Written by Albert Matayom

From September 27 to October 1, 2022,  the Organizational Communication Society celebrated another fruitful OrCom Week with the theme of Odyssey. Exploring meaningful storytelling through organizational communication.

In line with the organization’s goal of providing its members with a holistic college experience while embodying the values of unity, camaraderie, and leadership, this year’s OrCom week features several familiar events with some interesting twists. This year’s celebration featured several talks, gatherings, and the first-ever face-to-face event since the emergence of the pandemic.

Destination #1 Eto Kami Ngayon – September 27, 2022

The odyssey starts with “Eto Kami Ngayon” , an annual series of talks that showcases the careers and current lives of the program’s alumni. This year’s speakers are Ms. Jeannie Tangente, Ms. Ria Landingin, and Mr. Earl Guico who are currently in the fields of medicine, advocacy communication, and corporate communication respectively. The speakers brought up several talking points such as how OrCom has helped them thrive in their current careers with the last speaker Mr. Earl Guico even stating that he’s never seen an OrCom graduate who didn’t become successful.  The speakers also shared stories of their time at the university and the challenges they faced in the workplace. 

Destination #2 Hopeful Realism – September 28, 2022

Hopeful Realism is an annual talk by Prof. Chadwick Co Sy Su on the realities of adulthood. This year’s talk featured the struggles and hard-to-swallow pills after graduation. Prof. Chadwick imparted his knowledge to OrCom majors by discussing several topics such as life outside the university, finding financial stability, and  maintaining social relationships,

Destination #3 Buddy Auction

Originally scheduled for September 26, the event was moved by a few days due to Tropical Storm Karding. Nonetheless, that has not stopped the freshies and upper batches from bonding together in this year’s live buddy auction. Spearheaded by OrComSoc’s Vice President for Internals-Membership, Diana Baraquel, This year’s buddy auction enabled freshies to choose their buddies from different slides that provide hints on who their potential buddies would be. Later, breakout rooms were opened for the freshies and buddies to get to know each other.

Destination #4 Blast Off! – September 29, 2022

Blast off is another series of talks for OrCom Week. This event featured notable speakers. The first talk was given by Ms. Kamiya Garcia who is an OrCom graduate from De La Salle University  and the current Communications Lead for Coca-Cola Beverages. Her talk focused on building reputation and establishing healthy business relationships for aspiring public relations specialists. The second talk was given by none other than prominent journalist, politician, and activist Mr. Teddy Baguilat. He talked about the current landscape of journalism and how technology has drastically changed the media used for journalism. He also shared his experiences during his campaign period during the 2022 elections in which he ran for senator. 

Destination #5 OrComlympics – October 1, 2022

OrCom week concludes with a huge bang as the Organization partakes in its first-ever physical event since the start of the pandemic. After two years of going through-party games in zoom and discord. OrCom majors finally meet face-to face for this year’s OrComlympics. Each batch battled it out in a competitive afternoon that featured several games like Human Sungka and Catch the Dragon’s Tail. The event concluded with the freshies standing tall and the executive committee awarding their new Junior Executives and freshie batch representatives.

This year’s OrCom week was groundbreaking and marked a period of change. It gave every member a chance to immerse themselves in the meaningful stories in Organizational communication while also writing their own chapters. Until then for the next OrComSoc week.