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AGSB STUDENT COUNCIL SY 2015-2016 STRATEGIC PLANNING MINI WORKSHOP

December 05, 2015

by Ryan Norman Lim

November 21, 2015 – The newly elected AGSB Student Council (SC) officers for SY 2015-2016, together with outgoing SC officers for SY 2014-2015 represented by Marvin Pedregosa (Secretary General) and Dean Dimaandal (MBA Standard Representative), assembled in AGSB Rockwell campus for the SC Strategic Planning Mini Workshop.

The mini workshop is an important event that aims to bring together the various ideas and talents of the two batches of SC officers, specifically to:

• finalize initial projects planned thus far by the new SC officers;
• map out and plan other projects this school year; review the past projects of SC Batch 2014-2015 with the aim of identifying best practices and areas for improvement for the benefit of succeeding batches of SC officers;
• identify the current needs of the school and possible initiatives to meet them; and
• have a venue for proper turn-over of pending projects and accountabilities.

The event started with the “Knowing Others” activity which dwelt on self-introduction and working style of each SC officer and even Prof. Dennis Ryan Cruz, currently the Coordinator of the AGSB Office of Student Activities and Formation (OSAF) & Student Council Adviser. With this activity, Prof. Dennis remarked that the incoming SC team mix is very promising given the balance of people who are good in planning/conceptualization as well as the operations/execution side. This is consistent with his expectations from the incoming SC- focusing on creativity, innovation and execution of the framework already institutionalized. Prof. Dennis also shared his core personal values of integrity, commitment, sense of responsibility and respect for time, which he hopes to be exemplified by the incoming SC officers. He also shared the paradigm of working with the plan and being fully committed to deliver what was promised.

Next activity focused on the discussion of SC roles, current SC structure, setting the foundation and Student Activities Direction. Prof. Dennis first reiterated his main role as the adviser of SC is to guide the Student Council. Then, the SC roles and responsibilities embodied in the old SC constitution (Article VI, Sec. 5) have been read aloud by every SC officer and discussed among themselves for comments/inputs. With this, amendment in some SC officer functions, creation of new SC officer positions as well as the formation of a “Council of Leaders” for the pool of AGSB class presidents will be set in place once the amendments of the old SC constitution have been ratified by at least 10% vote from the Student body.
As regards the Student Council structure, Prof. Dennis cited that the outgoing SC operated under a project-based type, where each SC officer became project manager of his own, but with the support of the entire SC team. Attendant to this, the thrust of incoming SC President Perth Salva is to still adopt the project-based operational structure for his SC team, with emphasis on project ownership and multi-tasking.

Prof. Dennis also presented the framework of the AGSB OSAF focusing on Ignatian Spirituality, Academic Excellence, AGSB Identity, Leadership and Social Responsibility, and Personal Development and Special Interests. The framework is mapped out well to the four (4) pillars of the Student Council- Academic Excellence, Brand Building, Social & Spiritual Formation, and Career Building.

Moving forward, Marvin Pedregosa, the outgoing SC Secretary General made a brief run-through of the previous projects handled by the SC Batch 2014-2015. Review of the previous SC projects was done to identify best practices and at the same time learn from the challenges encountered. The outgoing SC has focused on building foundations because they had to start from scratch- practically everything centered on beginnings. However those hurdles did not limit the SC to accomplish more projects and set patterns for the succeeding batches of SC. From these foundations, the incoming SC will have the opportunity to focus on building a community given the standardization for procedures (e.g. processes in project proposals, SC constitutional amendment, formation of clubs, etc.) has been laid out. The incoming SC was also tasked to strengthen the foundation already set by the previous SC, and springboard from there to achieve even greater heights- embodied in the Ateneo’s MAGIS.

Further, planning and mapping out of Projects by the Incoming SC spearheaded by SC President Perth Salva was held during the afternoon session of the mini workshop. Brainstorming of ideas and a laundry list of potential projects have been listed out, plotted against the four pillars of the Student Council and mapped out to the SC calendar, in addition to the mandatory and other pending yet “priority” projects already identified (designated SC officers assigned as Project Managers) as follows:

Traditional

1) New Student Orientation Seminar (ORSEM) – January, May and September 2016
2) RecWeek – February 2016
3) Lenten Recollection – March 2016
4) Career Fair – June 2016
5) Community Outreach – July 2016
6) Graduation Ball / Send-off – August 2016
7) Mass of the Holy Spirit – August 2016
8) Student Leadership Conference (LeadCon) – October / November 2016

Continuing Concerns

1) Student Publication / Journal – December 2015
2) SC Constitutional Amendment – January 2016
3) Student Council Social Media Accounts
4) SC Bulletin Board Revamp
5) Student Club Formation

Potential Initiatives

1) Alpha Eagles – assembly of AGSB class presidents
2) Hosting of scholarships during AGSB’s 50th Anniversary
3) Book Support Program – January 2016
4) Sportsfest / Run-for-a-Cause – April-May 2016
5) Bazaars / Trade Fair – November 2016

In closing, though the mini workshop event was characterized by planning and knowledge-sharing between the two Council batches, it is also hoped that working rapport will be built especially amongst the new set of Officers as they roll-out their projects and events during SY 2015-2016 geared especially towards AGSB brand building and academic excellence as the school celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2016.