After leading several logistics and advocacy initiatives, former FOCUS2023 Batch President Clark Cuaresma now vies for the position of College of Science (COS) president under Alyansang Tapat sa Lasallista (Tapat). He runs on a platform of mass-oriented leadership, aiming to improve communication channels and expand access to practicum and research opportunities to build a COS that empowers students throughout their undergraduate years.
The LaSallian: Your past experience spans both logistics and advocacy—from being an assistant team leader during University Vision-Mission Week (UVMW) to serving in the Commission on Disability Inclusion, and leading FOCUS2023 as batch president. How do you think these experiences have prepared you for the role of COS college president?
Cuaresma: These three different roles…molded and shaped who I am today as a running candidate for college president. As a batch president, I already have the experience and background on student services in terms of lobbying for the rights of students and their welfare, for concerns that are academic and non-academic… Being [the] batch president supplemented my knowledge and skills in serving the whole college.
As officer in charge of the Commission on Disability Inclusion, I also gained experience with how to advocate for inclusivity in our University. Being [from] a science-centered college, I can integrate what I learned to educate the Lasallian community, especially COS students, on the different disabilities…and how we can accommodate them.
[Being an] assistant team leader [for] two consecutive years for UVMW–specifically for activities, advocacies, and logistics–shaped me in my project planning and implementation of different activities for my college. These three positions served as a training ground for me to learn various skills and [gain] experience.
The LaSallian: You previously responded to a Freedom Wall post that raised a vital concern about how the University tends to prioritize visible disabilities when it comes to policies like enlistment and facility privileges, wherein you acknowledge the gap in accommodations for students with “invisible disabilities,” such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, or learning disorders. Given your experience in the Commission on Disability Inclusion, what concrete steps would you take as a student leader to ensure that academic accommodations, especially during enlistment and class assignments, are inclusive of the entire disability spectrum?
Cuaresma: With my experience and learnings from the Commission on Disability Inclusion, the concrete steps I will [take] to ensure that their voices are heard…is to do continuous dialogue with students, in collaboration with the Commission on Disability Inclusion and the Legislative Assembly, with the different functions of our government in advocating for their rights.
This will be the first step… From this, we will create plans and policies that will ensure that different sectors… are accommodated based on their specific needs.
The LaSallian: What lessons have you learned from FOCUS2023 that most college leaders overlook?
Cuaresma: It is very crucial for college student leaders…to be compassionate and mass-oriented. A student leader must understand that we all come from different backgrounds… It is very important for us leaders to understand where they’re coming from, why they are addressing these problems, and what are the implications or effects that can happen when this problem is not resolved. For instance, …block enlistment…has been a very crucial problem within our college before last year.
…That’s why we must always be student-centric. We should learn how to understand the problems that they are experiencing so that we can lobby [them] to the administration.
The LaSallian: As you’ve mentioned enlistment, what do you think is one of the most urgent concerns COS students face, and what concrete steps will you take?
Cuaresma: One urgent concern is the lack of slots in enlistment. [In] previous…enlistments, a lot of students were not able to get a slot or had difficulties in securing a slot to the point that they needed to reach out to the college government or batch representatives in order to communicate it with the administration.
As college president, one of the steps I’ll take is “COSversations: Your Voice”… This serves as an avenue open to students to raise their concerns and to address these problems within the college that they’re experiencing… We will lobby these to the admin, especially the department chairs, the APO (academic programming officer), and the associate dean, to ensure that quality education and [students] right to these slots in enlistment is accommodated.
The LaSallian: Do you have any other academic-related reform plans for COS?
Cuaresma: One pillar I’m running on is “Innovating Academic Landscape.” In this pillar, I have formed different projects that advocate for the quality education that we can further strengthen within [the] College of Science.
First is “PractiCOS”… a platform that aims to expand practicum opportunities within and outside the University, especially locally and internationally… We are aiming to provide more opportunities for COS students to pursue their preferred practicum commitments during their undergrad (undergraduate year)… We will also be inviting alumni to share their experiences… and to provide different avenues and different opportunities for COS students to venture, regardless of what department you’re in.
Second is “THESCIS: The Science Thesis…” This is a platform that aims to educate the COS students and provide more ideas and context on the different thesis topics that they can pursue in their undergrad. It’s one of the problems that we’ve experienced… we do find interesting topics… but the problem is we aren’t familiar [with] the different fields that we take, especially including where to start.
