The following is the full and unabridged turnover address delivered by former Office of Student Activities Director Ralph Jacinto Quiblat during Hinirang 2025: The Student Leaders’ Recognition and Induction Ceremony on June 11.
Magandang hapon po sa inyong lahat.
To our University President, Fr. Roberto Yap, SJ; Vice President for Higher Education, Dr. Maria Luz Vilches; Vice President for Mission Integration, Dr. Benjamin Tolosa; fellow administrators, colleagues, student leaders, and friends—thank you for being here today.
This is a meaningful occasion. Not just because we mark the beginning of a new academic year or witness the induction of new student leaders, but because we gather under the spirit of this year’s theme: Hinirang na Mag-alab: Hinog sa Hamon na Maglingkod.
Today is also deeply personal for me, as this is likely the last time I will speak to you as Director of the Office of Student Activities. So allow me this one final moment to speak from the heart.
Nine years ago, I walked into OSA believing I was here to lead. But as the years unfolded, I realized I was here to be formed. To be humbled. To be taught—by students, by colleagues, by silence, and by service.
Because that’s the heart of what OSA does. It forms people through the quiet, powerful work of presence—of walking alongside students, asking difficult questions together, and staying when the answers don’t come right away.
OSA shaped me into the person standing before you today—not because I had all the answers, but because I was surrounded by people who showed me how to keep asking the right questions.
And it is exactly this kind of formation that I believe is the most vital work of any university today.
In a world overwhelmed by algorithms, noise, and superficial connection, formation is no longer just added value—it is primary, core, and essential. A university must not only equip minds; it must ignite meaning. It must form students not just to succeed, but to pay attention. To reflect. To act. To lead with integrity and courage.
We live in a time that is fast and fragmented. A time where relationships are transactional, where algorithms define what we see and what we think, where connection is everywhere but real connection is rare and hard to find. In this context, formation work can feel like an outdated relic. But I would argue the opposite: formation is the only compass we have left.
In a technology-driven world, formation anchors us. It teaches young people to pause, to notice, to make meaning. It teaches them not just to ask, “What can I do?” but rather “What kind of person am I becoming?”
So how do we form leaders for a world that’s constantly changing?
For us in OSA, the mission is three-fold: help students pay attention to their experience, help them reflect on its meaning, and help them decide how to act.
Because leadership today is about making space. Space for dialogue, for discomfort, for discernment, and for the quiet revolutions of the heart. Simple. But never easy.
I’ve always believed that the future of education depends not only on what we teach, but on what we allow students to wrestle with. Not just problems to solve, but tensions to live with. Dilemmas to make sense of. Stories that don’t always end neatly, but still offer the courage to begin again.
This is why OSA has always been, for me, more than an office. It has been a space where transformation becomes possible.
And I was lucky. I was lucky to have been handed a team that was honest, brilliant, daring, and funny. People who were never afraid to push boundaries, but always grounded in the reason why we do what we do: for the students, for the mission, for the country.
To my OSAFAM—thank you. The work was hard, but it never felt heavy because I shared it with all of you. Thank you for letting me lead you. Thank you for leading me back when I faltered. And thank you for standing with me, especially through the most difficult seasons of my personal life. You held me up when I couldn’t do it alone. I hope I was able to do the same for you.
To our partners across the university—thank you for your faith and collaboration. For helping us move from vision to execution, from idea to impact.
And to the students I’ve journeyed with across generations: thank you for your fire, your questions, your courage, your trust. You gave meaning to everything. You give me so much hope and inspiration.
Letting go of OSA was not an easy decision. It’s hard to walk away from something that has given so much life to my days. But I also knew, deep in my heart, that my time was done. And I wanted to make that decision while surrounded by people who are more than ready to carry the work forward.
I always knew OSA was never mine to keep. I was just here to care for it for a while. And now, I pass it on—with joy and with full confidence.
Because I’m also saying yes to a new mission.
It was hard to say no when the Vice President for Higher Education invited me to take on a role that is both exciting and, in many ways, a natural extension of everything I’ve learned in OSA.
I am now leading a new startup office, an initiative under the Office of the Vice President for Higher Education called the Design and Innovation for Strategic Content for Higher Education, or DISCO-HE (name pending approval but admit it, hearing the name just makes you want to dance).
In today’s fast-evolving landscape, how we tell the story of Ateneo’s Higher Education matters. In this regard, DISCO-HE exists to amplify the impact of Ateneo’s academic and research initiatives through strategic content; reimagine how we communicate our mission, values, and vision in the digital age; and design content ecosystems that align with both institutional goals and audience needs.
