Excited for OrSem? The O-Hosts are too! Read on to know Hans, Issa, Donna, I, Glyds, and Brian.
Donna Lee: The rookie
By Luisa C. Jocson and Angela R. Natividad
Donna Lee, incoming Management sophomore, is the de facto baby of the bunch as just the year before she herself was one of the anxious freshmen sitting in the crowd. “A lot of people think I look like I’m 12,” Donna jokes. Although this pint-sized ball of sunshine is no stranger to being onstage, as she used to be a part of her high school theatre organization, this was her first time auditioning to be a host.
Donna draws her inspiration from her own roster of OrSem hosts, who served as the primary reason for her auditioning in the first place. “I had a really good experience in my OrSem, and the hosts were a big part of that,” she shares. “I really admired them ever since.”
It was destiny that led to Donna not only mustering up the courage to try out, but also to nail the audition and nab the much-coveted spot of OrSem host. “What happened was that I didn’t get to sign up online,” she recounts. “So I was like, ‘God, give me a sign, if a slot opens up, that means I should audition for O-Host.’” The very next day, a slot miraculously opened up and Donna decided to take that as a sign to audition.
Despite her relaxed and seemingly easy-going nature, Donna is a self-professed busybody. “It’s weird, but like I kind of like going to meetings, and [working on things],” she confesses. “Even if it’s not for orgs, like a project in class–I just like keeping busy.” A member of the Ateneo Junior Marketing Association, Donna cites working for TEDx as her fondest memory so far as an Atenean student. “It was such an eye-opening experience, and I got to meet so [many] different people, and learn new [things], and it made me transition into a more mature, responsible person.”
“[I]t’s going to be hard, and it’s not going to be a smooth-sailing ride, but then you have to remember that every minute you spend in the Ateneo you cannot take it for granted,” Donna says to the incoming freshmen. “Four years is going to go by so fast, [so] just have fun.”
Issa Baraquel: Ang donya ng bayan
By Angela R. Natividad and Maia R. Puyat
Issa Baraquel is no stranger to the OrSem stage. After a successful last year, this donya is back and ready to hype up the freshies once again. When asked why she wanted to host again, she told us she “want[ed] to be the first girl na three-peat,” referencing to how Gio Bilog (AB ECO-H ‘15) was a three-time O-host during his stay in the Ateneo.
Issa describes herself as “game for anything.” “I’m happy going out of town spontaneously and I’m also happy just staying home by myself with a book,” she explains. She is a self-professed momma’s girl, saying she loves “hanging out with [her] mom” and “driv[ing] her around.” And a donya is not a donya without the gift of gab --Issa proudly says she loves to talk. “I love talking. Wala, chika chika lang. (Nothing, just chit-chat)”
“I want them to feel that they can relate to us,” Issa shares, touching on how she wants the freshmen to respond to her and her co-hosts come OrSem. Rather than the freshmen seeing them as celebrities or professional hosts, she wants them to see her and her co-hosts as schoolmates, people they can approach.
Issa also wants the freshmen to be excited about college. To her, every new day in the university is exciting, “Parang everyday there’s something new,” she shares. Aside from that, she also advises the freshmen to take it slow and steady. “I just wanna tell the freshmen to enjoy and to relax because I know it’s gonna be really overwhelming... [A]nd you’re gonna be thinking about the four years ahead, but I suggest you take it day-by-day.”
Despite her previous experience as an O-Host, however, she knows that this year will be different. “I think it’s still a new experience ‘cause it’s with a different team and totally different freshmen, and just a whole new peg,” she tells us. With a new set of co-hosts and new freshmen to welcome, Issa is excited and ready to take on the challenge of bringing OrSem alive.
Brian Pineda: Jack of all trades
By Franco M. Luna and Angela R. Natividad
“I dreamt of becoming MVP [business tycoon Manuel V. Pangilinan],” Brian Pineda, major in European Studies, confesses as he details his dream of “invit[ing] friends at 12 o’clock midnight to [his] house in Alabang Hills.”
“So MVP, if you’re reading this, please sponsor me!” Brian jokes, laughing.
A fifth year student, Brian can be best described as a jack of all trades –and for good reason. In his stay in Ateneo, he completed a minor in Spanish, two internships, and been in three blocks and eight organizations. “Tinry ko na lahat (I’ve tried everything)!” he jokes, listing reading, writing poetry, and painting as his hobbies. He is no stranger to the stage, either. An active member of both the Ateneo Musicians’ Pool and the Ateneo blueREP since 2014 and a regular host, he has definitely had his time in the spotlight.
When Brian reflects on his own OrSem experience back in June 2012, he recalls being awestruck by the hosts. “Ang galing galing talaga nila (They were so good),” he gushes, recalling how he was sitting right in front of the stage where he watched his O-hosts welcome them to OrSem and to the beginning of their lives in Ateneo. His OrSem experience made him feel welcome in the Ateneo and he hopes the next batch of freshies feel the same way, saying that he wants them to feel like “they’re at home, because this is going to be their home for the next four years.”
In fact, Brian cites his freshman year as his favorite experience in the Ateneo. “Ibang klase freshie year ko (My freshie year was something else),” he shares, mentioning his block as the sole reason for this. As a freshman, he was involved in the Sanggunian as block representative where he worked under former O-host Toni Potenciano (AB COM ‘13) and he began to involve himself more and more in organizations.
Brian wants the freshies to remember to have fun and enjoy the experience. “[T]he thing you would regret the most is not being you and not having your dreams big enough.”
