3rd Year AB Development Studies students receive 2023 ASCEND Undergraduate Excellence Award

This year’s ASCEND Undergraduate Excellence Award was bestowed upon a group of 3rd year AB Development Studies students composed of Jake Rico M. Bacani, Mariana Josefa P. Hermoso, Anne Margaret J. Hernandez, Mary Franz Benilde P. Manlutac, Charisse Maxine O. Parchamento, Felicia Isabel A. Singson, and Ryan Gabriel B. Suarez for their project entitled “PROJECT BANYUHAY: A Series of Capacity-building Workshops for the Digital Storytelling of UGNAYIN National Indigenous Youth Network and Indigenous Youth”. Dr. Mark Anthony D. Abenir was their faculty adviser.

These young students were duly recognized for their inspiring and life-giving work during “PAGHAHANDOG: A Celebration of Student Leadership and Service,”  an annual awarding ceremony which was held this year on 23 June 2023 at the Leong Hall Auditorium.

“Banyuhay” or “bagong anyo ng buhay” directly translates to “metamorphosis” and “a renewed sense of living”. This is what their group, known as Team Bukás na Búkas, hoped to provide through their project. 

Project Banyuhay is a series of capacity building workshops co-organized with the UGNAYIN Indigenous Youth Network and the Non-Timber Forest Products – Exchange Programme Philippines (NTFP-EP Phils), which aimed to raise awareness on the issues that indigenous peoples face, most especially by the indigenous youth. It strived to promote awareness on indigenous people’s culture and sought to strengthen the network of Filipino indigenous youth. 

The group's year-long engagement with UGNAYIN and NTFP-EP Phils., which consisted of online and onsite activities such as "kumustahan," one-on-one semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, training needs analysis, and consultation meetings, helped in designing workshops aimed at enhancing the capacities of indigenous youth in social media literacy, digital citizenship, effective storytelling through social media, and content creation. These led to creative outputs made by the indigenous youth through photos and videos, sharing the challenges, hopes, and dreams of their respective communities.

Every year, the Ateneo Socio-Civic Engagement for National Development (ASCEND) Awards honors undergraduate, senior, and graduate students for projects and research work that demonstrate mastery of subject matter while engaging communities and institutions outside the Ateneo in contributing to national development. Projects are development interventions that have been implemented with observable impact while research work contributes to knowledge creation with the potential for social impact.

Among the various forms of recognition given out as part of ASCEND, the highest would be the ASCEND Excellence award which is given to a particular project or research work that is deemed to be the most outstanding in either the Undergraduate, Senior, or Graduate level as it manifests in an extraordinary manner, all three of the following criteria:  

1. Extraordinary mastery of subject matter and application of synthetic thinking
2. Deep and extensive engagement with partner communities and institutions
3. The addressing of a national development concern in a strongly strategic and creative manner with very significant short-term impact on target beneficiaries and/or the potential for significant longer term impact in promoting the well-being of the greatest number.

It is through ASCEND that the Ateneo continuously nurtures and motivates its students to be compassionate leaders and effective change-makers, keeping the spirit of "men and women for and with others" alive and fostering a culture of service and leadership in the realm of national development.

Photos courtesy of the recipients of the 2023 ASCEND Undergraduate Excellence Award