by: Gabrielle Allyson Dela Torre, Nikki Gatchalian, Jullia Therese Minas

Bañamos festival ends its 2nd day of the weeklong celebration with “Barangay Night” at the Municipal Hall along with the participation of all the barangays of Los Baños.

Bañamos festival ends its 2nd day of the weeklong celebration with “Barangay Night” at the Municipal Hall along with the participation of all the barangays of Los Baños.

               The Barangay Night has been a long-term program for every celebration of Bañamos festival wherein the 14 barangays of Los Baños gather to celebrate, have activities and showcase their talents. The 2019 Barangay Night is scheduled on September 17 and to start at 6 PM. The program officially proceeded at 7:30 PM and began with the convocation. Following the convocation are the opening speeches from important guests such as ABC President Kapitana Arlene Delos Santos, Konsehal Janus Lapis, Konsehal Mark Lester Dizon, Konsehala Josephine Evangelista, Konsehal Marlou Alipon and Congresswoman Ruth Hernandez.

               2nd District of Laguna Representative Ruth Hernandez included in her speech several important bits of future plans for the town of Los Baños. She explained the possible plans to solve the problem of traffic in Los Baños such that by building a road that would route from Calamba circling the shorline to Bae. She also adds information about the plan for the national sports training center.

               “Nandun palang sa initial stage ng pagpupulong, kausap na po naten ang chancellor ng UPLB ano po, si Sir Sanchez, kasi finofloat naten ang idea na dito po ilagay sa UPLB ang National Sports Training Center” Congresswoman Hernandez says.

               The highlight of the night is the competition where each of the 14 barangays showcase their talents and their unity. Presentations include dancing, singing and even acting. In between the dinner and program proper, there were raffle draws for the participants. Prizes are also expected by the end of the night which are to be rewarded to the winners. 10,000 for the 3rd place, 15,000 for the second place and 25,000 for the 1st place. The barangays who would not land a place will still leave with 5,000 each as consolation plus additional 10,000 each coming from the sponsorhips.

               The hosts mentioned the primary sponsors for making the program possible whom were Rodel Pabalate who donated with 100,000, Mayor Caesar Perez with 40,000, Gov. Ramil Hernandez who sponsored the raffle giveaways  and Ruth Hernandez with 20,000.

               Undersecretatry Martin Diño was also present and gave his personal greetings and speech for the barangay. His speech included important news and announcements relevant to barangay governance.

               “Inilabas na ng Senado ang kanilang desisyon sa extension ng barangay official, kaya ngayon hindi na kayo mangangampanya next year. Extended kayo hanggang 2023, yan ay ayon sa desisyon ng Senado” Diño says.

               He also mentioned the proposal of salary increase and benefits for barangay level officials. “the barangay official shall consider as regular government employee with big salary, insurance, dental and medical coverage, and retirement benefits” he adds.

               He ends his speech by emphasizing the importance and role of the barangay unit in helping national governance. “Tandaan niyo ang barangay ang first line of defense ng gobyerno na to. Lahat ng utos ibinababa sa barangay. Magmula sa kampanya ng illegal drugs. Ang gobyerno na to ay umaasa sa barangay, kaya napaka laki ng tulong ng ating mga barangay officials when it comes to peace and order.”

https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1M9Wt2SjFkMeKbfEXtyCajOp6WGuKXx4s

Two hours long, and worth more than two hundred points – our first 7 PM exam for DEVC 11 was a memory still dreaded by everyone in my class. A few days ago, our professor scheduled the sequel to next week, and the entire lecture hall was filled with one, loud, synchronized gasp from the class.

Contrary to popular belief, while they make up a big chunk of our grades, exams don’t have to be so scary. After asking around from my upperclassmen (as well as reflecting on my own performance), I gathered a few tips on surviving exams. Read on so you, too, can slay the beast!

Ask why and not what

Before every exam, you will always see students trying to memorize quotes, equations, formulas, concepts, and everything else. However, some concepts are better understood than memorized.

For example, our STS 1 course expects us to memorize the four definitions of technology based on an assigned reading. Instead of memorizing what these definitions are, we can try to understand how technology manifests itself in different forms. Here’s an example thought process:

“Okay, technology is usually described as the gadgets that we have. Then, they’re also the knowledge that we gain, related to the use of technology. And technology is something that people have been doing over time. That also constitutes some kind of culture!”

