Work in progress. Despite the challenges faced by her committee, FairCom Head Reg Guevara expresses her excitement about the first Loyola Schools fair, which will be held on January. Photo by Migi C. Soriano
AFTER MONTHS of extensive consultation with the various sectors of the Loyola Schools (LS), the college fair proposal has been approved by the Vice President’s Council.
Although the Sanggunian had already thrown its support behind the fair last April 13, it was the administration, through the Vice President of the LS, who had the final say.
After being rejected thrice by the Sanggunian Central Board last school year, the college fair proposal had gone through extensive changes and consultation. The fair is expected to have around 8,000 to 10,000 participants.
Admin approval
College fair project heads Reg Guevara and Erika Dee said that this year’s proposal was more detailed, centered on the main objective of community building. Guevara and Dee, along with co-head Chaz Domingo, had undertaken several consultations with the different sectors of the Ateneo community.
Guevara explained that the college fair aims to promote solidarity among the members of the greater Ateneo community. She said that the Ateneo community consists not only of the students and faculty, but of the non-teaching staff, security guards and maintenance personnel as well.
“[The] idea is, in the fair, they will be part of the activity too. They will be handling booths and joining the events. So everyone will be on the same grounds, students down to faculty and staff,” Guevara said.
With Vice President for the LS John Paul Vergara on leave at the time of the consultations, it was School of Humanities Dean Ma. Luz Vilches, temporarily serving in Vergara’ stead, who made the final endorsement for the fair’s approval.
John Gokongwei School of Management Dean Rodolfo Ang explained that the entire Vice President’s Council deliberated on the proposal. The council is composed of the deans of the four Loyola Schools, as well as the associate deans.
Ang commended the committee heads for their revised proposal.
“The meetings went very smoothly because [the fair committee heads] already did their homework,” he said.
“This group has been meeting the deans and the associate deans separately, consulting [with] them, [and] incorporating their suggestions so that the proposal that eventually reached the VP’s council is very, very different from the proposal that the students first came up with on their own.”
With the fair now centered on community building, Ang thinks that a college fair will be a good thing for the Ateneo community. “The fair, OrSem, all of these… some people think they’re superficial, but they’re not. They play a very important role [in creating a strong sense of unity] in the life of our community.
Community involvement
Since the fair will be held for the community, partnerships with various student organizations are in place.
The college fair committee has sought the cooperation of different groups, such as the Development Society, Ateneo Management Association, Ateneo Junior Marketing Association, Ateneo Association of Communication Majors, Ateneo Environmental Science Society, Ateneo Collegiate Society of Advertising, and the Faith Formation Cluster of the Council of Organizations of the Ateneo.
The committee is also tapping unaccredited organizations like the fine arts home org, Artillery.
