Recruiting for Arrupe Volunteers Batch 43
The Arrupe Office of Social Formation (formerly the Social Involvement Coordinating Office [SICO]) is currently recruiting its new batch of student volunteers for the School Year (SY) 2013-2014. The new corps of student volunteers is being recruited from among the students in the 2nd and 3rd year (for a four-year course) and in the 3rd and 4th year (for a five-year course).
The recruitment is spearheaded by the Student Servant Leadership Program (SSLP) of the Arrupe Office, where the work of volunteer formation is specifically lodged under. This is the first time the recruitment process specifically cites the name of Fr. Pedro Arrupe, SJ, the former Superior General of the Society of Jesus, whose name the previous administration of SICO decided to use as the new name of the office during the launching of its 30th Year Anniversary on 26th September 2012.
This year’s recruitment process is being facilitated by members of the Arrupe Volunteer Core Group, in close coordination with Arrupe’s SSLP Coordinator, Mr. Noriel R. Rogon, and SSLP Officer Ms. Janice Camanan. Two weeks ago, current Arrupe Volunteers in different batches went about doing the room-to-room campaign among the classes in the National Service Training Service (NSTP). This initial kickoff in the recruitment process is reinforced by other modes of recruiting which commenced on the week of 19th August until 28th August. Those who passed the initial screening will be part of the shortlist that will be subjected to further evaluation through a series of interviews. Those who passed and have earned the right to call themselves as the new recruits will constitute the Arrupe Volunteers of Batch 43.
The SICO volunteers program has been in existence for 31 years as an offshoot of the Ateneo Student Exposure Program (ASEP) created by the erstwhile dean of the then College of Arts & Sciences, Fr. George Esguerra, SJ. Yearly batches of student volunteers undergo the summer exposure program (ASEP) since its inception in 1978. From this early beginning, the SICO was born as well as the creation of its pool of student volunteers known as the SICO Volunteers, now known as the Arrupe Volunteers. The volunteers are, therefore, not members of a campus club but are especially constituted to assist the office in the implementation of its programs in the work of social formation. They are often referred to as the office’s co-formators. Their collaboration in the bulk of the work of the office has since been cited and recognized as a potent ground for breeding student leaders who will eventually take on university-wide leadership roles.
A considerable number of the Ateneo de Davao University (ADDU) administrators and faculty, particularly those among its alumni, used to constitute the pool of SICO Volunteers. (By M. Isabel S. Actub, Arrupe Communications & Advocacy)