If we find the explanations or the narratives that help us piece everything together sensibly, we’ll have less problems retaining the information in our heads. Because then, we’ll be knowing the answer just because we know it by name – but because we know how they fit in relation with the others.

That’s kind of like knowing not just what’s drawn on the individual puzzle pieces, but also how the pieces fit together. That’s how you remember the bigger picture better.

Association

However, there are some cases where memorization becomes the only option. Some examples include the types of leads you’ll encounter in journalism, quotes about definitions of your field from important theorists and practitioners, and so on.

It turns out that it gets a lot easier to memorize things if you associate them with other concepts. These other concepts could be colors, hand gestures, memories, or even how they look when printed (if you have photographic memory). Or, you could also use metaphors and analogies. In fact, memes are great examples of metaphors and analogies, just like the following:

I’ve used this technique not only in exams, but also speeches and essays. They help form stories in my head, and it somehow gets more organized in my head – much easier to memorize.

That would explain why you’re seeing wrestlers on this post.

Work in increments

One of the scariest feelings is when we realize that suddenly, there’s not enough time to learn the lessons under the exam coverage. That’s a common reason why people panic before and during exams: they’ve crammed all the information in a short amount of time.

While this works for small short-term things, you won’t be able to retain this information for long. Although it may sound counter-intuitive, the best way to prepare for exams is not through reviewing – but through understanding the lesson during the lesson. Try to make it a goal that you don’t end the day without understanding the current topics.

Keep it cool!

No matter how much you prepared for the exams, it can all go to waste if you panic!

If that happens, chances are that you’ll be unable to perform at your best. Panicking can cause forgetfulness, and nothing feels worse than forgetting things that you worked so hard to memorize. Generally, we’re able to form our thoughts and sentences better when we’re calmer, so don’t be afraid to chill and take it easy.

(READ: How Do You Chill?)

 I say generally because some people work better under pressure. While that’s completely valid, one should always watch their stress levels, because if left unchecked, this can lead to various health problems. And in a university that requires a lot of outputs (and fieldwork especially for BS DevCom students), you wouldn’t want that.

What I do is I limit my reviewing to the day before the exams. The night before the exam, I eat a full meal for dinner, try to get at least seven hours of sleep, and keep myself away from things that would make me panic.

Different things work for different people. Find what works for you and stick to it.

Failure is an event, not a person.

Sometimes, it’s not the fear of the subject that hinders us, but the fear of failure.

We all have different stories and different backgrounds. Some of us might be the high school valedictorians now suffering their first failures, the first-generation UP students acting as their families’ hopes and breadwinners, the confused partygoers who wish to find what their dreams are as they drift through their lives in the university.

It’s easy to take our failures as a depiction of who we are. After all, throughout our stay in elementary and high school, we’ve always been dictated by our numerical grades. We were also quantitatively assessed when we entered UP. I don’t blame anyone for seeing themselves as defined by numbers.

But I also want you to remember that you are not your grades. Hear me out.

Failure is an inevitable event. No good play is produced without having been rehearsed tirelessly. No iceberg sticks out of the water without having so much of itself underneath the water. No invention is finalized upon the very first prototype.

Think about it, new models of the phones and the laptops that we use now are being released every year, improving upon their faults and their strengths alike.

Exams and grades are simply dated snapshots of what can be assessed quantitatively from us. Do they measure how happy we’ve become over the semester? Do they measure how well we’ve been eating or sleeping? Do they measure the quality of our conversations, our relationships with people?

These dated snapshots are frozen in time. You, however, aren’t. You are a person constantly changing, every day. Every morning that you wake up, you will have become a better person than you were yesterday. While grades can take photographs, your life is the live video whose script is constantly being written. Cliché as it may sound, what matters is that we learn from our mistakes.

So don’t be afraid to take that next exam of yours; when it’s over, that’s one chapter of life closed, awaiting the next one.

And onto the next, and onto the next.

In all honesty, I believe that there is a need to further improve and develop my qualities and skills as a media writer. I say so because after answering the self-assessment survey, I had an average score of 2.9 on my qualities as a media writer while on my skills as a media writer I had an average score of 3.2. Out of all ten qualities of a media writer, I realized that my best qualities lean towards my love and interest to people and being service-oriented. On the other hand, out of all five skills of a media writer, I believe that I am most expert in terms of proficiency in the operation of communication tools and devices.

And the reason being?

