Give or Take?

Born in the developing country of the Philippines under a father who was a politician and a mother as an esteemed doctor, I saw two sides to every story, I always saw people struggling. I saw it in the hospital beds, the waiting rooms, the campaign meetings, the parades, and the family dinners. But aside from all this pain, I also saw community and compassion. I saw people who would give up their weekends, talk to every single person in line to hear their grievances, and make sure they were heard in the places my parents worked; the slums, the garbage piles people built homes into, provinces that flooded, and kids studying under street lamps just to finish their homework and fight for an education, donation drives for abuse shelters, and people opening up their homes, stores, and churches when typhoons plagued the provinces.

I faced my own struggles soon after. Because of political violence and religious persecution, my family had to move. I was separated from my parents at just four years old, as they were building a foundation for a new life across the world, I stayed with my grandmother to anxiously wait for my mother to find a hospital to use her medical license she received in the Philippines and my father to find us an apartment and organize our citizenship papers. It was at an early age when I learned what it means to be self-sufficient, what money takes different forms of — struggle, dreams, success, keeping a family together.

My parents dreamt strongly but walked in blindly not knowing what to expect in America. But after I moved at six years old, finally reunited with my parents, living in a humble apartment in the suburbs of Chicago, I saw people struggle differently. There was less communication and people willing to hear, but time seemed to run faster in the Midwest and I never understood why. I realized that I had a choice- to follow the status quo and turn a blind eye to all the different communities crumbling around me or become a voice for those unheard or unable to speak because they were drowning in their troubles. I chose advocacy, my pride and fortitude, to pay it forward.

I have been involved on campus since my freshman year, specifically DePaul’s Student Government Association (SGA). I was the Senator for Community and Government Relations in SGA during my freshman year and continue to serve as Executive Vice President of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion since my Sophomore year and serve presently as a Junior and until I graduate. I have the largest committee in SGA that I lead guiding senators for LGBTQ+ students, first-generation students, two intercultural awareness students, veteran students, and international students. I feel like my most significant involvement experiences are with SGA in my leadership roles starting as a senator and then working my way up to Executive Vice President of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. I think the roles I have taken have helped me in various situations, especially in engaging with various communities. I ran on many initiatives focusing on implementing Kosher and Halal meal plans in the dining hall which led to the establishment of a designated dining hall committee where student leaders from different organizations such as Black Cultural Center, United Muslims Moving Ahead, Jewish Life, Asian/ Pacific- Islander], and many more. I then also focused on town halls engaging in dialogue on student leadership and social justice work, especially during the time of peak Asian Hate Crimes. I had the privilege of inviting diverse activists to speak on the impact of harmful stereotypes in their respective communities and how to combat it, especially in this most vulnerable part of many students’ lives in college being led into the real world.

I also feel like I have greatly benefited from KALAHI, the Filipinx student organization, especially with my identity as a Filipina woman in the United States, as an immigrant and first-generation student as well. I feel like it was an amazing opportunity that most universities, unfortunately, do not offer where we can center in and engage with our peers in the community at DePaul who have similar or different stories. I feel like I had the chance to coordinate cultural events, especially outings to ethno-cultural neighborhoods in Chicago that have mixed with FIlipino culture and lectures presented by Filipino social justice activists talking about the elections and human rights protests back home in the Philippines.

In another light, I was recently selected to travel to Paris with other student leaders for the DePaul Vincentian Heritage Scholarship trip this past Spring. We had gotten to serve at Depaul France — a program/ mobile shelter for the homeless population in France. We got to speak with the director — who had described his experience and the complex stories of those that resided or visited the shelter. The Daughters of Charity preached this quote that impacted me the most and gave me the definition and spirit of Vincentian DePaul involvement — “When you have nothing left to give, you have everything to give.” I think this was a very illuminating moment for my involvement experience at DePaul and reminded me of what my purpose is at DePaul being involved in different communities and for my dream in the legal field, that we will always have the opportunity to offer our human presence at the end of the day, and that will always be more than enough. These have been my core memories at DePaul and I am grateful for them.

My hope is to continue my advocacy work in a career in finance and law. Specifically, an attorney practicing in Finance Law specializing in Public Interest Finance. My mentor that I met in the summer of my Sophomore year in Finance was the first Asian woman I had seen practice at the top of the partner track in a bustling finance law firm. She also specialized in Public Interest Finance and led me into a path that would sculpt more personal experiences for myself to see the work life balance and community in the contracts and financial work she would oversee and review herself to create funding for community projects like more access to banks, schools, sustainable living and technology, and public transportation. I think pursuing this career helps aid my dream of advocating for more voices and representation I was not able to see growing up in white, male-dominated field such as finance and law. I think those moments where you can find or see someone in the room or in environments that look like you that are mostly a minority, like for me — a woman of color.

There is a story of Louise that sticks with me that I referred to in our assignment of writing a letter to a Vincentian leader, I gravitated to Louise because she is a woman and had an iron fist when she lead. She lead with grace but by faith, especially in advocacy. There was a specific event where a Daughter of Charity fell sick and Louise had to make difficult choices of where that daughter would be cared for since it was a very contagious disease. She offer to have that Daughter stay in her own house. I think this stuck with me because it reverts back to the quote in Depaul France which was my “Lumiere” moment, that when we have nothing left to give, we have everything to give. We just have the choice to continuously give. I think that is the life I would like to leave, to have given more than have taken.