Letran SHS Student Council opens Day 1 of HIRAYA: Honing One's Hopes, Dreams, and Aspirations in Leading, a training and webinar

Charles Kirby Manuyag

FRIDAY, April 8, 2022 - The goal of the Letran SHS Student Council's "Hiraya: Honing One's Hopes, Dreams, and Aspirations in Leading" webinar was to develop and empower the leadership skills of the Senior Squires student-leaders, as the event was streamed live via Google Meet for the class and club officials.

Mr. Timothy Estañol and Ms. Milagrosa Ostia, the masters of ceremony, greeted everyone and reminded them of the proper netiquette before the webinar. The webinar started with the recitation of the Quadricentennial Prayer, the singing of the Philippine National Anthem, and the recitation of Letran’s Mission and Vision.

Mr. Timothy introduced Mr. Renzy Calasin, the Letran SHS Student Council adviser, for his opening remarks. Then, later on, he introduced a game that was open to all SHS students at Colegio de San Juan de Letran, which is entitled "Noting Hopes". It was a game in which participants wrote letters about what they were hoping to achieve and expected to do.

For the ice breaker, the emcees introduced a game of guessing a leader presented on the screen as a shadow with their corresponding description. Participants have their wild guesses as they input their answers into the chatbox. Mr. Timothy also presented a little break before the speaker's talk, Mr. Jacob D. Villas.

Mr. Jacob Villas began his presentation by asking attendees a question, "Are you a leader?" He described the important traits of a leader such as being disciplined, knowing how to develop trust, prioritizing one's life, and more.

As Mr. Jacob shared his experiences and inspirations, he explored the four stages of leadership development. He concluded his lecture by thanking everyone for the opportunity to be able to share his experiences and insights with student leaders.

The webinar emcees then presented the certificate of appreciation to Mr. Jacob for imparting his knowledge. They also introduced Mr. Josuard Gonzales, the Chief Visionary Officer of AYES International, as the second guest speaker.

Mr. Josuard started his lecture by promoting himself, stating his credentials and contact details available for partnerships and those looking for speakers. He kicked off his lecture by discussing the foundations of being a leader, one of which is his values. According to him, the importance of a leader is what shapes oneself.

To further understand the participants, Mr. Josuard called on some students to introduce themselves and ask them questions about leadership. He elaborated on their answers with advice of becoming a leader.

Moving forward, Mr. Josuard tackled a leader's mindset and perspective, along with the network and competencies of being an effective leader. Developing critical thinking, building relationships, and acquiring self-development habits were the advice given by Mr. Josuard to student leaders in his lecture. Similarly, he also taught the secrets of communication by asking somebody.

Mr. Timothy then opened the question and answer session of the lecture for participants to ask Mr. Josuard their questions. Shortly after, Ms. Milagrosa presented the certificate of appreciation to Mr. Josuard.

As the workshop was nearing its end, Mr. Timothy and Ms. Milagrosa introduced the second game entitled, "Dreams Come True." In the game, participants were to post a picture of themselves achieving their dreams with a caption about their insights during the webinar and how they will achieve their dreams as a leader.

Together with the recitation of the Himno del Colegio and the reminders to answer the evaluation form, the first day of the leadership training webinar reached its conclusion.

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