Jonnie Rose Louise R. Wee, Zea Raisa S. Pidut, Jan Robert D. Acharon, Jessie Augustus R. Lagon, Eugene L. Dato-on, and Hannan M. Masdoc each received a trophy and gift check worth P5,000 on Friday during the awards rites at the City Hall as recipients of the General Santos City Youth Achievers Award this year.
Wee, 15, was a recipient of a study grant to Hua Qiao Ta Xie School in China in April 2004 where she studied Mandarin and learned to write Chinese characters and wushu.
She is a fourth year student and a candidate for valedictorian in English instruction at General Santos Hope Christian School.
She is presently the editor-in-chief of the school's student paper in Filipino, and was last year's vice president of the student council and that of student editors' guild in the city.
Pidut, 20, a fourth year student taking up Bachelor of Science in Accountancy at Notre Dame of Dadiangas University, is consistently on the dean's list.
She is concurrently the editor-in-chief of the university's student publication and student council, and was a past president of the school's organization of honor students.
Acharon, 18, obtained full scholarships on dance workshops at the Cultural Center of the Philippines in 2005 and 2006, and a ballet workshop last summer at the famous Ballet Center Cebu with the renowned Gregory Aaron and Nicolas Pacana.
He was conferred the Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo Award of Outstanding Achievement in Arts and Culture in 2004.
He is the director of TULBONG, a skills development project that benefits the poor but talented youths in Barangay Bula in the city.
He is taking up a course in commerce at Ramon Magsaysay Memorial Colleges where he is dance master, founder, and artistic director of three dance groups.
Lagon, 19, is a national trainer on leadership development of the Philippine National Red Cross, a youth volunteer instructor of the city's Red Cross chapter, and the youth coordinator of the Red Cross Youth Council of Ramon Magsaysay Memorial Colleges.
He is a fourth year student at Ramon Magsaysay Memorial Colleges taking up Bachelor of Science in Criminology.
He was cited as most outstanding Red Cross Youth of General Santos City in 2005.
Dato-on, 25, is one of the successful applicants out of some 3,000 aspirants to the Volunteer Service Overseas (VSO) Bahaginan, a development organization fighting global poverty and disadvantage through volunteer development programs.
Dato-on is scheduled for his volunteer mission in Africa come early 2008.
He is an "active Old Guard of the Youth Community Service Club- General Santos City Chapter and was one of the pillars behind the organization's landing in the finals of the prestigious Ten Accomplished Youth Organizations" this year.
He graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Secondary Education major in Mathematics in 2004 from Notre Dame of Dadiangas University where he also received a leadership award on the same year.
He has earned units in masters degree in education from NDDU and Mindanao State University.
Masdoc, 22, is the Peace Officer of the Consortium of Bangsamoro Civil Society, a Cotabato-based "solidarity conference" of non-government organizations and peoples organizations in Mindanao.
She has "intensive trainings on the Culture of Peace and the Peace Process and is presently a resource person on these topics."
She is a co-founder of Circle of Peacebuilders in SOCSKSARGEN, a network of youth organizations and individuals working for peace in the provinces of South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani, and the city of General Santos; board member of Young Moro Professionals Council, an organization of young Muslim professionals that has been active in peace advocacy, hosting and joining forums on peace and social issues; and corporate secretary of Muslim Business Forum, an assembly of Muslim businesspeople and academicians working for the economic empowerment of Muslims in Mindanao.
Masdoc graduated as a scholar with a degree in Bachelor of Science in Biology at Mindanao State University, where she was also an active student leader. (Norodin M. Makalay/MindaNews)