UIC celebrates College Week, tops Twitter trend anew

Shyreen Balajediong

Igniting passion and creativity amidst social limitations, the University Student Government (USG) of University of the Immaculate Conception (UIC) initiated the virtual College Week as a traditional year-end celebration along with the first-ever International Leadership Night Congress, creating a blast in the online world on April 16 and 23, via Zoom and Facebook Live.

The deafening cheers and yells, as well as the vibrant designs surrounding the UIC field were supplanted by computers and mobile phones, restricting the usual setting of celebrating the College Week. However, the USG extracted opportunities out of the current situation, conducting various activities through an online platform, showcasing the prowess and dexterity of the students even within the comfort of their homes.

With the persuasive promotion of the College Week, students were encouraged to participate in the different activities, including E-games, College Celeb-Arte, Action with various special events, College Engagement Program, and Collaboration Program such as the 2nd Applause Grand Production Number, International Leadership Night Congress, Senior High School Virtual Extravaganza, and the exciting College Week activities of each college.

Creating triumph in the virtual battlefield, the College of Accountancy and Business Education (CABE) seized the first spot, followed by the College of Pharmacy and Chemistry (CPC) and College of Medical and Biological Sciences (CMBS) as second and third placers, respectively in Mobile Legends.
In Defense of the Ancients 2 (DOTA 2), the strategies of the College of Engineering and Architecture (CEA) placed them on the first rank, followed by the College of Human and Environmental Sciences (CHEFS) as second and CPC as third.

The best photo for Photo Mimic grasped by Matthew Lira from CPC placing him in first place, Socrates Malimbag from CABE as second, and Lyra Jean Macalino from College of Teacher Education (CTE) as third. In the Video Mimic competition, Cherry Fe Astronomo from College of Arts and Humanities (CAH) clutched first place.

In College Take Talk, the team from CPC won first place, placing the contenders from College of Computer Studies (CCS) in second.
Showing off the craft in dancing, Ellah May Luyao from CTE landed first, Rochelle Marie Ceniza from CHEFS as second, and Kheya Feo and Fyve Gabo from CPC third.

The representative of the College of Nursing (CN), Mark Kenneth Lorena was hailed as this year’s Mr. Pogay, exhibiting eloquence in the virtual pageantry.
Displaying wit in Trivia Quiz, Rigil Calantoc from CPC got the first rank, while Jose Benedicto Gonzales from CHEFS as the second placer, and Kathyrine Chloei Tadena as the third placer.

“My experience during this year’s college week was memorable. At first, I wasn’t particularly interested in the said event until someone from Omicron tapped me to be one of the representatives of CPC for the Trivia Quiz. I was nervous especially that I’d be competing with other brilliant students of UIC, also because it would be held live on Facebook. However, my first virtual college week in UIC ended with a bang after bagging the first place,” shared Rigil Calantoc, a first-year pharmacy student after winning the Trivia Quiz.
The event’s great success was poured with dedication and hard work by the University Student Government of UIC headed by Mr. Charles Andre Nieves with the assistance of the Office of Student Affairs and Discipline (OSAD) supervised by Mrs. Anaflor Sacopayo, as well as the help and support of all Academic Clubs and Non-Academic Clubs of the university.

With the restrictions brought by global problems, the university has been devoted to its goal of creating ways in expanding and exploring new opportunities in pursuit of continuous excellence.

The celebration might be limited to a virtual platform, but it created a loud noise online with thousands of tweets and likes, making the #UICCollegeWeekXXI one of the trending hashtags nationwide on Twitter following the previous triumph during the UIC E-ntramurals which also reached the top trends in the Philippines.