ASCEND Citation Awards and Special Recognition given out during PAGHAHANDOG 2023

This year, there were three recipients of the ASCEND Citation Award, all of whom were duly recognized for their remarkable and inspiring projects 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.

The first recipient of the ASCEND Citation Award was a group of 3rd year AB Development Studies students who were nominated in the Undergraduate Group Project category, for their work entitled “PROJECT AGKAYKAYSA: Catalyzing Youth Coalition Formation through Capacity Building in Candon City, Ilocos Sur”. The group was composed of Miguel Joshua V. Alcobendas, Marco Anton M. Dy, Holly Jeanne A. Favis, Kathleen May B. Fernandez, Arianne Faith Y. Ibon, Joaquin Franco A. Sevilla, and Jericho P. Urquiola. Dr. Mark Anthony D. Abenir was their faculty adviser.

Their group, known as Team Inayab, got the inspiration for their project from the Ilocano word “Agkaykaysa” which stands for solidarity and unity. With this in mind, they put together a capacity-building program to support the efforts of their partner organization, the Candon Youth for Empowerment Movement, Inc., and other Ilocos Sur youth organizations, to form and establish a youth coalition focused on addressing their respective communities’ needs and concerns. Through Project Agkaykaysa, the group sought to equip participants with the necessary knowledge, skills, and attitudes for effective youth coalition formation.

A second ASCEND Citation Award was bestowed upon a group of 4th Year AB Sociology students who were nominated in the Senior Group Project category, for their work entitled “Photobook Case Studies - Building and Rebuilding Lives, Turning Shanties into Empowered Communities: A Case Study on Zone One Tondo Organization and Urban Poor Community Organizations & Samahan ng Mangingisda ng Penitan: Kasintibay ng Bakawan”. The members of their group were Dayle Andrew G. Dacanay, Wilhelm Wyngard A. Dela Vega, Maria Noelle C. Maulit, Angelica Nicole C. Tan, Erika A. Lopez, Juanne Maria Victoria A. Ongsiako, Yuan Gabriel R. Reyes, and Simone Andrea L. Yatco. Their faculty advisers were Dr. Liza L. Lim, Dr. Ma. Glenda L. Wui, and Ms. Samantha Mae M. Poblete.

Their group developed photobook case studies featuring the history, level of organizational development, leadership, org culture, and good practices for institutionalization and sustainability of the Samahan ng Mamamayan - Zone One Tondo Organization or ZOTO, a federation of urban poor organizations from 28 relocation sites in Metro Manila, and the Samahan ng Mangingisda ng Penitan or SMP, a women-led organization in barangay Penitan, Siruma, Camarines Sur, both of whom the Institute of Social Order (ISO) helped establish. Their case studies will be published in the book entitled “ISO at 75: Enabling the Grassroots through Leadership Formation and Organizational Development”.

The last of three ASCEND Citation Awards handed out for SY 2022-2023 went to a 4th year BFA Information Design student, Angeline C. Destacamento, who was nominated under the Senior Individual Project category for her work entitled “Assisting Public School Teachers in Developing Reading Comprehension among Junior High School Students in Antipolo City”.  Ms. Tracy Ann Liberty Monsod was her faculty adviser.

Ms. Destacamento’s project, done in partnership with San Jose National High School in Antipolo, aimed to provide public school teachers with pedagogical tools that will help them better teach reading comprehension to junior high school students. She creatively designed this reading comprehension learning kit that encourages tailored instruction through multilevel bilingual learning materials, as a concrete response to the problem of Learning poverty in our country.

The ASCEND Citation Award is given to a particular project or research work that manifests in an extraordinary manner, all three of the following criteria:  

1. Excellent 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 strategic and creative manner with 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

Aside from the Citation Awards conferred during this year’s PAGHAHANDOG, three projects were also accorded Special Recognition by ASCEND for distinctively meeting at least two of the aforementioned criteria.

“kAppé: A Mobile Accounting Application for the Coffee Farmers of the Province of Bukidnon”, a project by Christian Sarabia, Wilbert Meinard L. Chen, Isaiah Edri W. Flores, Anna Ysabella Habana, Franco Manuel D. Velasco, and Lhance Christian S. Wong from III BS Computer Science, was the first to be given Special Recognition. Their faculty adviser was Mr. Cymon Kayle Lubangco. The mobile accounting application that their group created for the Bukidnon-based coffee farmers of Peace Crops, Inc. was designed to help improve the coffee farmers’ overall financial management system and provide a software for better crop yield predictions.

“#LigtasLagi sa LRT: A Communication Campaign for Women’s Transit Safety in Philippine LRT Systems”, by Aiden Jean Z. Bravo, Aizadela Cristi L. Delgado, and Phyllis Esther T. Ong from IV AB Communication was the next project accorded Special Recognition. Their faculty adviser was Dr. Maria Inez Ponce de Leon. Their group aimed to create a communication intervention that would protect women and help them recognize and unlearn disempowerment in the face of gender-based violence and sexual harassment in Philippine LRT systems. 

The third project that was given Special Recognition was “Increasing Brand Perception Through Design Thinking: A Website Design Strategy for KABABAIHAN, Inc.” by John Benedict B. Azarcon, from IV AB Interdisciplinary Studies. His faculty adviser was Mr. George Peter Lorenzana. He created a customer-centered website design for KABABAIHAN, Inc. in Dalig, Cardona along Laguna Lake, to help them increase the sales of their bags, baskets, placemats and other products repurposed from water lilies as an alternative source of income for their fisher folk community.

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.

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 2023 ASCEND Citation Award and Special Recognition recipients