We Dream, We Believe, We Hope To Achieve: Introducing Vision 20/20, SUMS Class of 2020

With hope-filled hearts, each member of Vision 20/20 filed into SUMS’ Lecture Room 1 one semi-cloudy morning in June.

As a batch, we are a motley crew of assorted personalities. We have the cool popular kids, the quiet nerds, some teachers, our classmates who came all the way from Nigeria, and then we have a couple of oddballs here and there.

One of the questions asked during our interview was, “Are you a leader?” And true enough, our class is full of leaders. There are those who step up to the plate and take initiative in ensuring that everyone gets copies of the academic needs and requirements, those who filled in the tasks of the class officers way before the elections, and then there are those who stepped up to the plate and managed our Acquaintance Party class presentations really well. In short, Vision 20/20 won’t run out of people who will fill in the need, when the need presents itself.

In terms of the academic needs, Olana Nazareno helped us all receive our copies of our first Public Health Nutrition handout. Then, even before he assumed his duties as our official PRO, Shaquil Ely Suelo was already proactive in letting us know about class schedule adjustments and other updates. When we had our Acquaintance Party, the leadership of each presentation was handed over to Bon Louise Rana, Reyna Grace Maata, Shaquil Ely Suelo, and Vincent Mea Cabanillas for the dance number, then Oghogho Ovonlen, Reigine Eva Maglajos, Joyce Ramirez, and Roxette Villegas for the song number.

As you can see, our class president Edith Jane Gabo is great at delegating tasks and leadership roles, making sure that everyone can take part and help out with all the things required of us, be it academic or extra-curriculars. After all, delegation is an essential and crucial part of effective management. Kudos to our class president, and equal appreciation to the rest of our leaders and class for being cooperative!

Aside from the leaders who work on the academic and extra-curricular needs and requirements, we also have those who work the digital side. Our class’ Google Drive was created by Ha-yung Kim, assisted by Bon Louise Rana, while our Facebook Group and Group Chat on Messenger were created by Andre Mitchell Cebedo. Nowadays, especially during the Acquaintance Party, class photographers and documentation point persons have also arisen, most notably Ha-yung Kim, Rana Mae Calib, and Michael Budgell.

Indeed, the culture of collaboration and helping each other was laid down early on, with thanks to the guidance of the SUMSA officers.

Our batch has its share of scholars, too. We have Elizalde Bana, who was already a teacher and is a scholar of the DOH Pinoy MD Program. Then we have the Negros Oriental Medical Scholars: Rine Christelle Anfone, Arthur Sojerido Benitez Jr., Ronith Patrice Jasmin, Wilfredo Mata Jr., Roxette Villegas, Antonio Vincoy Jr., and Florlin Grace Yrad. More than our scholars, we also have impressive achievers: Jodi Marian Dagudag, who garnered the 4^th top spot on the recent Nursing Licensure exams, as well as Antonio Vincoy Jr., who was also 4^th in the Medical Technologist Licensure exams. Indeed, as our class created our bulletin board, the keyword “Achievers” was so apt.

Aside from these, another peculiarity of our batch is that we, in the words of Iana Stephanie Saquin, seem to be a class fit for “the United Nations.” Or, to put it in hipper terms, Vision 20/20 is pretty much the “United Colors of Benetton.”

On that note, we have four classmates from Nigeria: Emmanuel Abraham, Temiloluwa “Temi” Aliu, Jokotoye “Kenny” Oluremi, and Oghogho “Ogee” Ovonlen. Temi is also a pastor, and his authority radiates whenever he speaks up. Ogee is bright, beautiful, lovely, and ready to share a conversation or two. She really shone when she led us in our song number, along with the other leaders of the number. And while Kenny and Emmanuel are quieter, both have ready smiles and will gladly share a conversation with you when you approach them.

We also have Asians from different countries: Ha-yung Kim who’s already practically a Dumagueteña, having spent most of her life so far in the Philippines, as well as having been a Silliman student since her High School years. Her family hails from Busan, Korea, and they’ve already settled here. We also have Harris Goh Yek Kai from Malaysia, who also went through his Medical Technology course under Silliman University. Michael Budgell is of British heritage, but he already considers himself a Filipino. He also graduated from Silliman’s Medical Technology program. Indeed, we are a diverse lot.

Our class may be made up of a diverse collection of people, but we are a collection of people who are “Dreamers, Believers, Achievers.” We aim to reach our dreams, we believe that we can, by God’s grace. And thus far, we’ve already achieved a few things: We collaborated to complete our pretty Bulletin Board, we pulled off a well-coordinated presentation for 2016’s Acquaintance Party, and on a daily basis, we ensure that each member of the class won’t be left behind. With the guidance of our doctor-teachers, and the help and administration from our excellent and proactive class officers: Edith Jane Gabo (President), Harris Yek Kai Goh (Vice President), Reyna Grace Maata (Secretary), Michelle Nikki Florendo (Treasurer), Wilfredo Mata Jr. (Auditor), and our very busy, very proactive, and super on-the-ball Public Relations Officer (PRO), Shaquil Ely Suelo, whose regular updates keep us all on our toes, we know we can do this.

  

We hope to keep doing this until the day we graduate—we hope to keep dreaming, believing, and achieving—with no classmate left behind—in the pursuit of our individual dreams.

In the parlance of Dumaguete’s unique blend of Bisaya, “Kumbati!!!”

- Lorie Therese Locara 

Photo Credits: Ha-yung Kim

Credits for teaching the writer the word “Kumbati”: Florlin Grace Yrad

Final Credits: With thanks to everyone who helped the writer complete this before daybreak. :) Again, this has been a class effort, and we’re so proud and grateful of this culture of collaboration.