By John Vincent B. Toribio

Starting at the core to empower students.  

The University’s Student Development Unit, under the Office of Student Affairs and Services (OSAS), initiated consecutive capacity-building activities for its leaders to reignite participation, productiveness and proactivity in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Dr. Jan Rich A. Guira, SD chief, organized separate trainings that catered the editorial team of the Sirmata, the University student publication of its college students, and the officers of the University and college student councils. (Sirmata means vision.)  

“Co-curricular activities, especially during these times, surely bring out the best leaders and advocates in our students,” Guira said. 

First, the Sirmata editorial team, led by Editor-in-Chief Jamico Jingco, a third year BA in Communication student, convened for the first-ever Kur-it Writing Workshop at the University Hostel, Mess Hall last February 15-17. 

Various media practitioners and Sirmata alumnus reinforced the skills of the editorial board and members by presenting new trends and strategies on journalistic writing and reportage. The following topics were discussed: media ethics; media management; online reporting; and writing news, science and technology, sports, literary, feature, editorial, and Ilokano articles. The MMSU brand standard, principles of layouting and photography were also tackled. 

As the editorial team are challenged by the current pandemic, the training equipped them with mechanisms to optimize its online platforms in delivering news and updates.

Second, the officers of the University Student Council (USC) and the college Student Councils (SCs) participated in the Students’ Edition of the Project BUKEL, a leadership training that aims to produce Brave, Understanding, Knowledgeable, and Emerging Leaders. 

Particularly, the activity aimed to improve the officers’ critical thinking skills to build goal-focused organizations through the following topics: harmonization of student activities that promote mental health and gender-sensitivity, organizational process flow charts, excellence in leading, MMSU brand standards, writing resolutions, business letter writing, financial statement and accomplishment report preparation. 

The first BUKEL activity gathered the college student affairs coordinators which also aimed to harmonize new normal activities to come up with a roadmap for student development. (StratCom)