I guess I just love people. I love to hear their stories, especially those that are intimate and personal because it means that they trust you enough with whatever information they share to you. And for me, that means a lot. As a media writer, I would like to write stories from people that are worth sharing. May it be a progress in the community projects, or a newly adapted technology in the farm; I believe that I’m more than happy to write their stories and let other people on the other side be informed about it.

On the skills set on the other hand, what I wrote in the survey was, “I think it’s the proficiency in the operation of communication tools and devices. I say so because I’ve already familiarized myself with tech devices throughout my life as a student.” I guess this is all thanks to the generation that I am in, which is the digital age, where we are expected to use technology in almost everything. During high school, we were fond of using Office software in making papers, slide presentation, and spreadsheets/tables. Through the years, we began using online platforms such as Google Docs so that we can do our projects at the same time without meeting up in one place. Also, we were already introduced to softwares like Adobe Photoshop and Canva in editing pictures and making posters or publicity materials. Being able to learn how to used these communication tools/devices is really helpful for me as a college student. There is more ease in making the projects in terms of getting it done and working in a group.

Are there things to improve?

Out of all ten qualities of a media writer, I believe that I need to improve on my reading skills. In the survey I wrote, “I need to work the most on reading because it’ll be essential for the development of my writing style and vocabulary.” Reading affects how you organize your thoughts and the way you write. Your word choice and sentence structure are influenced by reading. It is then evident in your written works if you are not reading enough. Admittedly, I’m still not fond of reading. I need to improve this skill the most because my degree program will entail a lot of reading and writing. In the future, I wish to include reading as part of my daily hobbies so that my level of vocabulary and writing skills will improve.

On the other hand, out of all five skills of a media writer, I believe that I need to improve the most on organizing information and writing clearly and effectively. In the self-assessment survey, I wrote “I need to work the most on organizing information and writing clearly and effectively. When it comes to writing, I find it hard to gather my thoughts and write them clearly, like it gets scattered in my mind and sometimes I can’t put it to words.” I believe that having difficulties in these aspects stems from the fact that I don’t write in a regular basis aside from having poor vocabulary. Which is why, in the future I would like to include writing as part of my daily hobbies too in order to improve the skill.

Julius Philip D. Villarey is an undergraduate student in UPLB currently taking BS Development Communication. Although born in Taguig City, he grew up in Paranaque City as it is near his mother’s workplace. Growing up, Julius found interest in drawing and he was able to nourish this skill through various poster making competitions in and out of his school. Aside from drawing, he grew interest in music and movies. He specifically preferred listening K-pop and exposure to the idol culture in Korea had greatly influenced and inspired him to become a singer/performer in the future.

So, during Senior Highschool, he joined the music club to express his love for singing. He also joined other clubs such as the Math Club and his school’s newspaper publication called “Herald”. These experiences influenced his decisions later. After graduating senior high, he decided to study in the University of the Philippines Los Banos and took BS Food Technology. Due to difference in interests and goals, he left his first college and shifted to BS Development Communication with hopes and mindset of working in the media and production after graduating.

The only exposure of Julius to writing and journalism was through Herald. He was a contributor tasked to write articles for events that took place in his high school. Despite his small background in journalism, he had the opportunity of being a part of the campus journalism competition RACJourn 2017: For the Youth, For the Filipinos 2017 held at De La Salle University Manila. Having very small exposure to journalism yet Julius is still fascinated in the idea of working in the media. He had thoughts of working for a TV Program as a person behind-the-scene or perhaps in front of the camera too.

Looking forward, he wants to learn more about the status of development in the Philippines. He hopes to write convincing stories about Philippine development. As a communicator, he wants to be a voice for people who needs their concerns to be heard loud and clear. Still fueled by his goals and aspirations, Julius is determined to be of service to his country as a future development communicator.

Magandang umaga, mga ka-bidet!

Kung sa nakaraang episode ay pinag-usapan natin kung ano nga ba ang Development Communication ngayon naman dumako tayo sa pagpunta ng DOST’s mobile learning buses at ano nga ba ang maitutulong nito sa Science and Technology! Alamin kung ano nga ba ang mga chikang hindi chaka, chika ng bayan, chikang makabuluhan!

