Over a thousand participants attended the second academic congress organized by the Junior Philippine Institute of Accountants (JPIA) University of San Jose-Recoletos Chapter on February 7 and 8.
A chunk of the delegation were composed of senior high school students from different schools within Metro Cebu.
Marcella De Guzman, USJ-R JPIA Chapter President, shared that their organization intends to let the students see what is in store for them if they decide to pursue a career in the field of accountancy through the event.
“For the senior high school students, through the seminars and talks, the accomplishment stories, they can tell if they really do want to enroll in the accountancy field. For the college students, it’s a way for them to know if they really want to pursue a career in the industry,” she said.
USJ-R JPIA invited senior high school students under the Accountancy, Business and Management (ABM) strand from the cities of Cebu, Mandaue, and Lapu-Lapu. Twelve schools responded to the invitation bringing over 128 delegates. Including students from USJ-R’s senior high school and college departments, the event had over 1000 estimated attendees.
With the theme “Alohomora: Unlocking the Doors to Career Ascendancy,” JPIA joined forces with the Department of Accountancy & Finance and held the said event at the university’s Center for Performing Arts.
The two-day event included technical sessions, a quiz bowl, and non-academic activities.
One of the speakers for the five technical sessions in the event was the Noe G. Quiñanola, chairman of the Board of Accountancy.
Board of Accountancy Chairman Noe Quiñanola talks about how to infuse passion in choosing a career.
He tackled the topic of rediscovering career passion during his talk. His discussion revolved around keeping track of one’s passion for his or her career. He shared tips in staying inspired and in infusing passion into their chosen career path to the delegates. He also talked about how career paths are not a constant trend.
Other speakers were Novo Jon Adlaon and Antonio Sanchez. Both practitioners in the field of accountancy.
Adlaon gave students insight on what transpires in the competitive job market of accountants in the Philippines. He shared to the attendees how companies assess accountancy and management accounting fresh graduates, as well as possible scenarios that could happen to them after graduation.
Sanchez, on the other hand, talked about job seeking to prepare the students for their journey in hunting jobs after college graduation. He mentioned some of the must-have qualities for a job seeker in the business industry.
Participants of the essay writing competition compose their pieces in an isolated room.
In addition to the three speakers, the event committee also invited Certified Public Accountants and Management Accountants to give motivation to the delegates. They were Lito Albaño, Jessele Echavez, and Gabriele Bachini. The three established accountants spoke of their inspiring success stories and also imparted the attendees with few tips on how one can succeed in their industry. They also talked about how accounting and management accounting graduates perform in their respective fields.
According to Hannah Joyce Miranda, USJ-R JPIA Chapter Academics Arm President, this year’s congress is more engaging compared to the previous one. This is owing to the fact that non-academic activities, such as team building, poster-making, essay-making, extemporaneous speaking, and spoken word poetry were added this year. These activities facilitated the interactions of attendees from different institutions with each other.
The winners of the various activities are listed below.
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QUIZ BOWL |
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| Champion | Reston, Norielle Therese D. | University of San Carlos |
| 1st Runner-up | Baba, Faith Krystal C. | University of San Carlos |
| 2nd Runner-up | Torrenueva, Lindy Moore T. | University of San Carlos |
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SPOKEN WORD POETRY |
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| Champion | Saban, Jonabelle E. | University of San Jose – Recoletos Basak |
| 1st Runner-up | Catacutan, Oman Derreck B. | University of San Carlos |
| 2nd Runner-up | Tero, Ivy A. | Science and Technology Education Center |
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POSTER-MAKING |
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| Champion | Javate, Aubrey Jade E. | Cordova Catholic Cooperative School |
| 1st Runner-up | Baraquil, Ezra | Mary Help Christians School Inc. |
| 2nd Runner-up | Lazala, Matthew James D. | University of San Carlos |
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EXTEMPORANEOUS SPEAKING |
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| Champion | Badayos, Rendel Alfonso L. | University of San Jose – Recoletos Basak |
| 1st Runner-up | Espinosa, Jose Patrick Edward B. | University of San Carlos |
| 2nd Runner-up | Amores, Danielle Marie T. | Science and Technology Education Center |
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ESSAY-WRITING |
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| Champion | Bebelone, Sandra Claire J. | University of San Jose – Recoletos Main |
| 1st Runner-up | Renegado, Mary Monique P. | University of San Jose – Recoletos Basak |
| 2nd Runner-up | Alfante, Regine | Mary Help Christians School Inc. |
This is the second time USJ-R JPIA is holding an academic congress. The first one was in 2018. It was initiated by USJ-R JPIA and has been recognized by the JPIA Cebu Chapter. According to Miranda, there is a huge chance that the university’s College of Commerce would hold the event annually.
Written by Raine Kathleen Olila (LIACOM intern)
