10. School of Management Week (SoM)

The School of Management (SoM), formally known as School of Accountancy and Business (SoAB), commenced on the 26st of October through to the 30th, which saw 4 courses celebrating throughout the week. This included; Business Management (BM), Accounting (AC), Marketing & Advertising (MA) and Tourism Management (TM).

To initiate SoM (School of Management) Week, previously known as SoAB (School of Accountancy and Business), the students lined up in their respective courses, and marched along Lapu-Lapu Street and Galleria de Magallanes. The different courses under SoM dressed in individual colors to represent their course: Business Management in Red, Accountancy in White, Marketing & Advertising in Blue and Tourism Management in Black. The walk was quite long and also unexpected because there weren’t clear directions given to the students. Also the morning sun was quite hot caused us all to profusely sweat. A marching band from a local school led the parade, which consisted of the playing of drums, cymbals and chimes accompanied with flag spinning girls. The marching band was quite exhilarating.  The band attracted bystanders throughout the entire parade and also gave the students a sort of energy to keep on going. The parade lasted just under an hour.

After the parade was the official opening speech by the executive director of SoM, Ms. Vicky Nanagas, and the unveiling of the banner which officially changed the name from SoAB to SoM. With the official mumbo jumbo out of the way, it was time for a bit of entertainment and celebration. While the students waited in the parking lot, the MC’s introduced APCDC and the crowd suddenly erupted with excitement and applause. The male dancers dressed in white dress shirts and black pants came running out. However the hype was short lived because the boys weren’t ready with their music, so it ended up being an awkward entrance. After a good 5 minutes of waiting, they were ready with their music. Their dance piece went off without a hitch and proved to be a success. With the crowd behind them, they danced and strutted their moves, proving they were the best. One of the lead dancers even did a spin on the parking lot surface, which I thought was quite painful. The piece lasted a good 2-3 minutes. They gave their last pose before their exit as the crowd applauded in admiration. After the dance by APCDC, the MC’s then introduced the contestants for Mr. & Ms. SoM. Each course cheered on as the names of the respective contestants were called up to introduce themselves after a mini catwalk. Probably the liveliest group was the competition between the AC and TM courses. They really got behind their contestants and screamed their heads off as they were called. Each contestant after completing their catwalk, introduced themselves and their course. Another performance that was also performed was the winner of he 2015 Cheers and Chants Competitions’ cheer from MA (Marketing & Advertising).

 Personally, I was part of the Basketball and Volleyball men's team representing BM. The first basketball game was between MA. We confidently won that game by a large margin, 52-21. They seemed no match for us. So we humbly waited for the next scheduled game would be the next day on Tuesday. Unfortunately on the first game, our uniforms were not ready so we didn't really look the part, but Tuesday came and we were all decked out in our flashy new uniforms with our individual surnames plastered on the back and a big BM in the front. We looked fly.
Tuesdays game was between TM. We were geared up to play a tough game because they had a few key players that we knew were good. Fortunately we beat them again with a comfortable margin, leading throughout the game. The final score was 42-36. With two wins under our belt, we were informed that we would just go straight to the finals on Friday so that was about two days of rest for us. Well deserved I must add. It was in this day that I was informed that we had no BM boys representing volleyball. Shocked, I quickly scrammed to make a team to compete, unfortunately I was too late on Tuesday and we ended up forfeiting the game. We had to wait for the next game which was scheduled for Thursday.

Wednesday came and I was informed to attend a seminar about Cultural Diversity organized by BMAG, I obliged. The first speaker was amazing. He was a representative from Alveo and seemed to have a natural instinct for delivering speeches during seminars. Then he mentioned he gives training and it all made sense. He got the crowd involved and I was captivated throughout the entirety. The second speaker had impressive credentials and a good message to bring across but in all honestly she was quite boring. I tried my best to pay attention and she did teach me a few things, especially what to expect in a ever growing, global workplace and being sensitive to other cultures. The seminar was a success and I even got to win a free movie ticket from the hosts. Following the seminar I took part in Running Man. A game similar to that of the Amazing race organinzed by BMAG. I was in a team of six and unfortunately we did not win but came 4th which is not so bad. I had a ton of fun but it was serious hard work, there was one point we had to run up 8 flights of stairs.

On Thursday I played volleyball and was quite excited. I love playing volleyball and missed playing it also. We managed to tale the win over TM, however since we forfeited our previous game, we couldn't progress. I still had a ton of fun and wished we had more games for volleyball. Friday came and we were scheduled for the grand-final basketball game playoff with AC. The game was close and we had tough opponents, however we came uo on top. We lead throughout the game and won. The final score was 45-38.

The final event I attened was the Mr. & Ms. SoM. I really enjoyed it and ended up cheering for the BM contestants eventhough I did not know them personally. The night was quite long but it was entertaining too. The winners were well deserved I think. A long was it was and I was exhausted and starving, I couldn't wait to go home.


All in all I think that SoM week was a great success and I am looking forward to the upcoming College Week and SoM week next year.