By Willem James Banaynal III

The Ateneo Senior High School (ASHS) Sanggunian officially launched the leadership seminar 2022, “SONAR: Navigating our Course,”  last February 23-24, 2022, from 4 PM to 6 PM via Zoom.

This was a two-day event open to all ASHS students, with the purpose of improving one’s skills in decision-making and leadership.

Hosted by Matt Almonte and Seb Bautista, the first day of SONAR began with a short game about the various materials related to the seminar such as the goals and objectives, as well as the guest speakers of the event.

The game was then followed by a talk provided by Ma. Isabella Laura “Sabie” Aquino, the former HUMSS Chairperson 2020-2021.

Throughout her talk, Sabie discussed the various aspects of leadership, the importance of proper communication, and the value of setting some time for yourself as well.

The former HUMSS chairperson then shared advice and tips based on her experiences as a student-leader, while also reminding the audience to “always consider other people.”

After the talk, the next activity in the seminar involved the use of breakout rooms, with one breakout room being facilitated by each of the four student councils in the ASHS Sanggunian – Assembly of Class Officers (ACO), Athletics Council (AthC), Council of Student Committees (CSC), and the Council of Student Organizations (CSO).

Each of the aforementioned student councils had their own prepared activities for those who entered their respective breakout rooms.

After the activities held in breakout rooms, the first day of SONAR came to a close with words from ASHS Sanggunian President, Jian Delos Santos, as well as commemorative photos of the seminar.

Meanwhile, the second day of the seminar began with a short performance prepared by the juniors from the ASHS Sanggunian.

Entitled, “Four Councils and a LeadSem,” the juniors reenacted various dialogue and scenes from the 2013 film, “Four Sisters and a Wedding.”

This was then followed by a short introduction on the objectives for that day’s session, which was to know more about the “concept of self-leadership,” as well as the self, outlook, action, and reflection (SOAR) model.

For the “self” aspect of the SOAR model, current STEM Chairperson Yana Sarmiento gave a short talk, where she shared her various experiences as a leader, the various challenges she had faced, and the self-doubt she had at times.

Furthermore, Yana also discussed the importance of taking care of ourselves, and how doing so plays a role in our performance as a leader.

This talk was then followed by Jian Delos Santos administering a Kokology Test, which was an “inward-looking test” that focused on the social aspects of our personality.

Moving on to the “outlook” part of the SOAR model, a pre-recorded video message by Atty. Jose Manuel “Chel” Diokno was presented to the audience.

Throughout his video, the 2022 senatorial candidate talked about the importance of leadership, while also providing insights from his experiences of leadership and service to others.

The next activity in the seminar involved breakout rooms, which were once again, by four student councils in the ASHS Sanggunian.

These consisted of various activities that tackled the “action” and “reflection” aspects of the SOAR model.

Upon finishing all the breakout room activities, the second day of the seminar concluded with the hosts and some students sharing their experiences regarding the activities in the breakout rooms, as well as which of those were their favorite.

Closing marks were then given by Mrs. Inez Crisostomo, who expressed how the lessons learnt from the two-day seminar can be applied in the years to come.

Photo source: ASHS Sanggunian on Facebook – Rapa Bengzon