Glyds Urbano: The OrSem Veteran
By Ching M. Balina
While Glyds has hosted before, being an O-Host for OrSem 2016 will definitely be a new experience for her, she shares. She is no stranger to being part of the OrSem committee though as she was a TnT (Talks and Tours) in the last two years. Being an O-Host is something Glyds has always wanted since her freshman year. She explains that during her own OrSem, she looked up to the O-Hosts and dreamed of becoming a host herself, but had some doubts on whether or not she would make it. “Well, a part of me has always wanted to be on that stage, but then there’s always this, parang, ‘Hmm, will I make it?’” she shares.
Despite past hosting experiences, she was still unsure of her future as an O-Host but she did it thanks to her friends, whom she considers her favorite Ateneans. Glyds gives a shout out to her barkada called “Marthermometer” who supported and pushed her to audition. Now, in her senior year, she gets to put her skills in the limelight. “I’m a senior. I tried out and it worked out,” Glyds explains laughing.
Coming from the province, she knows the feeling of not knowing what to expect from the Ateneo, so she wants the freshmen to know that you can turn Ateneo into another home for yourself. So when it comes to Glyds, expect someone on stage who will make you feel a little less scared of college. “It’s home away from home, and that you’re all accepted no matter who you are,” she says.
Glyds calls OrSem her favorite activity in Ateneo; she’s been part of this yearly tradition since her freshman year. “OrSem is always something very special to me, like, it’s always gonna be in my heart. I’ll always miss when I graduate,” she says. When asked what makes studying Ateneo in special, it’s no surprise that Glyds answers, “The people. [...] they feel like home. They’re all warm, they’re just loving.”
To the incoming freshmen, Glyds’ message is this: “Embrace everything, whatever it is that will come your way. Just embrace.”
I Magpantay: Chance taker
By Dani D. Reyes
“Senior year is the year for opening a lot of opportunities and taking every chance that I have,” shares Inna, also known as I, Magpantay. She advises the freshmen to “make the most out of everyday happenings as an Atenean” since she regrets waiting until fourth year to take on all of the opportunities that college opened up for her. “I was planning talaga to auds for hosting since second year ata. But then, ngayon lang ako nagka-guts to actually have the courage to audition for the OrSem,” she says.
I’s friends had a part in convincing her to audition as an O-Host this year. Rey Lebaquin Jr., an O-Host from the last two OrSems, approached her and told her she should try out for the position. But on the morning of the first round of auditions, she admits she had incessant jitters. “I was really thinking about the auds, ‘Hindi ko kaya.’ ... I messaged my friend ... he told me na nga na, ‘You’re fourth year na. It’s your last time. It’s the last opportunity that you can do it. It’s the last chance. Go take it,’” she shares.
When she’s not reading books, singing, or dancing during her free time, I works with Youth for Christ, the Ateneo Student Leaders Assembly, and the Ateneo Disaster Response and Management team. “I do a lot of project management,” she says. “I enjoy a lot of involving myself in projects that hone the skills that I need after college.” Even then, she says she’d rather focus on the opportunities of the present instead of the future.
True enough, she says her favorite experience is looking outside her org room and seeing the campus since it reminds her why she likes being an Atenean – seeing “how this sanctuary turned a lot of people, a lot of students, into nation builders, into good citizens of the Philippines.”
On what makes Ateneo special, she explains that Ateneo does more than teach lessons academically. “Ateneo instills the values of becoming men and women for others,” she says. “That for me, is the most important part of becoming a student na rin of Ateneo.”
Hans Braga: #HostingGoals
By Carlito O. Mortel
Communications senior Hans Braga has only started hosting recently, but he has already been told that he’s a natural. “My first one was just like a party,” he recounts. “So I auditioned and then I got it, and it just so happened that my co-host was really good, who hosted [OrSem] that year.” He tried out, and with his talkative nature and his experience in the theater organization Ateneo BlueREP, it’s no wonder he got the role.
On what kind of host he is, he says, “I’m always the middle man, I’m always kinda funny but not the comedian, really nice guy but not the boy next door, like kinda flirty but not a flirt.” His own hosting goals are two famous Ateneans: Jaz Reyes and Robi Domingo. “Like, I wish I was as funny and witty as Jaz, but also, like, as y’know Robi Domingo, sobrang pogi niya magsalita.”
It’s his second consecutive year hosting OrSem, so he knows the effort that goes into making OrSem memorable for the freshies. “I think it’s really also that when you see all the committees working together, all these people who don’t even really know each other, like working as different teams,” he says. “It just shows what we can do as like as a community, as Ateneo, and I really wanted to be part of that again.”
He’s put himself in the limelight since he became an O-Host, but he wants the freshmen to remember that he’s also a student, just like them. “I attended OrSem last year [and they asked] for pictures. I told them, ‘Okay, game, but guys remember I’m just your schoolmate. Don’t forget, after this, I’m a student,’” he recalls.
Other than hosting, his hobbies include cooking and keeping fit. “I love to cook. You know, I love to eat, I got to make my own food cause sometimes you’re broke, you know, college life,” he jokes around. “I also like to keep fit ‘cause you know, I like to eat and you got to make up for it.”
His tip for incoming freshmen? “Find the best place to sleep,” he says. “It sounds weird but finding a good napping spot in school is the best. Once you find your place, it’s yours forever.”
Clothes by the OrSem 2016 Host Hunt Team
Make-up by Nathan Javier and Josie Go