UPAA-W



Magandang gabi po sa kanilang lahat.??Good evening, Ladies and Gentlemen:Can you hear me back there?? I have to ask the question at the beginning of my remarks. I?learned an embarrassing?lesson from a previous experience.? I was conducting a seminar and in the middle of my presentation, I asked if I could be heard in the back row.? A gentleman stood up and said:? "No, I could hardly hear you.? Please speak a little louder."? To my consternation, a young woman in the front row, right under my eyes, stood up, turned around to face the man and said:? "I can hear him very well ... let's trade places."So good to be back in my old stomping ground.? Evanston, IL was our first home in the United States, arriving in Fall 1966.? Five years later a?handful of U.P. alums together with their non-U.P. friends decided to organize the?U.P. Club of America.? After the association got up and running, a job change forced us to move to Milwaukee, WI in 1973, where I also founded the UPAA-W in 1974.We enjoyed the "big-city" atmosphere that Chicago offered, and most of all the many friends we left behind.? (You heard that right! We really enjoyed our friends, not because we left them behind!).? We missed our friends so much that?never a month passed without?visiting them at least twice, sometimes once a week.? During the first few months we've been coming back, our friends, Sonny and Emma Ramos and Fe Nievera, (now in Atlanta), among others, started ribbing us, saying, "so you?now live?in a suburb of Chicago.-- how is the shopping up there?", referencing the smaller market for fashionable clothing. ?While the ribbing was fun the first time, it?became a little?bit testy after hearing it repeatedly.? So, I prepared a "perfect squelch"?response on our next visit, saying, "hey, wherever you live in Chicago, whether you live in Evanston, in Kenilworth, or Barrington, you still live on the "southside" of Milwaukee!"?That put all that ribbing to rest.I want to thank the UPAAGC and your president, Ryan Tejero, for inviting me to be your guest speaker tonight.? My special thanks to Olive Aliga for recommending me to the Board of Directors.My?talk tonight will be made up of the following segments.? Don't worry, it will be brief ... you'll have plenty of time for dancing which you came for.*?Brief history of UPCA* Why do people organize?* Pareto Principle in organizations* UPAAGC:? Current state-of-affairs* UPAA-W:? Current state-of-affairsNow, a little bit of history of the founding of UPCA, for those who may not have heard of it.?July 1971:? At a backyard BBQ party hosted by?Antonio and Emma Ramos, a handful?of U.P. alums and their non-U.P. friends decided to organize the UPCA.? I volunteered?to write the Constitution?& By-Laws.? (Three?other organizers, Sonny and Emma and my wife, Siony are in the?audience tonight ... will you please stand so you can be?recognized??August 1971:? First organizational meeting was held at the residence of Francisco and Isabel Juan in Evanston, IL where some sixty alumni attended.September 1971:? Constitution & By-Laws was ratified by the?members?at a meeting?held at the Fil-American Council Clubhouse in?Chicago.? At the same?meeting the first Executive Board was constituted, and in turn elected?the Charter Officers; R. M. Austria was unanimously elected Founding?President.? (Hard to?believe UPAAGC is now forty-five years old!? Ryan was only a toddler?when it was founded!).December 1971:? UPCA was incorporated in the State of IL as a not-for-profit organization.April 1972:??? First fund-raising event sponsored by the Club.? Philippine Cultural Night held at the Illini Center, University of Illinois in Chicago.? Proceeds of?the event sent to U.P. for student scholarships.Footnotes:There are two significant footnotes to mention here at the time of the founding of UPCA.1.? After sending out the flyers announcing?the organizational meeting we were informed that there was a U.P. alumni association earlier organized during the visit of Mrs. Fonacier in Chicago.? The small group elected their officers, however, they did not have a Constitution & By-Laws.? We took a deep breath and paused to discuss the issue.? To be sure, we did not want to have two alumni associations in one city.? In the end, our group decided to proceed and invited the officers/members to attend the meeting.? To our surprise they came to attend the meeting and to their credit, they didn't even bring up the issue of an alumni association already established.? To top it all, without any horse-trading prior to the election, at least two of their officers were elected to the Executive Board of UPCA.2.? Why the name UPCA?? Why not?UPAA?? There were non-U.P. alums as co-founders, mostly spouses of U.P. alums who each made a unique contribution