Hi everyone! My name is Rowena (Rowie) from Chicago! I had the pleasure of attending my third Filipino Americans Coming Together Conference at the Univ. of Illinois this past weekend (Nov. 5-7, 2010). It's hard to believe that this is ONLY my third FACT conference ever: I attended the first time as a senior in college in *cough* 2004, the second time last year as a workshop facilitator, and this year, I was honored to represent BakitWhy.com! (We were in the gold and teal stickers and for some of you, the bright green ones!)
FACT never ceases to amaze me. I love seeing the passion and energy in the students who come down, some driving 11 to 15 hours just to be a part of this huge Midwest conference. (Actually, it's one of the largest Filipino student conferences in the country). I always feel inspired by the students who come down with just a few peers, or for some, like my buddy Ram, who represent their school all their own. I know what that feels like -- six years ago, myself, my boyfriend, his brother and one of my best friends, attended FACT representing our school, the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities and our Philippine Students' Association. It was the first time a group from UMN attended FACT in a really long time. You could pretty much say our school was off the radar. While other schools were rolling 20 to 40 deep and had practiced cheers and "call-outs," I remember my girlfriend and I feeling like lost little lambs! To make matters shakier, our hotel for the first night was in Danville, (really? Danville? yeah) which was 40 minutes from campus! (Totally a "what -not-to- do" if attending any FACT).
But...are we glad we went? Definitely. After that conference, all we wanted to do was build our presence and make waves. It remains one of the biggest memories of my college years. And that says a lot. So, thank you FACT, for making that impact on me way back when. And, guess what? Six years later I am proud to say my alma mater brought 40 PEOPLE from Minnesota to Urbana-Champaign this year. And to think, it all started with our year, and the leadership of people like then-officers (my boyfriend) Voltaire Roxas and my dear friend ShirleyMay R. Thanks to a performance by Anthony and Voltaire, they also really put Minnesota on the Midwest school radar. <--- That will go down in history, guys, I know it.
**************************
But enough of the stroll down memory lane from me... I don't even know where to begin. Since my purpose of being down at FACT was different than years past, I would have to say that it was the connections I made with people that I will cherish the most. BakitWhy.com's Midwest team put together a promotional video about our site, to be shown at FACT, as many of you saw. (We also took photos, video, and outreached with all of you, and will have content on the site soon).
But our goal with that video was to give the leaders of Midwest schools a voice, too. It's too bad we could not provide the full-length interview with each leader from every school because the amount of passion, dedication and seriousness these leaders possessed was amazing. THANK YOU to Loyola, DePaul, Northwestern, Columbia, University of Illinois, UIC and although we didn't get it to work out, NIU, for your participation and time! And for being so willing to be a part of our video!
No joke, I had only met 3 of the leaders featured in our video before FACT. But when I recognized all of you at FACT during the hustle and bustle of registration, I wanted to walk up to each of you and say, "I saw you! You're in our video and you're awesome!" You all are strong, natural born leaders. Keep doin' what you're doin'. It's easy to see why people look up to each of you. Thanks for what you do.
**************************
I surely met dozens of amazing people this weekend. But there were a few people I connected with whom I wanted to thank personally. THANKS goes to U of I PSA President Melorie Masacupan for the kinds words, honesty and openness. Weeks in advance, I also contacted Melorie to request an interview for our BW video. From the minute she replied, I just knew she was a fierce young woman who was on top of her game. Then, when I finally saw her in front of her peers for the first time making an announcement at the V-Show, I was so struck by her energy that she instills in others. Melorie, it took me years to perfect "professionalism." But you are a natural. And, you have such a spirit! I love your positive aura and big smile! Keep it up! I look forward to us keeping in touch!
**************************
Another thanks goes to Abet Lardizabal. Everyone knows Abet! She is a spoken word artist, singer, writer and seasoned performer from Chicago. I've seen her up on stage many a times. I never really got to know Abet personally, until we -- literally -- bumped into each other after the Variety Show. HAHA - ask Abet! =D But, as networking at FACT always goes, we naturally ended up talking about a common passion: journalism. You know, you just don't run into Pinays in journalism in the Midwest. My closest Pinay reporter friends are in Phoenix to the west, and Long Island to the east. Where are WE in the Midwest? (OK, aside from my older sister!!). I know of a few now and I really want us to connect with each other. It turns out, Abet said the same exact thing! It was like a light bulb went off. Like me, she has been feeling the void. Maybe Abet even knows what it feels like to be among the only minorities in your undergrad journalism classes, and how intimidating that can be. Or, does anyone ever think of what it's like to cover the "mainstream" world so to speak, when you grew up in two worlds, being Filipino and American? There is so much we as Filipinos are not familiar with, because we did not grow up in a, well, frankly, white household. So thanks to FACT, two Pinay journalists will hopefully be bringing together a network of us all. (We got one more actually, in Camelia Rodriguez, the newest team member of BakitWhy in the Midwest!) I know there are more of you out there. I'm just saying, I know how tough this profession can be, so let's work together and help each other out. Of course, male journalists are welcome! Again to Abet, I've always enjoyed your performances...it was just so nice to get to know you personally this time!
**************************
Lastly, I just want to congratulate Paolo Espanola, president, and the rest of the Philippine Students' Association of my alma mater, University of Minnesota. We didn't even have 10 or 12 members of PSA back in the day. I wouldn't even know what 40 Filipinos at the U would look like! HAHA. But just know you're making us all proud. Being in PSA was the most memorable part of my college experience. So just to see you guys out, doing your thing, making connections and being PROUD to be from MINNESOTA, is admirable. Thanks for representing our school.
I know this is getting long, but I didn't want to leave out the odds and ends. Ryne, however, really captured all the quirky, breathtaking, jaw-dropping things that happened at FACT...check out his blog post for the complete list: http://bakitwhy.com/ryne/blog/oh-my-god-were-fact-again
Mine would basically be the same list! I also have a lot to say about how proud I was of the Midwest Team of BakitWhy.com, our first real event where we, as much as possible, replicated THE "Parent Team" in Southern California, so to speak... =)
But that point again just goes to show how thankful we should all be for FACT in the Midwest. This conference really empowers us all to do more after these three days. Thank you, U of I and FACT, for giving us the opportunity to do so. Thanks for welcoming BakitWhy.com as a guest. We enjoyed every bit of it! Kudos to the FACT coords for another successful conference!
And good job, Midwest, for standing UP at this conference and making it what it is today!