HOSTS:
Evangeline Lucille Ortiz (UV-3L)
Jerome (Zawadi) Atangan (UV-3L)
Nikki Gatchalian (UV-1L)

HEAD WRITER:
Danica Salcedo (UV-3L)

DIRECTOR:
Vincent Balawen (UV-4L)

“Pasko, pasko, pasko na naman muli!“

It’s Christmas time everywhere, and it’s more evident in UPLB as the grand display in front of the campus is officially opened. This year’s Christmas tree lighting had the biggest audience in the history of the traditional ceremony.

Kaye Galler, Cedric Katigbak, Kristina Perez, and Karen Vargas, freshmen of the College of Development Communication, show the most awaited Christmas event in UPLB on the 2nd episode of UPdates.

Dalawang araw nag-init ang bulwagang Baker nang magpasiklaban ang mga guro, staff, at mga estudyante ng Kolehiyo ng Komunikasyong Pangkaunlaran. Ang kauna-unahang CDCiklaban, na noo’y kilala bilang Devcolympics, ay pinangunahan ng CDC Student Council.

Saksihan ang mga kaganapan sa makasaysayang pagdiriwang ng pampalakasan sa kolehiyo mula sa bidyo na ginawa nina Roella Marcelle Bautista, Kaye Galler, Cedric Katigbak, Kristina Perez, at Karen Vargas. Ito ay ang pangatlong episode ng UPdates.

HI,

You never liked to sugar-coat things, so I’ll tell you this directly: you will end up in UP. A bit hard to believe, I know. Trust me when I say that it’ll be one of the best things that ever happened to you. And trust me even harder when I say these next few bits.

Don’t be complacent, for a start. College is only the beginning of the episodes of hardships you’ll encounter in your years, so best if you get off that couch. Don’t begin to think that your study habits in high school are still going to be with you once you step into UP because believe me, they’ve gone out the window a long time ago. You’ve only started building these habits, I know. You need to start molding yourself again because everything is going to be different.

Second, keep focus. With all honesty, you will be as unmotivated as ever if you don’t set your priorities straight. For weeks you will completely have no drive to finish requirements and go to classes, because day after day you will be tested and no one else is to blame for that if you didn’t come prepared for it. Remember the people who sacrificed too much to bring you here, okay? What would they think if you gave up on your own?

Another thing I have to remind you of is your self control. No one is going to be there to stop you once you leave home, and it holds all the things you’ve ever wanted and the all the ones that just aren’t good for you. You like saying no to almost everything but to yourself. Try to silence that voice inside your head while you can so won’t wind up broke and frustrated like me.

All that aside, you’ve really done good. As self-depreciative as you are, give yourself some credit for making it this far. You’ll be doing many things you’d never imagine to do and it’ll be fun and at the same time challenging. You’ve always wondered how it’d be like to step out of your comfort zone so let me tell you right now: it’s not that bad! You’ve always been a tough woman, so be tougher. The last thing I would want you to do is hold back, and you’ve already been doing that all your life. Learn to love the process 🙂 Everything really just falls in to place 🙂

The year has blessed you with too much, right? It’s still overwhelming up until now. But don’t be a dumb-dumb like me; go and pray more 🙂

Every single thing that you have dreamed for years back is all here. All I ask now is that you keep that smile on your face. It still looks good on you. Even when you end up crying, there’s nothing wrong with seeing the bright side of it.

I really hope you won’t end up like me after these reminders. Get them through your head. You won’t like feeling palpitations at 3 AM with barely anything in your stomach. And I don’t want you regretting not studying because you have to take the finals, because that’s definitely me right now. So I have to go.

The year will be great, don’t worry. No regrets like you always say, diba?

All the love,
Moi

The Flush sisters are back!

Matapos ang mahaba-habang talakayan tungkol sa Development Communication noong nakaraang episode (WATCH: https://youtu.be/Bp7alPALlmA), nagbabalik na naman ang Banyo Conyo upang ibahagi sa inyo ang pinakamainit na usapin at balita sa agham at teknolohiya.

Sa ikalawang episode ng Banyo Conyo, kanilang pag-uusapan ang pagbisita ng Science Explorer and nuLab buses sa University of the Philippines Los Baños na hatid ng Department of Science and Technology. Para sa komprehensibong pagtalakay, i-click lamang ang video sa taas.

Hosts:
Evangeline Lucille Ortiz (UV-3L)
Jerome (Zawadi) Atangan (UV-3L)
Nikki Gatchalian (UV-1L)

Head Writer:
Danica Salcedo (UV-3L)

Head Director:
Vincent Balawen (UV-4L)