We [will] inform them of the different opportunities that we can venture on in pursuing thesis topics so that students will also be more knowledgeable and prepared when they finally take their thesis courses. With this, we will also be providing different orientations and press conference, as well as providing a resource database for them to utilize for their research and basis of the topics or innovations that we have in the college.
The LaSallian: You’ve mentioned how, for “PractiCOS,” you would like students to have access to international opportunities. Have you laid out plans in order to reach out to these international organizations?
Cuaresma: This is still under discussion with the admins, and they took it into consideration… The OVPEA, the Vice President for External Affairs, Huey Marudo, and I are working on to ensure that we can align ourselves with these projects to ensure that external opportunities will be further expanded locally and also internationally.
The LaSallian: You’re aware of the Help Desk Announcements and all of the opportunities that are being provided there, yes? So would it be combined with those opportunities, or would it be completely separate? Because there are also opportunities to take practicum outside of the country as well. So, would you offer this opportunity alongside these Help Desk opportunities, or would it combine with them?
Cuaresma: This is an entirely separate one from those that are currently offered. But… we will also be providing [this] for the COS students…informing them of the different opportunities that are there.
The LaSallian: COS students have spoken about instances of late or confusing announcements, especially during the enlistment season. How do you plan to communicate with the relevant offices involved and resolve these concerns?
Cuaresma: It is very important to have close contact and close communication, and streamlined communication with these offices. And as a college president, this is one thing that…my batch units, FOCUS2024, and I will ensure so that the communication in terms of the announcements in our Science College Government page and internal announcements, as well as those announcements that will be cascaded by FOCUS2024, will be aligned and accurate.
Moreover, we can also provide different resources to utilize. For example, the Google Sheets that we are also providing to the students, apart from the announcements…when enlistment is occurring or [for] other academic or non-academic concerns.
The LaSallian: Along with these late or very confusing announcements, the people making these announcements toward these batches are also trying to enlist themselves. How do you plan to minimize these late or confusing announcements, considering that the people making these announcements are also trying to go through this struggle of enlisting at the same time as everyone else. In some cases, they’ve been uncontactable, or they try to prioritize their own enlistment before they send out announcements.
Cuaresma: One of our sistema back in our time in FOCUS2023 is to conduct alignment meetings, most importantly student services workshops… We were able to discuss how our sistema would be implemented and how the different deliverables and tasks will be designated. [We] were also able to…align ourselves on what specific schedules we are available… With proper alignment on the different roles and responsibilities, [we] will further promote efficiency on how we’ll be cascading our announcements.
The LaSallian: The academic advising process in COS is rigid compared to other colleges, and any deviation from the flowchart requires approval from the academic advising officer. Do you believe that this is an issue that needs to be changed or reformed?
Cuaresma: It is something that should be refined and improved on because there are some cases wherein there are different conflicts between the approval of the APO and also the assigned academic advisors… So, one of our plans moving forward…is to conduct alignment meetings or conduct dialogues with the APO and the admin to ensure the academic advising process is student-centric and will not further lead to bureaucratic processes.
The LaSallian: How would you envision COS at the end of your term?
Candidate: With my…vision running as a college president, for a grounded College of Science that brings innovation and service together, I aim to rebuild the college and to ensure that it is grounded such that mararamdaman ng mga estudyante yung SCG (Science College Government)… We want to provide a grounded student life and empowerment, an innovative academic landscape, and also [a] campus and a] nation that are bridged together with those pillars.
Those are what I aim for the College of Science by the end of the term—that we’re able to assist them in their academic and non-academic concerns in terms of student services, that we will be providing different opportunities for them, [and] that the different academic and non-academic incentives will be provided to them with my platforms.
As a college that is already struggling with academics, it is important that we…ground ourselves with our college and to advocate that we are one with them, that we are listening to their concerns, and we are understanding their problems within the college. And it is something that we will be lobbying through the admin and resolving.
The LaSallian: You mentioned that the students don’t feel the SCG that much. Why do you think that is, as of current?
Cuaresma: Many of the students don’t feel the college because of [the] problems they are facing. For example, in student services, there are some batches that have disorganized systems. [During] enlistment, there are students [who] face difficulties with their concerns that need to be addressed… There are also other students who find difficulties in some academics, for example, in their practicum… this is also included with [the] thesis.
This interview was edited for length and clarity.
