Page 20 - Collegiate Mover 2020-2021

While most of us ‘wing it’ and take the challenges
adulthood gives us head on, some college students wonder
how most college graduates make it in life. Last semester, Ms.
Myles Manalo suggested that AB COMM 3 organize an event
wherein students could reach out to those from a different
time than them. As much as the pandemic drove us apart from
each other, AB COMM 3 took the event as an opportunity to be
able to reach out to people from a distance - and Beyond the
Media Center was held through a Zoom call. I got the chance
to sit down and have a chat with one of Beyond the Media
Center’s head organizers Diane Calulut to get her take on the
whole experience of bringing distant batches together.

Diane was in her third year in AB Communication last
semester. Spearheading the organization of the event was a
lot to take considering she had her thesis to worry about while
making sure she passed other classes. But she noted how
“Being a COMMA student, one shouldn’t be limited to certain
aspects of their course”, noting how being in the COMMA
department encourages people within the course spectrum
to be able to do more. The event itself brought together the
current COMMA batch along with those from the years 2008-
2019.

Diane had to host a specific batch, was present
during everyone’s interviews (which would extend into late
into the night), make sure technical problems weren’t there,
and entertained dead air and made sure alumni members
were comfortable with each other. At the start of it all, Diane
and AB COMM 3 encountered challenges such as some of
the alumni not responding to them, their availability during
the event date, internet connectivity issues, and the first day
being suspended due to a storm. Despite everything, things
panned out well for Diane and her team and AB COMM 3 even
won the Alumni Engagement Award.

“We were so happy, so relieved. It was a month-long
time to prepare for it and an actual month for the event itself.
Even though there was a mini-drama to deal with, it was still
successful. Seeing that we won an Org Night award for Alumni
Engagement, we were very proud.” Diane says how she felt
after the event.

Diane stands as a reminder for everyone in the
COMMA department that initiative does breed rewards,
no matter how the odds seem to be against her. The event
brought together more than a decade’s worth of batches that
were able to interact with each other despite the pandemic
and the distance between each other. The event stands to this
day as a testament to the creativity and efficiency that COMMA
brings when they work together. May COMMA continue to
produce bright individuals for years and years to come.

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