14 May 2014- The Philippine Consulate General in New York continues to reach out to the young Filipino-American sector as it gamely participated in a talent competition among student organizations, the Battle of the Barrios XIII, in Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey last March 30.
Representing the Consulate General, Vice Consul Khrystina Corpuz spoke in front of about 300 gleeful students from the participating schools. She expressed the Consulate’s eagerness in involving the second-generation Filipino-Americans in community-building and encouraged the youth to step up and take an active part in becoming the emerging leaders of the Filipino community. She invited the youth in the audience to get connected with the Consulate and be updated on the programs prepared for the youth. A booth was set up at the venue for the Consulate to provide information on the Filipino American Young Leadership Program (FYLPRO) 2014 and the Leadership Management Seminar (LMS) for Second Gens, the Pilipino Graduation (P-Grad) 2014.
Nine schools competed during the Battle and all displayed creativity and talent in their 10-minute musical skits incorporating Filipino traditional dances, historical tidbits, social issues, and pop culture references. Vice Consul Corpuz sat in the panel of judges that decided the Rutgers Association of Pilipino Students as the Overall Champion of the event. New York University’s IFA bagged the award for Best in Modern Dance.
During the intermission, volunteers from UniPro and Legacy NY presented a well-received exhibition skit that was sponsored by the Consulate to serve as a public service announcement on programs for the youth, namely the FYLPRO 2014, the LMS for Second Gens and the P-Grad.
Battle of the Barrios is an annual competition among the Filipino Intercollegiate National Dialogue (FIND) member schools from District 3. This is the 13th year of Battle of the Barrios and it was hosted by Rutgers University’s RAPS. The other student organizations that competed were Baruch College’s FUSION, Bergen Community College’s PASALUBONG, Hunter College’s POH, New York University’s IFA, New Jersey Institute of Technology’s FSA, St. John University’s PARE, Union County College’s TROPA, and William Paterson University’s FACE. END
