Class of 1998, Potomac, MD

April 30, 2016

'“I do remember my very first PCS meeting as a freshman – I even remember what I wore! It was refreshing and empowering to see so many students of Filipino heritage in the same room. It was refreshing to see how all of us – these are students I’ve never met before – had that sense of bond that is just automatic. Not only that but we have a shared culture about really liking Filipino food, the dances, and the mutual values about education, having a hard work ethic, and the importance of family; those are all principles and values and beliefs that we all share. It’s empowering to be surrounded by people with the same strong values as you, and you just automatically relate with each other and then move on from that foundation. Just to give you an idea of my background – I had one Filipino friend in elementary school, and then in high school it tripled to three Filipino friends which at the time already felt like a lot. Then all of a sudden I find myself at GW at a PCS meeting and that was a whole community that I gained by joining. Definitely for me, a whole world opened up when I joined PCS, and I am grateful to the people who have supported and nurtured the organization all of these years. Even now because it goes on, it lives on which is exciting.”

Medical Doctor, Washington, D.C.

April 11, 2016

"I had friends that I’d grown up with that were in PCS – friends I grew up with across the street from each other in a small town in western Maryland. It was nice to meet and get to know people with the same or similar backgrounds. They had different experiences, but the same cultural background. I remember the FIND conferences that we had, which were always very universally successful, and I remember meeting people from other regions that always had good things to say about us - those big conferences were pretty impressive that they were always to pull off. I think [PCS] opened me up to not only my own culture but taught me openness to learning about other people’s cultures and learning how to interact with other people’s backgrounds, and I remember, I actually met my wife’s former roommate through this organization. It was a network of people to lean on and support and push each other, and we’re still lifelong friends to this day."

Financial Advisor, Washington, D.C.

April 04, 2016

'I think PCS has been great just for the friendships and the network that is developed. Going to PCS – it’s not as big as going to somewhere like College Park – there’s a smaller campus so a smaller number of students, and so everyone got to know each other pretty well and I think that helped out a lot. It was and has always been an active organization within the GW community, so in PCS you’re always networking with and meeting other people. When I moved up to New York, part of the job that I got up there was based off of people that I met through PCS and through FIND. A lot of the people whom I’m friends with to this day, whom I still know, came from PCS. I think [PCS] has also helped us and various people getting jobs, whether it’s working for various, different administrations, networking out in California, or even help form and lead organizations like NaFFAA. PCS has a really good reputation with the community at large in the sense that you’ll get people who are non-GW, non-PCS affiliated who are willing to help out PCS members, which has been really helpful for the lot of us.'

April 01, 2016

MM: 'Had it not been for my older sister Marie, who set the path for us to develop us as leaders and to be very inclusive in terms of our leadership style – this is going back to our experience in developing our own identity as Filipinos on campus, and the classroom and what we were learning there was not conducive to that environment. So in order for us to make this community our home, PCS allowed us to do that in every way imaginable where we can develop our skills, whether it was leadership, managing money, event planning – it was a place that allowed us to make mistakes, that allowed us to experience tension, allowed us to deal with tension, allowed us to do all those things. Again going back to the fact that [Marie] gave us the space – she was a senior our freshman year, she knew she was leaving – so she was like, “take it, it’s yours.” And she didn’t just say that – she showed us how to do it.
In large part [Tito Jon] was one of my mentors. Part of why I took the professional trajectory that I did is because of the work that he exposed me to. A lot of the folks that I got exposed to in labor were a lot like Tito Jon and were involved as activists in the 70s, ended up working at labor unions as organizers, journalists, or advocates.'
LM: 'We came in 1990, and then our first two years it really was more of just – like if you were to go to work or something and everyone were to just have a potluck. It was more of a social thing like, “you’re Filipino, I’m Filipino,” and it wasn’t really until 1993 when we brought FIND down that it was more of a movement. And at that time there were a lot of families that were here; we highlighted that in some of our transition banquets, there were like five, six, maybe seven families that came in with siblings, that all came here. ...A lot of our strength came from the fact that a lot of our members were local. In fact they are still local, so we still know a lot people and still do things together. So we’re still connected and that’s what helped us stay within the community and be a part of things after we left. You know, even though now we’re not part of PCS, we still represent them in some way because that’s how we came in.
[The community] was not D6 at the time but we had a local collective group anyway. For example we would always go to Hopkins just as a social thing, never a structured thing. [FIND] only went up to D5 at the time. Then when we were talking to Vijay Manuel, one of the directors, that was when we officially made D6, in 1993-1994. It was initially an east coast thing – it started all the way in New England and came down, and our conference really started when we wanted to invite the west coast over.'