to the birth of UPCA.? We did not want to alienate them and minimize their contributions to UPCA.? Rule # 1 in family relations:? Never alienate your spouse, no matter how much of a macho husband you think you are!Why do people organize?? What motivate people to join organizations?? I would like to share some theoretical concepts about organizations, how they are formed and how they are sustained to achieve their purposes.? With this learned audience, I wouldn't be surprised if many of you already know these concepts.In organizational theory, there are several motivations for people?forming groups.? Some of these are:1.? They find or learn about alternative better ways of doing things that are not easily done within existing social arrangements.2.? They believe that the future will be such that the organization will continue to be effective enough to pay for the trouble of building it or for the resources invested.3.? They or some social group with which they are strongly identified will receive some of the benefits of the better way of doing things.4.? They can lay hold of the resources of wealth, power, and legitimacy needed to build the organization.The above were all applicable behind our efforts in organizing UPCA.? We knew that raising funds to support UP's scholarship and faculty development programs could?be more effectively?accomplished via the collective efforts of an officially organized alumni group.? We believed that the Association will continue to be effective enough to pay for the trouble of building it or for the resources invested.? (Repeat)(Indeed,?we?encountered some trouble when we were organizing.? One, was when we learned that there was an alumni group that was already formed earlier.? But that did not really spell trouble, it was just a bump in the road.? What was more formidable was when one alum during the meeting questioned some?of the proposed goals.? The questions were raised not by some average alumnus but by?an intellectual, high achiever with a PhD in guess what?? Mathematics!? I should really correct myself for saying "average alumnus;"?there is no such animal as an average U.P. alumnus!They are all at least above average, if not outstanding!).This is not the forum to?share this kind of trouble.? If you are interested in pursuing this issue for whatever reason, I will leave the two letters with Ryan that are part of the history of UPCA.? One, written by the alum who?raised?the questions about the goals and hence, putting in his resignation; the other written by me responding to his letter urging him diplomatically to rescind his resignation.Years later, upon reflection of this issue, I?realized that I could not really begrudge the alum for his actions.??If you?have more than two?U.P. grads?in a room to dissect an issue, I think they are sure to come up with a?number of opinions, many of which are opposing.? This is all part of our training at U.P.to be critical thinkers.??Now comes the organization principle operating in many organizations, the?Pareto Principle,?also known as the 80/20 rule.? According to this principle, named after?Vilfredo Pareto,?an Italian economist who in 1906 created a mathematical formula to describe the unequal distribution of wealth in his country, observing that 20% of the people owned 80% of the wealth.? In the 1930's-40's,?Joseph Juran,?a Quality Management pioneer in the U.S. observed this 80/20 rule and named it?"vital few"?and?"trivial many."Even among religious organizations such as churches, temples, and synagogues this principle seems to be operating in that 20% of the congregation is responsible for 80% of the weekly collection. In?not-for-profit organizations, it has been observed that 20% of members are responsible for 80% of results.The challenge?for organizational leaders is to?reverse the Pareto Principle.? We need more members to get involved actively in the affairs of the organization, not just 20%.? Why not 80%?? While it might be a hardship to get to that number fast we can aim for it gradually.? It may be instructive to review the theoretical concepts I shared with you tonight on why people join organizations.? It takes a collective minds pulling in the same direction to reverse the principle?from?'vital few and trivial many'?to?'vital many'?and?'trivial few.'