Sinsayan sa Katipunan (2026)

Sinsayan sa Katipunan is part of the Not Just Coffee Series (NJCs) that is designed as an experience that integrates key elements and activities aimed at fostering spaces for interactions. A series of activities dedicated to building a community among the Atenean student body that shows up authentically well-aware of their context and impact, skilled at navigating unique and varied interests and identities within groups they are part of, and capable of harmonizing varying voices toward a shared pursuit. Each session aims to:

1. Create spaces for genuine encounters, dialogue, and collaboration characterized by hospitality, dialogue, and commitment among Ateneo community members.
2. Seek opportunities to move towards a greater appreciation of differences, shift to a mindset of coexisting differences enriching society, and practice navigating varying backgrounds, identities, and convictions.
3. Foster a culture of encounter to shape efforts of student groups to address societal issues and drive equitable change within and beyond the Ateneo.

This initiative is committed to continuous exploration and deepening of understanding of the culture of encounter, as a way of weaving it into daily proceedings and interactions. Students at the center and focus of Ateneo de Manila’s pursuit, we are committed to shaping today’s leaders to engage in dialogues, encounters, and collaborations across industries, government, and other spheres of influence, inspired by the principles of fraternal solidarity and social friendship. The aspiration is to establish the processes and conditions necessary for genuine encounters to flourish, thus fostering a ripple effect that extends to our society as a whole and resonates within the upcoming generations of leaders.

Sinsayan 2026 is a proposed iteration that follows three preceding cycles held in 2024 and 2025 that saw a mixed population of attendees (students and non-students alike). Key findings from previous participants relate the Sinsayan experience with several characteristics of what a welcoming, meaningful encounter feels like:

• Disengaging: time to unwind, slow down and detach from productivity-oriented pursuits typical in a university setting, even if momentarily.
• Self-caring: space for rest, stress relief, personal reflection and creative expression to recharge and restore one’s inner peace.
• Connecting with the self and with others: occasions for intrapersonal connection and recollection as well as interpersonal socialization.

At its core, Sinsayan extends a simple invitation: to take a conscious pause amid the bustle of college life. This can be in the form of a solitary break, a self-directed activity, or through initiating a spontaneous conversation with a fellow sojourner, over a gratuitously offered snack and beverage.

Sinsayan is a co-created, collective third space. That is, one which has “the potential for something to happen that is other than the traditional top-down hierarchical lecturer-student relationship or the add-on learning support provided by other education stakeholders” (Burns et al., 2019). By focusing on the relational and experiential dimensions of community building, Sinsayan seeks to offer reprieve and holistic support to students, outside their timetabled engagements in a productivity-oriented campus setting. Such an endeavor intends to create “true partnerships” between student and non-student members within and through campus life. Moreover, Sinsayan aspires to offer as well as produce novel resources designed to engage our HE students in actively discovering their place, voice, and power in the HE community.

The act of conversing or pagsinsay encourages one to meaningfully interact with the self – say, by disengaging briefly from the intense campus cadence – or with others, through presence-focused conversations and self-directed activities that support students’ physical and mental well-being.

Sinsayan 2026 will have its first run on 5 & 6 March 2026 at the SEC A Foyer! 

Sumama at suminsay!