This too shall PASS…
As the school year draws to a close with the hustle and bustle of Reading/Review/Recitation Week (also known as [not so] “Dead Week”) and Finals Week and Pilipin@ Graduation just around the corner, we all can’t help but feel a bit nostalgic. (Which, by the way, you should all remember to volunteer for if you’re interested!)
For some on staff, this may be their first and perhaps, final year. For others, this may be the end of a very long relationship. But for everyone of the outgoing PASS Staff 27, dubbed PASS FORCE (Fairies, Otters, and Rangers Creating Empowerment), this past year has been nothing short of challenging, insightful, and successful.
We have two important announcements. First off, our final Alumni Newsletter produced by this academic year’s staff and interns is expected to launch within the next few days so keep your eyes peeled! As for our more time sensitive announcement:
Bagong Daan, Sikapin Paraan Scholarship 2012 due May 25th, 2012
The Bagong Daan, Sikapin Paraan Scholarship Fund will award a scholarship of $500 to an academically qualified AB540 student in need of financial assistance. However, the amount and number of recipients will be at the sole discretion of the scholarship committee.
The Pilipino Academic Student Services (PASS) Bagong Daan, Sikapin Paraan Scholarship was established in April 2010 in response to the growing need to address immigrant student-related issues within our communities and to aid Filipino/Filipino-American AB540 students in financial need pursuing higher education on the UC Berkeley campus. Statistics have shown that approximately 40-50% of the of the AB540 student population UC-wide is actually of Asian/Pacific Islander Descent. Bagong Daan, Sikapin Paraan is a Tagalog phrase whose meaning, in both its English and Philippine language translation, we hope will encourage our fellow Filipino students to never stop seeking ways to achieve their goals as they go into and through unchartered paths.
Also congratulations to PASS Staff 28!
Executive Director Romeo Ferrer
Assistant Director of Internal Affairs Katrina Dollaga
Finance Coordinator Klyde Flores
External Relations Coordinator Sean Tan
Assistant Director of Recruitment Angelo Cabal
High School and Transfer Outreach Co-Coordinators Justine Velasquez & Trixy Manasala
SHADOW Coordinator James Work
Youth Mentorship Coordinator Jashley Paguio
Assistant Director of Retention Drina Sarsoza
Advocacy Coordinator Jordan Medina
Pilipino American Student Orientation Coordinator Janelle Bautista
Transfer Coordinator Djenilin Mallari
Hello April!
Last week many of us toured Southern California throughout San Diego, Orange County, and the LA areas outreaching to high schools and community colleges. Many attendees were eager to return home, visiting their old high schools and community colleges, and some outreachers got to experience the delicious foods you could only find in SoCal for the first time ever! Congratulations to another outreach trip Lorraine, Wayne, Lennox, and all of the folks who participated! We hope to see faces new and old for next year’s trip!
Now that break is over, things are really amping up! Tomorrow we will be holding our third and final general meeting of the semester run by our amazing interns in 122 Barrows from 8-10 p.m. The meeting is entitled “Spring Fling: Creating and Maintaining Healthy Relationships” and is ASUC Sponsored and ADA Accessible. We hope to see you there!
Also, in support of other community programming, we would like to encourage you all to attend the Invisible Runway political fashion show put on by {m}aganda magazine as well as Pilipino American Alliance’s PAArty: SPAAce Jam.
As you may or may not know, Senior Weekend will be happening very very soon! As such, we are holding phonebanking through Thursday from 5-8 p.m. in Sproul Hall. Enter through the Bancroft Way entrance near the police station. Be one of the first people newly admitted freshman get to talk to and welcome them to Cal! Congratulate the class 2016 and invite them to experience Cal!
Can’t phonebank? You can help out in one of any of these fun and engaging ways!
- Host a student for three nights! Let them see what student life is like! tinyurl.com/BeAHomieSW12
- Participate as a driver, navigator, site manager, or homebase volunteer in our Pilipin@ Hystorical Tour! tinyurl.com/passwonderland
- Not sure if you can commit to any of those specific programs? Let us know your availablities and be a general volunteer! tinyurl.com/swvolunteer12
- Or experience volunteering for the bridges multicultural coalitions multicultural programming for the weekend by volunteering!
And lastly, be on the lookout for the latest issue of PASS It On by the end of the month to recap the final stretch of classes, programming, and all of the great things April has to offer.
What is your PASSion?
Last week the 6th, 7th, and 8th graders from the Filipino Education Center’s Galing Bata program visited UC Berkeley for our first YM SHADOW Day of the semester! Our current Youth Mentorship coordinator Valerie Afroilan, with the help of interns, planning committee members, mentors, volunteers, and new faces helped to put on the event. Students experienced workshops, games, and campus tours to immerse them in all that Cal and higher education had to offer. We would like to extend our gratitude to all of those who lent a hand in making this day such a wonderful and fun experience for these students! If you would like to continue your involvement and/or have found a PASSion for our Youth Mentorship program, contact youth.mentorship@gmail.com and be sure to fill out the forms located here.
As for last weekend, our Gender & Sexuality Awareness Component held a retreat in Bodega Bay. While only about an hour and a half away from Berkeley, Bodega Bay served as a wonderful getaway for the weekend devoted to topics regarding gender and sexuality. Attendees engaged in many different workshops and dialogues, all fun and important their own ways, such as a political photoshoot covering and embodying the different issue related to Pilipin@s who identify as queer and/or female. While many came to retreat not knowing many of the attendees, all left with a sense of real empathy and connections to one another! If you attended this retreat and found your PASSion for what GSAC is all about, contact pass.gsac@gmail.com.