PCS Advisor

March 21, 2016

"When GW hosted either the first or second FIND Conference, I mean that was a major, major historic event – GW [PCS] being one of the early student groups who hosted FIND. It really brought up a lot of creativity and imagination in the programming of and planning the whole conference. I felt proud because we could take credit for laying the foundation; if PCS were not started earlier, we wouldn’t have had the capacity to host it. But because we were founded as early as we were, it brought in a lot of ideas from both staff and students, and they had all these common issues so GW became a natural place to host it. I was really impressed and it was a learning experience for me when students started talking about their culture, their roots, their identity. I never really expected that kind of thirst or hunger, that passionate yearning to learn more about where they came from. I came here in the 1960s – there were no kinds of institutional resources to talk about your history. I felt like I was alone, but then when you have an organized student group wanting the same thing, you have a surge of interest. That has a very overwhelming and emotional impact, wanting to be connected to your roots and your motherland, wanting to have a sense of cultural pride. That to me was the most impressive thing that I learned being a part of this organization, that there is a sense of solidarity with your homeland, wanting to be connected either through visits or helping out, just basically learning the history – not only the history of the Philippines, but also the history of Filipino Americans organizing."

GWU Medical Student, Washington , D.C.

March 14, 2016

“The thing about PCS is that it makes you grow as a person and as a leader. It was a positive environment and there was a definite sense of family; a sense of community and of partnership. You don’t need to be Filipino to be in the organization. Being Vietnamese, I never felt different, because when you’re in it, you’re all family. You’re all part of one big cause. My proudest moment in PCS was when we played Turkeybowl my senior year. We got pretty far. It was our team vs. UMCP, and they were all lined up in front of us doing their warm up. And here we were, a small bunch of scrappy girls up against a really formidable team. So we did the Cupid Shuffle as our warm up. The proud moment was that we got that far and that we were true to ourselves: having good sportsmanship and having fun."

Miss Washington D.C. / Miss America

March 07, 2016

"After college, I kind of realized that I was at a point in time before the real world started, and I kind of said, "Therese, what's the one thing you've always wanted to do? And I told myself that I've kind of always wanted to try out for the Miss America pageant. I said, you know what, let me just give it a shot and see what happens, what do I have to lose? It was an opportunity for scholarship money, I could have fun and be more involved in the community. I didn't tell anyone about it actually, I was mainly doing it for myself to see what would happen and what I thought of the experience. But the night before the pageant, I told only a select group of people, including my father, that I was participating. Then the day of the pageant pretty much whole family came down to see the competition, literally minivans full of people, both family and friends all out there in the crowd to see and support me, and I won! One of the main things I wanted to do was I wanted the Filipino Community to become more visible in the area. It would be a nice way to get Filipinos more on the community radar, between the Migrant Heritage Commission, the Philippine Embassy, and even dance groups like the Kaibigan Folklorcial Dance Group. PCS helped me to discover a lot more about myself and my personal identity. That and the fact that PCS help me create that core group of friends who were and are like-minded, especially since we shared those special experiences in college, and even now in adulthood. Our first cultural show was a project that was difficult to see manifest, but with everyone's hard work and efforts we really gave it the energy and drive to have it come through. It was a group effort for what was at first a tiny dream. We called it Tandaan because it's about remembering who you are and know what being Filipino is really all about, and passing that on to and teaching the next generation."

Graduate Student - Washington D.C.

