Leadership Camp Underscores Role of Youth in ASEAN Community-Building

01 February 2018 MANILA – Some 1,000 student-leaders from the General Mariano Alvarez Technical High School (GMATHS) gathered at the GMATHS campus in General Mariano Alvarez, Cavite to participate in the annual Leadership Camp, which highlighted the role of youth in societal change and in ASEAN community-building.

Comprising Grades 7 to 12 high school student-leaders, the Leadership Camp, which was held on 26-28 January, had the theme “GMATHSians pressing toward societal change through active youth participation.”

Among the topics discussed during the three-day event were youth leadership, youth and social media, and the role of youth in ASEAN Integration – all aimed towards the holistic development of the Filipino youth as future leaders and as active and responsible members of the ASEAN Community.

An ASEAN identity-building activity was also included in the program through an ASEAN tableau, showcasing the various cultures of ASEAN Member States. The ASEAN tableau was performed using the background song “ASEAN Spirit,” the Philippines’ 2017 ASEAN Chairmanship theme song.

The awareness-building part of the event included a talk by DFA-ASEAN Principal Assistant Alfred Kristoffer A. Guiang who shared, among others, general information on ASEAN, its history, composition, and the positive contributions of ASEAN to the region.

Mr. Guiang also discussed priority areas of the ASEAN Work Plan on Youth 2016-2020, namely, employability, entrepreneurship, awareness, resilience, and youth participation and involvement—all of which are aimed at youth development in the region. He emphasized the crucial role of the youth in ASEAN’s community-building efforts, using technology, and guided by positive values, to be effective agents of positive change.

This year’s GMATHS Leadership Camp was organized by the BUKLOD-UPLB, a political organization of the University of the Philippines-Los Baños, in cooperation with the Supreme Student Government of GMATHS.

The partnership with BUKLOD-UPLB started in 2015 through Mr. John Derrick M. Ordoñez, a GMATHS alumnus and UP Los Baños student, who was elected as the first president of the ASEAN University Student Council Union in 2017. END