At first glance, it may seem like a pivot. But to me, it’s a deepening of the same mission.
Strategic content, after all, is formation work for a different kind of world. In this age of post-truth and attention economies, it is not enough to tell people what to do. We must show them why it matters. We must help them see the stakes, the stories, the soul behind the statistics. We cannot make people care about what only we can see. But we can tell stories. And sometimes, in those stories, they will find their own courage to share their own. And that’s how change begins. We throw the rock and see the ripples. Or what Pope Leo XIV calls “Springboards.”
My compass remains the same: to connect people more deeply to the world through storytelling, change narratives, and encounters that empower, and open them to new ways of seeing.
That is the heart of formation—whether in a classroom, an org room, a policy draft, or a TikTok post. And that is why I continue to say yes.
This year’s Hinirang theme, “Hinirang na Mag-alab: Hinog sa Hamon na Maglingkod,” invites us to consider the kind of leadership demanded by our times. In a world increasingly shaped by disconnection, individualism, and the constant noise of relativism, student leaders rise not simply to take up space, but to stand with deeper conviction, courage, and faith. They are hinirang—chosen—not because the road is easy, but because they have been formed by adversity, sharpened by reflection, and grounded in a desire to serve something greater than themselves.
This theme echoes the powerful insight of Pope Leo XIV, who names the afflictions of our age with striking clarity: he calls out the “isolation caused by superficiality, individualism, and emotional instability,” the weakening of thought due to relativism, and the lack of listening, reflection, and dialogue in families, schools, and among peers. Yet Pope Leo does not end in critique. He calls on us to see these as demanding challenges that can become, now my favorite word, springboards—opportunities to cultivate new tools and adopt new languages that can reach hearts and spark courageous action.
My work in OSA showed me that this is the kind of formation our student leaders undergo. They are not immune to the anxieties and uncertainties of the world, but they choose to respond differently. They choose to lead not with ego, but with empathy. Not with control, but with compassion. Pope Leo speaks of the youth as a “volcano of life, energy, sentiments, and ideas”—a force full of potential, passion, and promise. And indeed, the student leaders we celebrate today embody this very energy: vibrant, restless, and determined to make meaning in a time of confusion.
Their fire is not reckless—it is refined. It is the fire of those who have listened deeply, wrestled honestly, and served wholeheartedly. With hearts on fire and spirits rooted in solidarity, they continue to build a community grounded in dialogue, hope, and love. They are not just leading student organizations. They are helping shape the moral imagination of their generation. And in doing so, they remind us all that leadership, at its best, is a sacred act of love and courage.
To our graduating student leaders: carry the fire. But let it be a fire that warms, not consumes. Be bold, but be kind. Lead not from the need to prove yourselves, but from the desire to serve something greater than yourselves. And remember that silence, listening, and humility are forms of leadership, too.
To our new student leaders: Let your fire be one that warms others, not one that burns them out. May your leadership always be rooted in listening, hope, and genuine solidarity.
To everyone—thank you. Thank you for the honor of journeying with you. This is not goodbye. It’s simply the next chapter of the same calling.
And as we always say in OSA, sooner or later, everybody comes home. I’ll see you around!
Finally, I could not be prouder to introduce the person who will now take the helm.
He entered OSA the same year I did. He has been my co-moderator for the Sanggunian and our Coordinator for Political Formation and Gender and Safe Spaces in OSA. He is an educator, a Political Science graduate, and yes—an original Kapuso Starstruck Batch 1 Avenger. More importantly, he is a doting father to Matteo, a super cute little boy who has been a source of joy for all of us in OSA. (Happy Father’s Day, Neil!)
But more than the roles, what defines him is his deep love for the mission of formation. With his steady presence, his fierce commitment to student development, and the love and support of his colleagues, our OSAFAM, I know that OSA is in the best of hands.
With much faith and pride, I present to you the new Director of the Office of Student Activities:
Mr. Nathaniel Paul T. Reyes.
Sir Neil, ikaw ang Hinirang. Isuot mo itong Tanda ng Hinirang na may kulay asul at puti. May the colors of Mary in this Hinirang Ceremonial Sash be symbolic of the mission we carry. The color white stands for goodness, integrity, and purity of heart—a reminder that leadership is not about power, but about purpose, and the moral clarity with which we serve others. The color blue reminds us of who we are, sons and daughters of St. Ignatius, called to live out magis, to practice cura personalis, and to lead through Ignatian discernment. To wear this sash is to embrace a legacy. And to place it on another is to trust that legacy to continue in wise and faithful hands. I now turn OSA over to you. Here’s to brighter days ahead.
Maraming salamat! Mabuhay kayong mga Hinirang!
