United Nations 2022: Diversity and Equality All-Around

The Celebration of the United Nations Day (UN), facilitated by the Araling Panlipunan Department, highlighted the theme “End Racism. Build Peace.” in order to assist students in honoring and recognizing the goals of the organization that serves to keep universal peace. It shall serve as a reminder that we can and should speak out whenever we encounter inequity and biases done towards others, so that we could all live in harmony and in order. 

The activity components are as follows: A UN Quiz Bee, the Filipino and English essay-writing contest, and lastly, the Lip Sync for Equality.

This event began as early as October 19, 2022, starting with the Essay Writing Contest and the UN Quiz Bee Elimination Round, which were both held virtually. The top four players of the UN Quiz Bee from four different houses were chosen to participate in the Semi-Finals Round, which was also held virtually last November 7, 2022 (Monday). The top four houses from the elimination round will compete against each other with a game called “Family Feud.” 

Soon after the game ended, it was announced that the houses of St. James and St. Paul had won the Semi-Finals Round and were eligible for the in-person Finals Round, which occurred later on November 9, 2022. 

In addition to that, an Essay-Writing Contest was also held on the same date (October 19, 2022) with both categories, Filipino and English. Each house had one representative for each category and wrote about the theme of this year’s United Nations Day, “End Racism. Build Peace.”

Moving forward, the official program for the activities took place face-to-face on November 9, 2022, and was hosted by Trisha Rojales and Benedict Ambat of 12-STEM. Sir Rolf Delos Santos, the Subject Area Coordinator of the Araling Panlipunan Department, kick-started the program with his opening remarks. 

The first face-to-face activity was the elimination round of Lip Sync for Equality. The elimination round began with the house of St. James represented by Anaiah Mendoza and the house of San Pedro Calungsod represented by Chasley Ramirez, with the song called “Colors of the Wind” by Vanessa Williams. Second to perform were Joaquin Dizon and Vince Montero from the house of St. John Paul the Second and St. John the 23rd respectively, with a song called “What a Wonderful World” by Louis Armstrong. Finally, the houses of San Lorenzo Ruiz, St. Peter, and St. Paul, respectively represented by Sasha Bayaras, Zach Techo, and Shahana Jumao-as, competed for the final round of the eliminations with the song “Imagine” by John Lennon. 

While the judges pondered about their chosen contestants for the Semi-Finals Round of the Lip Sync for Equality Activity, Sir Rolf Delos Santos facilitated the Finals Round of the UN Quiz Bee. The game “Family Feud” was played again in this round. In the end, the house of St. James garnered a total of 475 points overall and won against the house of St. Paul. 

The contestants for the Semi-Finals Round in the Lip Sync for Equality were announced after, and it was revealed that the houses of St. John the 23rd, St. James, and St. Peter were chosen to proceed with a rendition of the song “Bulong” by Kitchie Nadal. 

After the performance of the contestants, the House of St. James and St Peter advanced to the final round with the song “Born this Way” by Lady Gaga. In the end, the House of St. Peter emerged as the champion.

Next was the announcement of winners from the Essay-Writing Contest, in which the house of St. James was declared the champion in the English category of the essay-writing contest while the house of St. John the 23rd won the contest in its counterpart, the Filipino category. 

Overall, the winners are from the houses of St. James, St. John the 23rd, and St. John Paul II. The Celebration of the United Nations Day 2022 was the first major event held ever since the 2 years of online setting began. It is delightful that the objectives of this inter-house competition were achieved as students understood the vital role of the United Nations in having peace and equality, and how the students became aware of some of the issues that are hindering the world to be in order.