6,000 HS students, educators attend DepEd’s 7th National Leadership Training in Baguio

by Lito Dar

Baguio City (12 September) — For the seventh straight year, the Department of Education’s Center for Students and Co-curricular Activities (DepEd-CSCA), in partnership with the Master’s Lighthouse Foundation and Ateneo Student Trainers, held its National Leadership Training for Student Government Officers (NLTSGO) at the Teachers Camp.

The six-day event from September 4-9, was attended by 5,428 High School Student leaders of Supreme Student Government (SSG) of different public and private schools and about 1,000 educators nationwide. The student participants are also members of the National Federation of Supreme Student Government (NFSSG).

Taking a cue from imperatives of the incoming 2010 election, this year’s NLTSGO theme is “New Beginnings for nation-Building:Seizing Opportunities, Sustaining Initiatives” and with the rallying cry “Ako ang Magsisimula ng Pagbabago.”

DepEd-CSCA Executive Director Joey Pelaez stressed the need to advocate active participation of each one in the socio-political sphere to bring about significant change.

The participants attended plenary sessions, panel discussions and breakout sessions graced by topnotch speakers from the academe, government and private organizations. Among these were Anthony Pangilinan and Mr Ardy Abello of Businessworks; Mr Kaka Constantino of Purpose Driven Life Southeast Asia; Atty. Alexander Lacson; Mr Cito Beltran, Mr Raymond Ciriaco; Mr Diether Ocampo and former presidents of NFSSG.

Famous celebrities and entertainers such as Gary Valenciano and his sons Paolo and Gab, Rivermaya, youth spokesperson Sam Concepcion and some grand champions of the “Are You the Next Big Star” fame, also entertained the participants during evening activities.

In a press conference, NFSSG president Lawrence Payonga, stressed the significance of such leadership trainings in preparing or shaping up the high school students, who can be future leaders of the country.

“I, myself have become stronger and have learned a lot of things, which really built me to be a person, I am now. I can now easily adjust to the challenges, handle projects and problems, through all the work that we have. This is a testimony that public education system is really performing well and is producing future leaders of our country. Likewise, the public education system is producing people who want to be a catalyst of change and improvement in our society,” Payonga said.

Meanwhile, Benralph Yu, a former NFSSG president, also stressed the importance of the national federation of SSGs to the educational system. The NFSSG, he said is the foremost student organization in the country today. This federation acts as a policy recommending body to the education department. It plays a vital role in terms of carrying out the voices of fellow students, as every relevant issues discussed during our annual national conferences are transformed into policies that we recommend to the Secretary of the education for implementation,” Yu said. (PIA)