BIG IDEA. Student leaders discuss a big idea in order to come up with a localized response to the challenge. Supplied photo.
Thirty-two student leaders from various organizations of Xavier University - Ateneo de Cagayan embarked on a program aimed at forming “leaders of character” guided by Ignatian principles and ideals.
The three-day Ignatian Spirituality and Leadership Program (ISLP), a flagship program of the Office of Mission and Ministry (OMM) through the collaborative effort of all the formation units of the university, was held from April 4 to 6 at the Southeast Asia Rural Social Leadership Institute (Searsolin).
“Servant leadership is anchored with the life that Christ has lived while He was still on Earth,” shared Nursing student Kristine Señeres, one of the ISLP participants. “Indeed, everyone can be a leader, but it takes a peculiar and brave soul to become a servant leader.”
AFTER THE MASS. ISLP organizers and participants strike a pose after a mass celebrated by Xavier Ateneo president Fr Roberto C Yap SJ. Supplied photo.
The event drew together student organization heads, artists, athletes, block representatives, peer facilitators, and volunteers with emerging leadership background.
To deepen the Ignatian spirituality of XU student leaders to create an impact in their organization and to the larger community, ISLP follows a multi-level approach which starts from the first year up to the senior year. The first level focuses on the Ignatian core values, development of interpersonal skills (cura personalis) and cultivation of a reflective attitude.
The discussions and speakers at the event included heroic leadership by Campus Ministries Office director Michael Acenas, servant leadership by campus minister John Dwight Pimentel, organizational development by Governance and Leadership Institute (GLI) program coordinator Wilson Hormeguera, and building an advocacy by Graduate School faculty member Maria Farina Roa.
ISLP GAMES. Student leaders participate in one of the outdoor activities of the Ignatian Spirituality and Leadership Program. Supplied photo.
Banking on the Ignatian foundational skills they have learned from 1st and 2nd ISLP conferences, this year’s ISLP student leaders were exposed to organizational skills and development training workshops with a great emphasis on Heroic and Servant Leadership models to deepen their commitment to serve as Ignatian leaders.
They have undertaken advocacy-driven workshops to come up with community-centered projects. These advocacies will be implemented in the forthcoming school year in collaboration with Office of Mission and Ministry (OMM) and other student organizations and/or councils.
The participants were divided into four groups and chose the "big ideas," from which they will base their localized advocacies:
Group 1: On Farm Sustainability (Intervention)
Group 2: On HIV cases in CDO (Prevention)
Group 3: On Mental Health Issue (Prevention)
Group 4: On Violent Extremism (Prevention)
These ISLP student leaders have also immersed themselves with Ignatian leadership skills, ideas, and values through their experiences in the Freshmen Formation Program (FFP), National Service Training Program, (NSTP), and ISLP 1st and 2nd conferences.
ISLP. Organizers and participants share a group photo after the talks. Supplied photo.
They are called to respond to the call to serve the community. To inspire them, four advocates shared their challenges and lessons in running advocacies and programs. Lea May Caburatan shared her fight against illiteracy with the Xavier Ateneo Night School Program, Xyla Mercedita Gualberto shed light on ridge-to-reef conservation, Marie Alexis Baldia raised the banner with EmpoWomen, and Dennise Edwina Gonzales took the participants to a virtual trip with XU Tabang Marawi.
It is desired that after the conference, they will effectively function as Ignatian leaders equipped with organizational skills balanced with a heart to serve others.
As Señeres shared: “The most solid language of love is the concretization of it through our actions. Becoming a heroic and servant leader is deeply rooted from our love of God, asking ourselves that very common question of where this faith will lead us. I am forever grateful for the opportunity to be one of the ISLP participants, trying to inculcate within the deepest core of my heart these three things: Transcendence, Heroic and Servant Leadership, and Love.”
Xavier Ateneo's ISLP forms part of Saint Ignatius of Loyola's legacy as an extensive mission of the educational network of 189 Jesuit institutions of higher learning globally.∎
XAVIER ATENEO. Student activities coordinator Jim Akut III shares the rationale behind the ISLP 3rd year conference. Supplied photo.