The Liberal Arts Academic Organization (LAAO) conducted its annual School of Liberal Arts Days (SLA Days) last October 18-21, 2023, at the Ateneo de Zamboanga University Salvador Campus, with the Sanrio-inspired theme “Small Gift, Big Smile!”.
SLA Days 2023 aimed to celebrate the distinctive characteristics and impact of the members of the AO like Sanrio’s Kuromi, Cinnamoroll, Pompompurin, and My Melody characters, which were the inspiration for the houses.
The participants were given the chance to enjoy different sports and non-sports events as each house challenged each other’s competitive spirits. The sports events offered were softball, badminton, volleyball, basketball, frisbee, and e-sports like Tekken, Mobile Legends, and Valorant, while the non-sports events were amazing race, debate cup, family feud, ambassador and ambassadress, songwriting, video montage, photography, mural painting, and pop dance competitions.
The House of Cinnamoroll was hailed as the overall champion of the SLA Days 2023, followed by the House of Kuromi, House of Pompompurin, and House of Melody.
House of Cinnamoroll claimed the championship title for the sports events, followed by the House of Kuromi, House of Melody, and House of Pompompurin. Meanwhile, the overall non-sport events champion was claimed by the House of Pompompurin, followed by the House of Kuromi, House of Cinnamoroll, and House of Melody.
Serna-Jimenez tandem pins time constraints as root of SLA Days 2023 challenges
LAAO Governor Emjay Serna highlighted that the time-constraint was “the root of all the challenges” during the SLA Days, particularly the less than a month preparation compared to the other AOs.
Meanwhile, Vice-Governor Yza Jimenez believes, “Yung amount of time parang hindi naman siya like a big factor for an event to be successful or not. I mean it all boils down to the dedication and strong work ethic of the working committee of the event,” which she later countered saying the lack of time was challenging for LAAO.
Serna also revealed, “We weren’t able to have (this) prepared briefing stage before (we were like para) magsabak sa SLA Days,” causing on-the-spot changes.
Contradictory to the governor’s statement, Jimenez shared there was already a consolidation of the sports and non-sports events to be hosted, a finalized cabinet officers, a theme, a listed sponsors, and a preparation for officership before they have taken oath.
They both noted that the incomplete cabinet positions were a disadvantage to LAAO, despite the appointed officers assuming more than one role in the event. Serna also shared that lack of initiative and different levels of commitment among officers also hindered the efficient success of the event.
Serna also acknowledged that he should not have “tolerate[d]” the officers who were not willing to adjust according to the needed work done due to lack of time to “teach lessons.”
He learned that “As a governor… I also have to talk, to speak up, to stand up… like hindi yun dapat i-tolerate ang mga gano’n [referring to his leniency on the officers].”
SLA Days 2023 committee members work shorthanded
The SLA Days 2023 committee members were not exempted from problems during the event.
Executive Secretary to the Governor Alyssa Marie Acejas highlighted that the AO lacked manpower throughout the SLA Days.
“Number one problem namin the whole SLA Days was manpower because oo, konti lang ang officers. Those who volunteered are also very tired, considering they also have houses.”
“As a working committee naman din na parang hindi na binigyan ng specific task, it was also very hectic sa part namin because magugulat ka na may pinabili or may pinakuha sa akin,” stressing that she was amongst those who performed tasks out of their jurisdiction. Even as a secretary, she handled logistics and finance tasks during the event.
Undersecretary for Creatives and Branding Jayla Bazan encountered delays in the delegation of tasks even before SLA Days, which persisted to the event proper.
The Creatives Committee, which she was under, dealt with incomplete information relayed to them to which she shared, “Sometimes some people who try to communicate with us… hindi… sinasabi lahat [ng] kailangan naming gagawin and kailangan pa sila maghihintay.”
“I just wanted to criticize na hoping sana the next time to put [an] initiative on what you wanted to communicate,” Bazan added.
SLA students share mixed feelings over SLA Days 2023
SLA Days participants highlighted the differences between SLA Days 2023 from last 2022, which are the theme from Philippine kalye to Japan’s Sanrio concept and presence of sports activities.
Some participants also voiced their dismay due to the lack of initiative in the administration caused by time constraints, unprepared planning of events, and lack of involvement by the LAAO students.
For one Melody participant, there is a “far away gap” between SLA Days 2022 and 2023 as it was “firm” before, unlike this year which is “very crowded,” “unprepared,” “pabago-bago ng desisyon when it comes to presenting of activities” and the games were “so many but cannot accommodate all the participants.”
“Nagkulang ang SLA Days ngayon ng push towards the involvement of the students kasi like they only announced the activities in the… FB page, and then not all the students inside the SLA are not there to foresee the activities and such,” Pompompurin participant elaborated.
Regarding the participants’ experience with their respective competitions, the House of Cinammoroll Mural Painting participant shared that the late delegation of announcements and results were among the problems she encountered.
Debate Cup Melody participant emphasized “difficulty and disappointment” in the activities due to the lack of facilitators to which he advised, “They should have already come up with the number of facilitators that they need.”
On a lighter note, another Debate Cup Cinnamoroll participant Ezekiel Pamaran expressed his smooth experience, stating, “The house heads created a group chat with the members of each house[s] and then nag-ask kung sino-sino yung mga gustong magsali sa mga activities,” and that it was “very easy for my part.”
Debate Cup Melody participant also noted that “Even though… [it was] unprepared and… very unorganized, the people enjoyed especially the freshies.”
