By Jan Andrei Y. Elizalde | February 9, 2024
After its four-year absence, the Silliman University (SU) Office of Student Services (OSS) reopened the university-wide co-curricular awards.
College students who excel in their academic and student leadership roles will be awarded these titles. The last awardee was recognized in 2020.
According to Abe Cadeliña, SU Student Organizations and Activities Division (SOAD) Head, the awards were put on hold due to the implementation of the senior high school curriculum.
“While gi-move atong tertiary [levels], we waited for two years [and, during this, there] were times nga wala tay freshmen all the way (up [to] seniors,” he said.
Moreover, Cadeliña said that the COVID-19 pandemic also prompted the awards’ hiatus since students were “simply not on campus [nor] active with the community.”
When the university adopted a hybrid setup in 2022 and 2023, Cadeliña said he refused to hold the awards since he realized that the experience of the students was not enough to “really bring out how engaging, busy, and active they are with their activities on-campus and off-campus.”
“Karon, considering nga taas-taas naman ang years na niagi, I think it’s high time to bring back the co-curricular awards,” Cadeliña said.
An orientation on the awarding’s application process was held at the student lounge of Oriental Hall, Feb. 7.
Co-curricular awards: Screening process
According to Cadeliña, this year’s screening process for the co-curricular awards will be “more thorough” since it will include three evaluation levels.
The first level will be based on submitted portfolios wherein members of the university belonging to each “C” of the university’s 5 Cs will review said document.
The second level will include an interview with the Deans Conference.
Lastly, the third level will include the participation of Outstanding Sillimanian Awardees. Their participation will either confirm one’s application through the second level or lead to further interviews to assess the applicants.
“Based on what I observed, lisod makuha ang awards. Dili siya kanang basta-basta ra bitaw nga for the sake of passing something kay taas siya na process,” Cadeliña said.
Organizational awards to be institutionalized this year
After launching the Outstanding Silliman Organizations Awards (OSOA) last May 3, the awarding will officially take place this school year. The launching last year included an orientation for this year’s awarding.
Following the style of the Ten Accomplished Youth Organizations (TAYO) Awards, OSOA aims to recognize ten SU organizations that excel in the 5 Cs of Silliman education: church, classroom, court, community, and culture.
Rhyn Esolana, TAYO Awards Executive Director and former Silliman University Student Government (SUSG) Vice-President, assisted OSS in launching the event.
OSOA: Screening process
The screening process for the awards will begin with a program presentation. “We (SOAD) will evaluate if it is worthy [for the awards],” Cadeliña said.
After the presentation, SOAD will evaluate with the communities. “If your program [reaches] Bayawan or somewhere… kami sa OSS, we will go to those places and validate [your event] through an interview,” he added.
If an organization passes both levels, SOAD will conduct another evaluation with an expert from the relevant field. “If your program is about [community engagements], [we] will be inviting experts in social work [to evaluate your event],” Cadeliña said.
Cadeliña also said that SU organizations that complete the screening process and reach the top ten will receive monetary awards.
ComSO rankings vs OSOA
The semestral rankings of the top twenty SU organizations released by the Committee on Student Organizations (ComSO) is a recognition of said groups under the SUSG.
While the ComSO rankings are based on a points system, OSOA evaluates SU organizations through “social impact.”
Moreover, Cadeliña said that OSOA is at an institutional level, making it a “bigger and higher” level of recognition.
