goals) Act of 2022 in the LGU Students’ Initiative Edition awarded last March 1, 2022, from the Facebook post of the CPU Republic.
The pitched project bagged special awards for Best Presenter spearheaded by the project leader Shevi Nicole Jamerlan together with its members Jewel Kate Garcia, Elisha Anne Bueno, Elijah Tjalling Paradero, Princess Samantha Joy Suarez, Yocca Alexa Denise Laurino, and Gwyneth Amber Aguilos. Special award for Best Presentation and one of the recipients for the 10,000 pesos grant.
Aetaguyod is the name of the proposed project which aims to help the Aeta Community in Barangay Leong, Cabatuan, Iloilo. The initiative of the Senior High School students of CPU is to provide assistance for the educational needs of our fellow aeta through drives as they will build a community learning center and provide other educational materials. This is also a platform for the Aeta people to showcase their talents and promote their culture by selling native crafts like banig, silhig, and whatnot.
According to the Project Leader Shevi Nicole Jamerlan, last January 2021 they conducted an outreach program for the same location and met the Teacher who is part of the said community mentioned the lack of resources for the learning of the kids.
“Going back to August 2021, we had the idea to implement a project wherein we would build an “Eco-brick” inspired center, but due to some circumstances, it was disregarded. Then an opportunity came last December 2021 wherein we were recruited by the SHS council and were given a chance to pitch a project. The first thing that came up to my mind was this,” she said.
Jamerlan was inspired to give a helping hand to the community the reason why she pushed through this kind of project and with the help of her team they won a prize which will fund the implementation of the project
“We took advantage of the project pitching and fortunately, we won the 10,000 PHP aid and other special awards. I believe that this would be a dream come true not just for us but also for these kids that are willing to learn in the community. Our passions had led us to come up with Aetaguyod, win this, and make this happen,” she added.
10 teams from organizations and Fraternities have also presented in the said SDG project pitching and 3 teams for the Local Government Units- Students’ Initiative Edition.
The panel of the judges of the SDG was Engr. Riego Ferrer Garcia, the former CPUR President 2019-2020 and one of the proponents of Project Pitching, Engr. Levi O. De Los Santos Jr, the Director of Community Engagement and Service-Learning Center, and Ma’am Carmelle Frances Mosquera Romero, the Administrative Officer of Office of the CPU President.