Photos Courtesy of Filipino Community Center Hawaii
A Rebirth of Filipino Culture—Filipino American leaders say second generation members of the community are embracing their heritage.
By Diego M. Higuera
San Diego County is home to 180,000 Filipino Americans, most of whom live in the South County. They are considered super citizens with outstanding voting, education and community service records. State Route 54 is named The Filipino Highway in honor of the community’s decades of contributions.
Even so, many of Southwestern College’s 1,600 Fil-Am students feel jittery starting their higher education journeys.
BAYAN has their backs.
Lea Oasay, the treasurer of the Bayan Student Organization said it is important to maintain a learning community similar to PUENTE or UMOJA tailored for Filipino students. President Zorayda Chaidez agreed.
“BAYAN students become better know, better friends,” she said. “We help the community and teach others about Filipino culture and history.”
Chaidez envisions BAYAN gaining recognition across California.
“We have made a good impact on our students because first-year students are already nervous to be in college,” she said. “A learning community guides you through that. A learning community like BAYAN pushes you. If you come in as an introvert you will probably be a lot more of an extrovert by the end of the year.”
BAYAN Secretary Ivan Medida said the organization hold successful fund raisers to benefit students and the community as well as activities and programs to engage Filipino American students.
“A major goal of BAYAN is to build community,” he said. “Our learning community has helped provide opportunities for students to develop public speaking skills. We also work to expose more people to Filipino American issues and networking opportunities.”
Oasay said the group has another big goal—“to pop up on Google.” Enhanced visibility will help to spread BAYAN’s good works in and beyond the CSU and UC systems.
Vice President Athena Almeda said action drives success.
“We just keep going and we never stop.”
