By CHRISTIAN PANEDA
Michgian In Color
Summer Managing Editor
Founded in 2009, Pilipino
American Unity for Progress
is a national nonprofit orga-
nizations that invests itself in
engaging and empowering the
Filipinx and FIlipinx Ameri-
can community at large in
the United States. UniPro was
founded on the mission to pro-
vide opportunities for Filipinx
students in the United States
to explore professional devel-
opment, history and policy
rooted in the Filipinx experi-
ence. I had the honor to travel
to New York City to attend one
such opportunity — UniPro
Summit 2017: Persist.
There is something inter-
esting about growing up in
the Midwest. From where I’m
from, the Midwest is corn-
fields, driving past those same
cornfields endlessly for one
form of fun, and going to the
same Applebee’s every week-
end for the other form of fun.
The Midwest is small towns
like the ones I grew up in.
I even had more of an inter-
esting time as a Filipino Amer-
ican. The only opportunities
to learn about Filipino culture
were the very limited interac-
tions with my parents, and a
display of minority culture is
unfavorable outside my home.
Speaking out is even more dif-
ficult. I lived in smallness.
The more I grew up, the more
I questioned my Filipino-ness.
Now after a couple of years
into my undergraduate career,
where I hit the ground run-
ning in terms of exploring my
culture and civic involvement,
comes the UniPro Summit
2017: Persist.
I came to the UniPro Sum-
mit on a mission: to better
myself as a leader in Filipinx
American spaces by listening
to other perspectives outside
the Midwest.
From the keynote speak-
ers, I was absolutely inspired
by their stories of persistence.
In trying times, it is impera-
tive to keep pushing. To be
unapologetically yourself is
subversive enough, and the
narratives of Geena Rocero
and Christina Halpern serve
as encouragement to remain
strong.
Workshops
focused
on the fundamentals of public
speaking, adapting quickly to
adverse situations within our
collegiate organizations and
addressing issues that exist
within our communities such
as anti-Blackness.
And even though my expe-
rience as a Filipino American
was very different from many
others at the conference, I still
felt such a genuine sense of
community. It was refreshing
to be in a space where every-
one is so motivated to create a
better Filipino America.
I want to take the energy
from UniPro and bring it back
the Midwest, which I think
is the point of the summit. I
must … Persist. It seems over-
ly redundant, but the central
theme of the summit is even
truer now than ever. Coming
together as we are, mobiliz-
ing Filipinx Americans on a
national scale, is an act of per-
sistence, but it’s important for
me to use my voice to uplift
the rest of the Midwest com-
munity by providing resources
of education and engagement.
While we in the Midwest pay
homage to our cultural roots,
we must also address the
issues that pervade a problem-
atic US society — no matter
how uncomfortable it is.
Growing up in a small town
had me dreaming about trav-
eling to big cities to discover
something bigger than me.
UniPro gave me an opportu-
nity to fulfill that wish, and
now my dream is to use the
skills I’ve acquired along the
adventure to impact Filipinx
Americans and shatter a stag-
nant idea of smallness.
Thank you to UniPro for
having me.
Thank you to the people I
met who understood me as I
am.
Thank you to the people
I met who taught me how to
persist from their acts of per-
sistence.
I-want-to-be-a-Unipro: small town Filipino
American goes to the Big Apple
COLLAGE BY CHRISTIAN PANEDA | PHOTO BY JBRIAN GUERRERO
9
Thursday, July 6, 2017
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com MICHIGAN IN COLOR