Forty student organizations participated in the University-Wide Student
Organizations (USO) Midyear Forum spearheaded by the SIMBAHAYAN
Community Development Office and the Office for Student Affairs held at the Tan Yan Kee Student Center, Audio Visual Room, UST.
The forum was a follow-up on the call for the recognized university-wide student organizations to implement a community development project.
UST SIMBAHAYAN Director Assoc. Prof. Mark Anthony D. Abenir, DSD, gave
the update on the number of student organizations with submitted proposals as of the first semester including the budget requested for the project. He also asked the officers of the organizations about the difficulties that led them not to submit their proposals. He also answered some
questions coming from the students and their faculty advisers, as well.
Ms. Mary Coleen Anne Nicolas, an alumna from the Faculty of Arts and
Letters, discussed the impact of student organizations in the lives of the University’s partner community. Particularly cited was the BUTIL program of the Becarios de Santo Tomas.
Four organizations that implemented their projects in the first semester, namely, Becarios de Santo Tomas and its ‘BUTIL Scholarship Program’ that was started almost a decade ago; Kabayanihan Youth whose ‘Bridge Bulaklak ng Pag-asa’ is a project tasked to address the lack of income and resources while focusing on parent empowerment; ROTARACT Central
with its ‘Panitik at Pagkapilipino,’ a seminar workshop about Philippine Literature focusing on educating the children about Filipino heritage, sports and culture; and the Central Student Council (CSC) with its advocacy projects.
These projects, according to SIMBAHAYAN are aligned to the Program
Areas of the University’s community development office which are: Education, Livelihood, and Heritage, Culture, and Sports and Development.
However, the advocacy projects presented by the Central Student Council
are based on the strategic plans submitted by the organization upon recognition. The projects were approved because of their benefits to UST student.
