The 1st Google Student Leader's Summit PH

At 8:00 in the morning of the 27th of April 2013, I eagerly went up the elevator of the JVC Building in Aguirre street in Makati City. I remember being enthralled by the buttons of the elevator because you see that they were kind of from years back because of their design - white, plastic, and opaque and the whole button lights up when you click them. But when the elevator bell buzzed to signal I was in the 3rd floor (the Orange and Bronze Inc. offices), I immediately snapped out of my enthrallment. As the door opened, the voices of chit chat slowly filled in the elevator. 

As I stepped out, I was greeted by the light gray carpet and fifty (50) student leaders from across the metro talking to one another. Some were seated on the couch, some were on the coffee table chairs, and the others looking out the window. There were some familiar faces from the university where I come from and we said hi. Right after, I saw the other Google Student Ambassadors - Ryan Caro (who spearheaded this event), Kirk Jamison, and Kriztoff Dela Cruz. We were also greeted by our new friends from Orange and Bronze Inc.

Click "read more" to know more about what happened and to see more photos!

2nd Global Youth Summit

Last September 7, my friend Elle and I attended the 2nd Global Youth Summit at SM North Edsa Skydome. Since we had to join in groups, we were fortunate enough to join the UA&P group since the ones from DLSU were already full.

There Skydome was packed! Students from the different universities in our country and even outside came in for this summit. There were many speakers who inspired us and taught us ideas from communicating our ideas, to project management, to upscaling our ideas, and getting support to be able to turn these ideas into reality.

Some of the speakers were Chito Macapagal, Anton del Rosario, Jim Paredes from the Apo Hiking Society, and Michael Lobrim. They taught us about how one idea, no matter how small or how big, if you believe in it and get people to believe in it to, and once you work together towards that goal, it can become a reality. We can also touch many lives from that idea.

Never the Strangers, the band behind the Moving Closer song in one of the toothpaste commercials, played!

Each group was given a case to solve. My group was given a topic on the health sector; about how to get people to invest on their health. We focused on marginalized groups. We want them to be able to be hands on with their health. Aside from the simple projects of medical-dental missions, we want to ensure that the local health centers are fully equipped with the medicines that their people need. This entails help from the local government units to fund the project and to do so with integrity since it is their responsibility to ensure the health of their constituents.

Also, in the case, it wants us to solve the problem of the people investing on health insurance. This brings up the Philhealth card that our government has which you can read more about here.

The event was fun! We learned so much, we gained connections, we were moved, and we were inspired. Hopefully, more of the youth today can join more of these so that we can all come together and work together so that we can work towards the progress of our country! :)