FACT 2021
Dev/Design | Volunteer Manager | Facilitator
Website | GitHub | Composition & Performance
Lakas ng Pagsasama: Strength in Community
Below is a note from the FACT 2021 Coordinators:
Filipino Americans Coming Together (FACT) is the largest student-led Filipino-Interest conference in the Midwest, attracting over 1,300 delegates annually from across the United States. FACT will be celebrating its 29th anniversary virtually on Whova and Youtube Premieres, opening the conference to those across the US. This year, the conference includes an opening ceremony, social justice workshops, cultural expression workshops, career panels, networking sessions, delegate discussions, and variety show.
The theme for this year’s conference is “Lakas ng Pagsasama: Strength in Community.” Strength refers to the power each individual has to make change in their communities. Community refers to the inclusion and celebration of people from different cultural backgrounds and identities. Given the rise in anti-Asian hate and POC struggle because of the pandemic, we wish to support and uplift our communities for this year’s FACT Conference.
The Philippine Student Association at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign seeks to empower delegates, engage in meaningful dialogue, and stand in solidarity with other marginalized communities. By relying on the strength of our communities, we overcome adversity.
Contributions
Throughout the preparation and duration of FACT 2021, I served as the Team FACT Volunteer Manager, where I organized over 30 volunteers over 2 months to help run the largest student-led Filipino-American conference in the Midwest, promoting Filipino and Filipino-American culture through workshops, panels, and performances. I also facilitated the Networking Workshop, where industry professionals and creatives could connect with University of Illinois students and provide stories & advice about their professional and personal journeys.
Additionally, I used my technical expertise to generate registration & attendance spreadsheets through event-management platform Whova, Google Colab, and Google Docs API to prevent repetitive work on volunteers and coordinators, as well as assist the Information Technology chair to design, develop, and deploy conference website using Figma, React, and Vercel.
Finally, I composed and produced over 6 minutes of music for the FACT performance of PSA's cultural dancing group Barkada, which I also danced in.
