The Humanities and Social Sciences (HUMSS) students of SPCP continue their venture on covering widespread social issues through their annual HUMSS Congress entitled “Pagmulat: Wisdom Beyond Knowledge.”
Since its conception, the HUMSS Congress has been an event that was envisioned to educate about the needs of the Philippines’ social landscape, as well as showcase the activities unique to the humanities students in the Paulinian institution. “Pagmulat” aimed to convey the same sentiments, with this year’s theme highlighting the involvement of the youth in social issues through opening their eyes to our extensive realities. The event also welcomed the opportunity of greatening their reach and coverage of topics in the online setting.
This year, Pagmulat took place as a 3-day event consisting of several talks and workshops to cater to all kinds of people with varying interests and advocacies. These activities were available to schools all over the nation, inviting both students and professionals to widen the scope of their knowledge. The event was also made possible with the help of HUMSS’ partner organizations The Butterfly Effect PH and Inq. Pop.
Even with the obstacles of the online setup, Pagmulat provided fruitful experiences with plenary speakers such as Vice President Leni Robredo, Senator Risa Hontiveros, Samira Gutoc, and Representative Sarah Elago, to share their insights on the relevance of social awareness amidst injustices. These invited speakers discussed the facets behind justice, gender equality, women empowerment, and the role of the youth in today’s age.
After each plenary session, smaller-scale workshops were held to hold more in-depth discussions on the previously iterated topics. Specialists and professionals in these fields were invited, with organization leaders, law practitioners, sharing their expertise to the participants. To finish off a day of Pagmulat, the Grade 12 HUMSS students initiated roundtable discussions and paper presentations of their own research outputs, and activities that were held throughout the school year.
Though our online landscape surely provides us a plethora of resources to peruse through, events such as “Pagmulat” fail to dwindle in its importance. “In our situation today, many are limited in terms of the information they can access online. Though we have various online resources to help us out, hearing from the professionals of the fields we are researching is still a different experience.” Grade 12 Track Representative and Overall Head of this year’s HUMSS Congress, Mary Apuhin, remarks.
“I think overall, what I would like our participants to take away from HUMSS Congress is that they can now recognize the role of the youth in society. Time and time again […] we have emphasized the importance of the youth in the issues we face in our world today. It’s up to us to both educate ourselves and others on the major problems in our society, standing by the HUMSS motto: “Docendo discimus” or “by teaching, we learn.”
ADVT.
