Help Shiela Attend Harvard University Conference (HPAIR)

Last December, our family was able to get a taste of what it was to have a refrigerator at home. For the first time, we were able to put food in the freezer, and we invited our neighbors to also put their food into our new ref – because we knew how it felt to be denied when we asked if we could put our food in someone else’s ref.

As the first college graduate in our impoverished family of 7, I am very proud to share with you that I was invited to become a Governance panelist in the upcoming 2020 Harvard College Conference of the Harvard Project for Asian and International Relations, to be held from February 14th to 17th, 2020, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. I shall be one of the 350 youth selected from all over the world to join into discussion of issues vital to our region and to foster long-term relationship among global young leaders.

I do not want to send our refrigerator back to the store, but I also would not want to miss this opportunity of a lifetime. This is why I am appealing to your generosity, to help me make this goal a reality – and in turn, I shall continue my leadership thrusts to the public and to my University – to which I am very much indebted to. It would be my moral obligation to pay it forward to the Filipino youth.

Bringing pride to my mother who works as a fish vendor, I graduated Valedictorian from Pugad Lawin High School and became a beneficiary of the Quezon City Scholarship and Youth Development Program (SYDP) year 2010 to 2014. The people of Quezon City has sent me to the University of Santo Tomas where I graduated with an AB in Sociology.

I am blessed to be surrounded by people who did not belittle me and who always believed and supported my passion and views in life. That is why I also want to be an inspiration to the youth who has the same story as mine - that even if we don't have much financial capability, it should never hinder us from achieving things and to be an inspiration to our community.

I know this conference will help widen my knowledge about leadership, social policies, and other vital issues relevant to our society's growth. I will be able to use and share these learnings to our community, and it will strengthen my advocacies in education and equal opportunities. Unfortunately, I don't have enough funds to go to this conference. That is why I am collecting and asking for donations from different organizations, companies, and colleagues to help me attend this once in a lifetime opportunity.

I am raising a total amount of 150,000 pesos (equivalent to $3,000) for Visa Application, Accommodation fees, Airfare, and conference fee. Any amount of donation will be greatly appreciated. I will do my very best to represent our country, our youth with excellence and great pride.