By Angeline Ruth J. Bermil
On November 25, 2022, Khaira Marie Dulongbinti, a B.S. Accountancy student from Mapúa Malayan Colleges Laguna (Mapúa MCL), was recognized as one of the shortlisted entries for the 2nd SEAMO Youth Action Contest on the VUCA World organized by the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMO).
With the theme of “How will our youth thrive in a VUCA world?”, the SEAMO aims to establish a motivating venue or environment for management of knowledge and experience-sharing among young people as well as individuals within the respective local regions. Along with this, the youth are encouraged to express their viewpoints and solutions with policymakers and educators consequently to ensure the region’s online educational system can become more proficient. Additionally, the youth are expected to identify the chances and difficulties that young people must deal with and capture their thoughts in relation to the VUCA World.
The SEAMO announced the call for entries for the contest on September 16, 2022, and invited all Southeast Asian youth, ages 15 to 23, to exhibit their imaginative ideas and novel realizations. The contest was enjoined by over 123 schools in the five (5) neighboring Southeast Asian countries such are Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, and Vietnam, with a total engagement of 1,045 students including Khaira, a 1st year B.S. Accountancy student who represented Mapúa MCL to the contest.
Khaira’s entry in the vlog category, titled “Going Beyond the Horizon in the VUCA World,” explores the challenges among young people’s daily lives and strategies for overcoming them. The vlog emphasizes the importance of embracing change for learning and personal development, discouraging youth from giving up when faced with sudden challenges. It also highlights the need for individuals of the same generation to remember that a Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous (VUCA) world can be navigated through Vision, Understanding, Clarity, and Agility (VUCA) in one’s approach to life.
The message encapsulates the everyday moments experienced by average students who share similar struggles and are in pursuit of goals and resilience against challenges that can inspire the youth. The theme and content of the vlog resonates with many, encouraging individuals to persevere through life’s ups and downs, never wasting a single moment. This serves as a reminder to embrace the ever-evolving nature of our world and to keep pushing forward, no matter the circumstances.
Mapúa MCL continues to push and support its students to engage in various extracurricular activities that is aligned with the institution’s mission to push the students to contribute to the solution of industry’s and society’s problems by the expert application of knowledge and be part of the empowering leaders in a Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous (VUCA) world.