ACheS
Awarded Most Improved Organization
By: Christine Querebillo
Last February 2, the Ateneo Chemical Society (ACheS) was awarded Most Improved Organization by the Council of Organizations of the Ateneo (COA). Confident with the performance of the organization for this school year, Marge Maguad, the President of ACheS 2004-2005 (see picture: far left), and her co-Executive Board members submitted an achievement report to the COA and vied for the said award. ACheS has certainly improved this year with its 47 projects, which include chemistry-related activities (such as quiz bees, seminars, company tours, and exhibits) and academic assistance to its members and the Ateneo students (tutorials, book lending programs, and study guide contributions).
Marge Maguad (far left),
ACheS president, received the COA Award.
The impressive
performance of the organization was magnified by the nominations and recommendations
of prominent Ateneo faculty members. Class valedictorian batch 2002, Mr.
Paul Dominic Olinares, nominated ACheS whereas the recommendations
of the organization came from the Dean of the School of Science and Engineering,
Fabian Dayrit, Ph.D, and the Chair of the Chemistry Department, Nina Rosario
Rojas, Ph.D. With the powerhouses supporting the organization and with its
visible improvement, it was a sure win to the organization.
The president of the organization, however, was still surprised when it
was finally announced that ACheS won the award. Joy and excitement
could not be contained resulting to her being tagged as the "giggly
president." The strong emotions, however, did not stop her from giving
a long speech as "[it] may never happen again." ACheS has
long waited for such recognition and after so many years, it finally got
the award it deserves. In her speech, Marge did not forget to thank all
the people that helped the Society in becoming an organization that it is
now. The speech was mainly a thank you to all the people who helped the
organization in one way or another and a promise that the organization will
continue to "move, improve and accomplish" into becoming "a
better ACheS in the years to come."
In addition
to being recognized as the Most Improved Organization, the whole
community is now celebrating after receiving the results of the accreditation.
The organization received three years of accreditation, the highest number
of accreditation years that an organization can get. With the award and
the full accreditation, ACheS certainly has the inspiration it needs
to continue becoming a better organization for the Ateneo community and,
hopefully, for outside the community, as well. As such, this would be one
of the thrusts of the organization next year.
Accompanying Marge were ACheS's Moderator, Dr. Armando M. Guidote,
Jr., and ACheS's VP-Personnel, Peter June Santiago. The judges for
the COA Awards consist of the COA Executive Board and the
different organizational cluster heads. The other finalists were the Pre-Med
Society of the Ateneo and the Loyola Film Circle.