February 29, 2016

“PCS is about diversity. We are very open-minded and we want to do our best to showcase our culture through everything that we do, whether planned or something spontaneous. I would say that everyone in PCS has some unique experience that draws them in. For me, the compassion and the assertiveness of the upperclassmen really stood out for me. When I was a freshman, they helped me break out of my shell and introduced me to a lot of the PCS activities like Turkeybowl and Semi. We also spent a lot of time outside of the organization, hanging out in their dorms. The fact there were so many dedicated upperclassmen that reached out to someone like me who was just barely starting college and who was trying to figure himself out was very welcoming and impactful on my life. When they graduated, I made a promise to myself that eventually I would dedicate my own time to bring that sort of ‘PCS feeling’ I had in my own way to others. That’s how I became a Bahay leader towards my senior year. I tried to incorporate some new ideas and bring in people whether they were active or came once in a while. I just wanted to draw them in so they could gain that sense of PCS family feeling that was presented to me. 
My advice for PCS and for any of the members is to be pro-active. It sounds simple and straightforward; but PCS has a lot to offer, especially if you are someone new or not Filipino. There have been some activities that push you beyond your comfort zone such as dancing for Semi or participating in Culture Show, but those are some of my favorite moments. I got to really interact with people and I even met my best friend through PCS. When considering an event, try to attend because you never know what to expect and it could be that defining moment that draws you into PCS.”

Digital Marketing - San Francisco

January 01, 2020

"My sophomore year I brought a cotillion to GW . . . [At the time] The Asian community and organizations here had their own thing, but we all supported each other. So we had a cotillion: like a Quinceañera or coming-out, but for Filipinos. Really it’s just a party. There’s a bunch of ballroom dancing in it and fancy dresses. We did the same thing except we made the cotillion court comprise of the different representatives from each of the groups. It was a big party. We reserved the Marvin Center Grand Ballroom. Every Asian student organization had a different center piece handmade for each of the tables. The court was all diverse. Instead of doing the rose dance where the birthday celebrant is supposed to dance with different men, a different gift on behalf of a different student organization’s culture was given to her. It was like,” Hey we’re all putting this on together and playing together.” ECAASU came a couple of years later, but I felt really proud because it wasn’t just the PCS community. We were broadening ourselves and making it known formally that you don’t have to be exclusive to want to learn about one culture and be a part of the GW Asian-American community. I truly believe that the composition of PCS’ers is so creative, bold, and innovative that it sent me down that mentality that “I could do this.” At PCS, the cotillion was new. We brought different types of programming like Arnis or Eskrima to PCS, getting field trips to Ms. America, or building a school in the Philippines through the World Bank. These were big things and they were all new to us. Every year, every regime brings new things and is innovative. That mentality was so vibrant from PCS that it helped inspire confidence for me to have the same type of mentality. I’m sure I had some of that inside me before, but I was so risk adverse prior to college. The community really helped bring that confidence out of me.”

Science Policy Fellow at the Science & Technology Policy Institute

January 01, 2020

“In a lot of ways, PCS was a big part of my undergrad life. When I first met PCS freshman year, they were friendly, boisterous, and very enthusiastic. Everyone wants to be reached out to, and PCS understood that and helped me learn how to reach out to people too. I knew I could always lean on somebody in PCS and there was always a PCS event I could look forward to. If PCS had an event on Monday, it was a great way to start the week. If there was an event on Friday, it was a great way to end the week. If there was an event on Wednesday, it was a time to chill and goof off. PCS was a big part of everyone’s lives; it was like an escape from the daily grind of college. And because it meant so much to us, we dedicated time to it. And we all motivated each other to do well even if we were all doing different things.”

Naval Officer - San Diego, California

January 01, 2020

“[PCS] taught me just how varied the Filipino-American experience is and to have a really great appreciation [of it]. We’re completely different from the other D6 schools who have a greater Filipino population to glean from and who I would argue, because they’re mostly from the DMV, have a very homogenous experience. Those that attend GW come from very different backgrounds-from all over the country, if not the world. You really learn about the Filipino diaspora and its global reach. More importantly, PCS taught me how invaluable it is to let others be a witness to your journey and you to theirs. I wish more people had told me this when I was younger, but what really bonds you with others, from where your deepest relationships are nurtured, is the shared experience. As you grow older, you will continue to have less poignant shared experiences with people that truly bond you in a way that PCS did for me. There is not enough Chick-fil-A fries in Marvin Center that would convince me to trade all the late night practices, costume-making sleepovers, Guitar Hero procrastination, and even endless hauls of tinikling sticks across campus at 1 am- PCS = BIGGER THAN!”