PASSionate about PASS and its many different positions, components, and programs? Considering being on PASS Staff 28 next school year? Staff applications are now released! If you have any questions about the application process, please contact ucbpassapps@gmail.com or feel free to talk to any of our amazing staff members! Remember, the application is due March 23rd.
Last but most certainly not least, SoCal Outreach is looking for more outreachers to experience the entire week of fun & empowerment of high school students and community college students in the Los Angeles, Orange County, and San Diego areas! It’s not too late to apply to be an outreacher and we guarantee that your Spring Break will feel well spent. Sign up today!
PASS IT ON! Winter Edition is now out! Read it today!
Last week PASS held it’s second general meeting entitled Pieces of Me: Identity and Intersectionality, in which attendees were engaged in dialogue and activities focused around the topic. In one activity, attendees were told a series of statements that they had to then choose which identity fit each one best and stand under it and engage in dialogue with folks who chose the same identity. Attendees were also encouraged to visit the board and write their own identities that they felt were not already posted around the room. In recognition of how a community can be diverse within itself and how PASS is not comprised around a single identity, we decided to put on this meeting to get folks talking about intersectionality and to also recognize how identities can be assumed of people or can be invisible. We hope that those who attended enjoyed the general meeting and mark your calendars, as our third and final meeting will be ourIntern-Run General Meetingon April 4 from 7-9PM.
Last Sunday,Wayne Jopanda, one of our Co-High School Outreach and SHADOW Coordinators, put onPre-Professional SHADOW DAY, in which students of many different grade levels interested in pursuing a career track such a pre-business, pre-law, pre-health, pre-medicine, engineering, and other tracks were given workshops byPASAE, PAHC, and P4and provided campus tours and other helpful information throughout the program for the day. Congrats again to Wayne for a successful SHADOW Day! For those who weren’t able to attend, SHADOW programming is still available to folks and even more personalized! Be sure to check back later for more details onmyPASSSHADOW or contact pass.shadow@gmail.com for more immediate information.
This week is yet another exciting week as we have 6th-8th Grade YM SHADOW DAY this Friday March 9th from 8AM-5PM. If you still haven’t signed up to volunteer yet, do so immediately! All volunteers must attend the info session this Thursday March 8th in 515 from 8-9PM. Work night will also be going on after the info session, so if you are interested in helping prepare for SHADOW Day, but were unable to attend Friday meetings, now is your chance to help out!
Also, if you are interested in attend the GSAC Retreatthis weekend, be sure to RSVP as there are very few spaces left. The location will be in beautiful Bodega Bay, California and the trip is free!
In addition, in support of other organizations in the Bay Area and throughout California, we would also like to advertise Sandiwa’s Youth Conference: Kababayan Kabataan Kumilos, which will be held on March 10th from 8AM-9PM at Stanford University. Be sure to register!
Goodbye February, Hello March!
Last Friday our External Relations Coordinator Donna-Jo Pepito and Assistant Director of Retention Katrina Dollaga put on yet another successful Friends of PASS banquet. Interns, general members, alumni, graduate students, as well as many of our wonderful supporters graced us with their presence Friday evening - engaging in a fun networking activity, participating in our silent auction/raffle to raise funds for the Friends of PASS fund to support Senior Weekend and Transfer Weekend, as well as dined and danced to the amazingly entertaining PCN Band 2012. We would like to once again express our thanks to all those who were able to attend as well as those who donated to support our cause!
With another major week squared away, yet another eventful one takes its place, get ready!
Today, we will be having our soCAL Outreach Info Session from 5-7PM in Ehrman Hall in Unit 2. Want to spend your Spring Break doing something? Why not spend it with PASS as we visit high schools and community colleges throughout Southern California to talk to students about higher education! Want to learn more about it but can’t attend? Visit our Outreach program page for more information!
On Wednesday, we will be holding our 2nd General Meeting titled Pieces of Me: Identity and Intersectionality. The meeting will be held in 229 Dwinelle Hall from 7-9PM. Like all of our other meetings, the event is ASUC Sponsored, ADA Accessible, and food will definitely be provided!
This Thursday, we will be having Appeals Training from 5-7PM, location to be determined.
On Sunday, PASS will be holding Pre-Professional SHADOW Day from 12-3:30PM in collaboration with UCB PAHC, PASAE, and P4.
Also, our 2nd issue of the Alumni Newsletter will be released soon, so be alert!
Midterm Season begins!
Last week was quite eventful, with the onslaught of midterms, PASOC Co-Coordinators Drina Sarsoza and Kristenne Abalos put on a workshop about studying/learning styles and procrastination types to ease some fears and raise awareness to possible problems folks may be experiencing during midterm season.
(Photo by Djenilin Mallari)
The following day, our General Members retreat began. This year’s retreat was held in Half Moon Bay and was facilitated by PASS alumni Rita Zhang (Outreach Coordinator ‘07-08, Assistant Director of Internal Affairs ‘08-09) and Patrick Pablo (Outreach Coordinator ‘06-07, Gender & Sexuality Awareness Coordinator ‘07-08, and Assistant Director of Recruitment ‘08-09). Interns, Staff, and General Members alike spent the weekend not only learning (more) about PASS but about ourselves. Expect a full recap written by one of our interns in this month’s edition of our alumni newsletter PASS It On!
As for upcoming events, there are many, so please keep an eye on the calendar from time to time or stay up to date by following our twitter or liking our facebook page. Get ready!:
