Thursday, December 8, 2011

To be or not to be an AIESECer: It's not a question, it's a commitment


                I am currently in the Engagement stage of my AIESEC experience. It has been three weeks of my life as an AIESEC app, and nearing the end, it tickles my fancy to reminisce the series of firsts of my AIESEC experience.
                I remember the first time I was about to enter the AIESEC tambayan. Because I didn’t know anyone at all, it took me second thoughts and a couple of minutes to gather every bit of confidence I had in me to take a step into the world of AIESEC. When I finally did so, I was first invited to play a round of Monopoly Deal, which was my warm welcome from a few co-apps and members. This honestly motivated me to go to the tambayan during my breaks and whenever I got the chance to.
                When we were first introduced to our group online, I instantly added my group mates on Facebook, and they created a group right after. I found the tasks very challenging because we were only given two full weeks to come up with everything and I was very busy with my academics. Up to date, I haven’t had enough sleep to recover from the previous days because of the heavy workload I’ve been handling. It had also been harder because three of my group mates deferred, leaving five of us to work on heavy tasks and do all the brainstorming.
                I enjoyed all of the Mentor-Mentee tasks we had to do, because I grew close with my mentor, Zita, and my co-mentee, Andrew. The highlight of my M-M tasks was our Mentor-Mentee date in Katipunan. We had dinner in Gravyfix and went to my dorm afterwards to play Monopoly Deal.
As an app, I was frequently asked why I joined AIESEC. My co-apps would often answer “to develop leadership skills” or “to go on exchange”. As for me, my initial reason was because my mother was an AIESECer, and I wanted to continue her legacy. As I raced against time, I discovered it was more than just that.
Even though I found everything stressful and I had to sacrifice sleep and weekend gimmicks with friends, everything was worth it. I am very satisfied with my AIESEC experience because it offered me a trailer of what lays ahead – my life a few years shy from now. As an app, I have been exposed to the AIESEC values yet to be integrated or developed in me, which, in my opinion, is the most important part and the cherry-on-top of my experience. I never want this experience to end.
In case I do not get accepted into this organization, I will still continue living out the values I learned from it because I never once stopped believing that I could change the world.
To be an AIESECer is beyond just being a member of AIESEC.  It’s beyond having an organization in college. It’s beyond the accumulation of leadership titles and accomplishing tasks. To be an AIESECer is a lifetime commitment of leadership, service, and creating a positive impact on society.

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