BSU welcomed 46 Scout Officers for a Day (SOFAD) on October 14, 2019 as an annual event by the Department of Education (DepEd). These scout officers “substituted” officials of participating agencies during that day.

 

The scouts began their day as officials at the Governor Ben Palispis Hall-Benguet Provincial Capitol when they attended the flag, turn-over and oath-taking ceremonies with the other 45 scouts who also substituted officials of LGU Benguet, Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP), National Irrigation Administration (NIA), Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and Philippine National Police (PNP).

 

There were seven students from BSU-Secondary Laboratory School who also earned posts as SOFAD. They are Shalom Therese S. Dagwasi who substituted Benguet Board Member Hon. Juan M. Nazarro; Nena Ruschan G. Escalera substituted Board Member Hon. Ruben E. Paoad; Kurt Curvy A. De Guzman substituted Provincial Social Welfare and Development Coordinator Ms. Juana B. Bannawe; Aldizon Darence F. Dulay substituted BSU director for Center for Culture and the Arts Dr. Leonardo L. Samonte; Kimberly T. Pasian substituted director of the Office for Extension Services, Dr. Ruth S. Batani; Eduardo F. Ecijan III substituted College of Teacher Education Dean, Dr. Imelda G. Parcasio; and James Russel E. Ramiscal substituted College of Forestry Dean, Dr. Conrado C. Boa-idang.

 

“I realized that it’s an honor to sit as a member in the Sangunniang Panlalawigan. Being a member means you get to see the real issues of the province of Benguet. As SOFAD, we saw the importance of being a board member and that is to keep on creating solutions for simple or hard problems to improve the province,” said Escalera. “I realized that to be a Sanguniang Panlalawigan member, I need to be a good leader full of determination to give what is best for everybody. I must give everything even if only a little will come back,” added Dagwasi.

 

The scouts also noticed that being a public official is a challenging job.

 

“Being a BSU president is not easy and the president and all officials here work so hard,” said Scout Liezel Mae P. Sabado from La Trinidad National High School who substituted Dr. Feliciano G. Calora Jr. She added that she would convince students to enrol in BSU by giving them a tour around the campus and showing them videos of graduates being interviewed to make them see how exciting it is to study in BSU.

 

“There are many tasks to be done and problems to be solved but it is also great and fun,” commented Scout Dylan Mae Endi of Bangao National High School who substituted Atty. Arnold Lampacan as BSU Executive Assistant. Endi described that to be an Executive Assistant, one must be trustworthy and a good decision-maker.

 

The scouts shared that to be qualified for the SOFAD program, they had to be active in scouting and earn a number of badges. After being qualified, the scouts were trained on leadership and parliamentary proceedings by DepEd. They were later ranked based on the evaluation results of the training.//JSTabangcura