?One final note on the Pareto Principle.? I disagree with Vilfredo Pareto for referring to it as a principle.? I'd like to call it a?phenomenon,?not a principle.? By definition a principle is a basic truth, a standard.? In my view, it can be reversed.UPAAGC:? Current State-of-Affairs.It is gratifying to note that UPCA has achieved many of?its goals from its founding in 1971 to date.? It is even more gratifying that it has changed its name to UPAAGC,?living up to the reputation perhaps, of the?great City of Chicago.? I?think UPAAGC,?by some measure,?might have?contributed to the greatness of?Chicago.The?contributions of UPAAGC, especially to U.P. and its satellite campuses, are not only many but also significant.? To mention a few of the more recent ones:2016:? Grants that benefited two student academic organizations to provide support in organizing their academic forum.2015:? Monetary donation toward U.P.'s Socialized Tuition Fee and Assistance Progam.2014:? Monetary donation that was used to purchase equipment for U.P. College of Allied Medical Professions, U.P. Campus, Manila.2013:? Establishment of a Scholarship Program in Los Banos.These are only the most recent contributions of UPAAGC to the Alma Mater; there are many more but citing them will prolong my remarks.Earlier, however, UPCA made significant contributions to U.P. as well as to the country.? In 1972, we sent a modest check from the proceeds of the PCN presentation to U.P., and in November of the same year, we sent a $5,200 check raised from the various churches in the Chicago area?for the typhoon victims in Central Luzon through the Catholic Relief Services in New York.? We requested several churches to allow us to appeal to their congregation for a second collection for the typhoon victims.? Not surprisingly, many parishioners dug deep in their pocket books to respond to our appeal.On a parallel path, our own UPAA-W has made similar contributions to U.P. ?We have and continue to sponsor scholarship grants for students with financial needs but academically deserving.? We have supported faculty development programs by sponsoring professorial chairs in perpetuity in various colleges and units of the university.UPAA-W is also involved in community outreach programs implemented in various ways.In addition to U.P. scholarships, we sponsor local scholars in Wisconsin.? As a result of this program we now have former scholars who have become partners by funding their own scholarship programs and offering such programs through the UPAA-W.? This is their way of giving back to the community.Another form of community outreach is our?Feed-the-Hungry?project, conducted in cooperation with St. John's Cathedral in Milwaukee.? We buy the meats and?ingredients, prepare and cook the food, and serve it at the?Open Door Café?of St. John's Cathedral where we feed 200-300 homeless people.?In the beginning when we were struggling with financial resources, we?didn't have enough funds to purchase food for 300 people.??When I became President of the Rotary Club of Milwaukee NS, I convinced the Board of Directors to provide the funds and we would prepare, cook the food, and with the Rotary Club members, serve the food at the Cathedral.? We continued this collaborative effort until?UPAA-W could stand on its own in buying the food to be served.? Sometimes when money is an issue, you can forge?a partnership to pursue a seemingly difficult project.? Like the Rotary Clubs, other community organizations such as the Lions' Clubs, Kiwanis, Knights of Columbus, and others might just be happy to partner with other organizations.Another area where UPAA-W has been instrumental in?reaching out to?the community is in education.? Over the years, UPAA-W, through the?Value Our Heritage (VOH)?committee has conducted seminars that?provide benefits not only?to its members but also to the larger community.? The committee chaired by my wife, the only Chairperson the committee has had since the inception of UPAA-W, has offered the seminars to the public for FREE.? For the most part, the seminars involved current issues of?great interest by the attendees.? Some topics presented in recent past:October 2016:??The Many Faces of Bullying Against Children and Adults.??(I think Siony may have been inspired by the ubiquity of bullying in our society as popularized by a recent presidential candidate in presenting the seminar, although she wouldn't admit it).October 2015:??Dementia:? Its Multi-Faceted Aspects.??Held at the Philippine Center in Milwaukee to a SRO attendance.1978:??Parenting in Modern America?(A series of?seminars primarily?directed?to parents raising children in their adopted country with a different culture)?I have shared some of the activities of UPAA-W with the hope that our two associations can have more cooperation in the future.? As importantly, we hope we can do the same thing with other U.P. alumni associations in other countries.? We are all working for the same alma mater so that we can help advance the mission of U.P. in?"Shaping minds that shape the nation."I can feel the thumping of hot feet anxious to meet the dance floor.? Enjoy the festivities ...?Shake your booties.??GO CUBS GO! ................
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