Research Grant Director for Cancer Awareness

January 01, 2020

"Of course, dancing was one of my biggest draws to PCS. But I don't even know if there is just one instance, because [PCS] was such a big part of my life when I was at GW. Off the top of my head, if I had to choose any particular one, it had to be when I was president. It was a crazy year, I had to step in for culture show, and at the same time I helped found Capital Funk, and balance being in that presidential position too. This was also the year that we directed Rex Navarette coming to GW. In the end, for me, PCS was really about those lifelong friendships we had, especially with all the practices we had - it really brought us together. And for what I did after, PCS really helped me - you know, dealing with the grand scale productions like we did, it carried into a lot of what I do in terms of managing programs and things like that."

Attorney at the Department of Homeland Security - Washington D.C.

January 25, 2016

“One of the biggest influences for me was co-chairing the FIND conference in 1998. The year we had the conference, the greater GW community was involved; it wasn’t just Filipinos. A large contingent of people who came were interested in what we had to offer. We reached out to prominent Filipino figures, like Fred Cordova and Sonia Aranza, to be keynote speakers. The workshops covered a myriad of things, from our history to the arts to the issue of World War II veterans getting benefits. After reading about Dr. Eleanor Mariano, the White House physician and first Fil-Am Admiral, I arranged for her to speak to GWU’s Navy ROTC unit. It was inspiring to see that someone who looked like me could achieve all that she did. She was a role model for me and she eventually became a mentor.

"When you look back at this time, it’s some of your best years. I have made memories that I’m really fond of and cherish, which is the reason I try to come back to GW as much as I can.”

Filipino Young Professionals, D.C. Chapter (FYP-DC)

January 18, 2016

"[This] was basically toward the end of the conference, the three of us are just kind of standing there, everything was almost over, and we all look really tired. Now I look back and I see this picture, and I remember how proud I felt at that moment, because we all came together and we made that happen. And to this day, people still come up to us when they find out that we were a part of that group, they tell us how great of a conference it was. Then when I see the cultural shows, it reminds me of all the hard work that we put in to make that conference happen. I see the faces of everyone after the show is over and I relive how I felt when we took that picture together, and I am proud of them. They don't know who I am and I don't know who they are, but I am proud - because we shared these connections. There are a lot of things I learned in college outside of the classroom and textbooks - a majority of that was through PCS. [PCS] brought the projects I worked on, the people I met, and the goals that we set, which were short and long term. Even to this day, we're still working toward some of those goals, and I've kept in touch with the people I met. You know, FYP has nothing to do with being an OB/GYN. But being involved in these groups is a way that I've been able to maintain that connection - it goes beyond me, and what I need. It goes toward what I want the community to accomplish. It's that important, and I'd want others to realize it's that important as well."

Arlington, VA - DC Commission of Arts & Humanities

January 11, 2016

"I think when I first joined PCS, it was primarily for social purposes - everyone wants to connect and have fun in college while we're there. But I started getting more involved after teaching that Tagalog class. It made me realize the importance of staying connected with our culture, especially as we move on to greater things professionally. 

There's still this lack of understanding about what being Filipino is, and PCS is definitely helping to move forward with creating that understanding and bridging that gap. I think it's important that PCS continues to move forward, creating even more culturally educational opportunities. I found out that by participating in the organizations that I did after PCS, that having PCS allow me to stay connected was so helpful."

Seneca Falls, NY - Chiropractor

January 04, 2016

"I was actually just talking to Krisha last weekend about how, I think the main thing that I learned throughout, as being cultural chair then VP, to not be afraid to change or not be afraid to try new things. That kind of goes without saying especially when you're in college, but especially diving into it and not being afraid to be curious. Curious about things and trusting yourself. PCS helped me to do that. Being a leader [of PCS] kind of changed things for me. I really wanted to make sure that the family aspect was still there, and I still cultivate that throughout my life because relationships are important - they teach you to take care of people, and more importantly, yourself."

