Fil-Am Youth Shares Stories of Self-Rediscovery Through Diskubre Tour
College of Mount Saint Vincent (CMSV) faculty, CMSV-SAMAHAN, Diskubre tour participants, and Consul Khrystina Corpuz Popov celebrate the Filipino heritage during Diskubre at the Mount on 14 November 2018. (New York photo)
NEW YORK 03 December 2018 –The Philippine Consulate General in New York, College of Mount St. Vincent (CMSV), and SAMAHAN – the Filipino student group of CMSV, jointly hosted Diskubre at the Mount at the Founders Hall, College of Mount St. Vincent at the Bronx on 14 November 2018.
Diskubre Tour, the heritage tour founded by the Consulate General in partnership with the Department of Tourism, had its pilot batch travel for 11 days in the Cordilleras last July. ABS-CBN covered the tour and produced a web series about the tour in its program “Discovering Routes Travels with Diskubre”.
In her opening remarks, Consul Khrystina Corpuz Popov thanked the hosts for helping promote the Consulate General’s programs for the youth, especially Diskubre. She added that she finds inspiration in the energy of the young Filipino-Americans and is excited about what they can do with the lessons that Diskubre will teach them.
Representing the College were Dean Lynne Bongiovanni, Professor Teresita Ramirez, and Professor Noel Pangilinan, who all expressed their appreciation for the Consulate General’s continued outreach to the CMSV community.
The students and guests were given a screening of an episode of Discovering Routes Travels with Diskubre, “Immigrant Story of a Filipino Mom,” where one of the travelers Alex Brown relates to her Filipino Mom the adventures she did and the women she met during the trip, which made a great impact on her experience.
Three of the travelers were on hand to provide their insights to guests Elaine Ficarra from Philadelphia, Feih Hidalgo and her dad Derick from New York.
Elaine shared that she has always been active in the Filipino Community in Philadelphia, but she has learned much more when she went on Diskubre, and encouraged everyone to try to go on a similar trip, or start watching the web series to join them in their journey.
Ms. Hidalgo revealed that as an artist, she related most to the visit to National Artist for Cinema KidlatTahimik’s life project Ili-Likha Artist Village, who built an art complex from recycled supplies and materials from nature. “It made me realize that as long as I am creative, I can use anything without harming nature to create magnificent art.”
Her dad Derick expressed that “Because of the tour, Feih has seen how I grew up, and she understands now why I push her to do greater things because of the opportunities she has that were not available to me as a child in the rural areas of the Philippines.”
SAMAHAN Secretary Ana Camille Mendoza, who moderated the talkback, noted that “the experiences of the travelers inspired me to take my own Diskubre tour sometime in the future to explore my Filipino identity more and learn more about myself.”
Professor Teresita Ramirez urged the students, especially the Filipinos in the audience, to find ways to join the Diskubre tour, because the lessons and wisdom they can learn from the tour will be valuable assets in building their character.
The next Diskubre Tour is already being developed for summer 2019. More information will be available on www.discoveringroutes.com/travel. END
(From left) Derick Hidalgo confides that he is so proud of how his daughter Feih has matured because of Diskubre. Elaine Ficarra and Consul Khrystina Corpuz Popov complete the panel. (New York photo)
For more information, visit www.newyorkpcg.dfa.gov.ph / www.newyorkpcg.org or https://www.facebook.com/PHLinNY/.