THE ATENEO Student Leaders Assembly (ASLA) is now the Department of Student Leadership and Development (DSLD), joining ties with the Sanggunian.

Launched September 12, the DSLD aims to provide leadership development services to the whole Ateneo community, and not only to ASLA members.

“In DSLD, we want to give them [the whole community] that chance,” said Training and Development Head Edryan Paul Colmenares (IV BSM AMF).

“It’s not just for the 38 [who attended the ASLA congress]…we want to reach out to the whole Loyola Schools community,” he added.

DSLD is open to all interested organizations and student groups. The second semester will be the transitory period for DSLD, in preparation to becoming a full-running department next year.

Fully independent

As an independent department similar to Department of Student Welfare and Services, DSLD still remains autonomous from the Sanggu.

The DSLD will be covering projects while ASLA will refer to the congress itself. However, ASLA Director Margarita Patricia Valdes (IV AB Comm) said that ASLAns (ASLA congress participants) can be involved in initiating projects for DSLD.

The Honesty Store, which was initiated through the Dare it Forward program for everyday leadership, are among the projects under DSLD.

Other goals

Valdes and Colmenares said that they want to address five points in the DSLD program. These are the following:
1. Giving leaders a personal definition of what leadership is, from personal experience
2. Empowering and encouraging students to step up as leaders
3. Recognizing opportunities for leadership
4. Framing individual actions in the context of national development
5. Synthesizing leadership factors already existing (e.g. INAF programs)

Valdes and Colmenares said the second and third points are addressed by the Dare it Forward programs, like the Honesty Store. The fifth point is addressed through the synthesis of the four Integrated Non-Academic Formation (INAF) programs.