Alexandria, VA - Filipino Young Professionals, DC Chapter

December 28, 2015

"...I would definitely say the best thing was meeting the people in PCS and realizing how welcoming they are, even though I explained multiple times that I wasn't a student at GW. They still included me, invited me to things, sent me emails to participate. I even participated in Tandaan VIII.PCS has definitely helped me a lot in terms of networking professionally. It made me realize, after joining FYP, that we wanted to support the younger generation, and we had people to pass down the knowledge to us. We knew wanted to continue that. We knew it was up to us to keep spreading that knowledge we obtained, and to help the younger generation through their professional life as well and make that transition from school."

Rockville, MD - Accenture Federal

December 21, 2015

"I met a lot of people who were older than me, you know aged 21-23, and they were good mentors who were able to help you grow emotionally, mentally, physically - and that was really something that I could apply to what I did after, the Marines. They were able to guide me through some life choices especially when I had to be more independent. I think it was some of those PCS members, that their ethically and morally sound characteristics must have rubbed off on me. Probably the first thing that comes to mind is putting on the first cultural show, and then probably five or six years later seeing how it progressed at the time. I didn't know it was possibly groundbreaking when we did it, and seeing how it continues on as something greater than yourself is rewarding."

Washington, D.C. - Senior Analyst at Cornerstone Research

December 14, 2015

"It was kind of cool that they [PCS] were people that were friendly and easy to get along with. As I got to know more PCS-ers, I saw them as really cool. In a good way, I got sucked into PCS. I found myself in a place that I liked and I didn't want to leave. I very quickly made some lifelong friends, and that prompted me to stay.

It makes me so proud to this day that every year some of the stuff that Khanita and I implemented [into culture show] that year are still being done, and improved upon."

Washington, D.C. - Event Planning

December 07, 2015

"What I'm trying to do with my professional career is based off of what I did in PCS. Being close to them for four years and even now has been super beneficial to me in expanding my own professional experience. Like, from managing all of the meetings, GBM to eboard, planning the cultural productions, various events throughout the year, that helped me develop the skills I needed to be in event planning. I would say through those positions, I was able to build more confidence in myself and be a better leader because I got used to working in a group and building a collaborative environment."

Boston, MA - Software Quality Engineer @ Integra

November 30, 2015

"I would say [PCS] inspired me to see how you can still keep your culture alive when you're in college, and how you're able to be in a group where a bunch of passionate people can come together and create something amazing - something that is special and that you'll remember for the rest of your life. It was always great seeing how the culture and everything came together...all the enthusiasm, and everyone being enthusiastic about dancing and showing love for each other...it was a pretty special moment."

Washington, D.C. - Project Coordinator @ AARP

November 23, 2015

"[PCS] gives you an opportunity to grow inside as well as outside of it, and gives you so many opportunities for the future. Creating valuable relationships has been one of the key things that I was able to pull from PCS. As well as learning about Filipino culture, it helped me learn about myself as well as become really aware of the communities around me."

Alexandria, VA - Restaurant Consulting

November 16, 2015

"I forget what year, but it was maybe '97 or '98 when we executed the FIND (tag FIND if you can) Conference here at GW, and it was really one of my proudest moments of having been in PCS. That was the year that Jocelyn Enriquez was huge too, and we had her come out and perform for the conference... we were able to showcase to the rest of FIND up and down the east coast who we are and what we are capable of doing. [PCS] gave me a better sense of who I am, and I think without a doubt, it has formed some of my closest friendships to this very day...it's a pretty strong bond that will continue for the rest of my life."

NYC - Paralegal for an immigration law firm

November 09, 2015

"I would say being a part of PCS taught me so much about how to work with others and work on a team and accomplish set goals, and that’s definitely something you can take with you in the future in really anything in life, especially in the workplace. I think that’s something that members should really value… Being a creative person, it gave me the opportunity to do a lot of things that I am really interested in. It’s such a well-rounded org, and you get to dabble in basically anything you want to do and students a part of it should take advantage of that."