By Noriko Yamamoto

The Ateneo Senior High School (ASHS) Assembly of Class Officers (ACO) held “Leadmore: A Project Management and Leadership Workshop” on Wednesday, February 18, at the Blackbox Theatre in the Main Building from 4:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.

The workshop opened with a prayer led by ACO Internal Undersecretary Mandie Montoya and was hosted by General Academics (GA) Strand Chairperson Tim Velasquez and ACO External Undersecretary Hailey De Joya.

To officially start the program, participants were asked to rate their most recent project experience and were instructed to move across the room according to their rating.

Selected students then shared their recent project experiences, including the setbacks they encountered during the process.

ACO moderator Mr. Cheo Crispino delivered the opening remarks, followed by a talk led by project management education leader Ma’am Sharon Grace Yabut, who introduced the seven stages of the Student Project Leadership Cycle.

“Strong leaders don’t just identify what’s wrong. They do the thinking first and then elevate clear options,” Yabut stated.

She also highlighted the importance of setting realistic timelines, emphasizing that “strong leaders do not assume everything will go smoothly; they prepare early.”

In an open forum, participants listed common delays in student initiatives, with budget approval and marketing cited as the most overlooked factors.

Budget delays and officer unavailability were identified as the most frequent risks, while communication was recognized as the skill most in need of improvement in planning student projects.

Yabut then shared her experiences in development sector projects, including gas-related initiatives in Uzbekistan.

She also shared her experiences and accomplishments during her time at the Ateneo School of Government (ASOG).

“Everywhere I go in my career, there’s always a project, and if you have discipline, you’ll build confidence in developing projects,” she explained.

Key points discussed during the workshop included clearly defining goals, breaking down tasks, assigning ownership, completing staff work, and setting realistic timelines by working backward from the event date.

“What I found most enjoyable is the fact that this isn’t just a workshop. It feels more personal as we connect the lessons to our own journey as leaders,” Danni Paz, an attendee from 11-Fontoura, shared.

ACO External Secretary Brie Villar also shared her experience in organizing the event, saying, “I think that the most difficult part of organizing this event is, of course, finding a resource speaker, [since] we wanted it to come from a person who knows a lot about project management.”

Villar elaborated that as a member of the ACO core during both her junior and senior years of senior high school, she learned that project management is “something you hone through experience.”

“I wanted to arrange a workshop like this because I also wanted to help the class officers [gain insights] on how to properly manage their own projects wisely within their respective classrooms,” she added.

The program concluded with a closing prayer led by ACO Internal Secretary Laney Santos.