To Be or Not to Be (a Jaycee), That is the Question!

By: Iza Antonio

“Volunteers are seldom paid not because they are worthless, but because they are priceless.

These words were instilled in the minds of each JCI Alabang member at the start of the year to promote its drive to recruit more volunteers. Now on its 4th year from revival, the group is now more solid than ever and is in a hunt for quality members who have the heart and passion to serve others.

Realizing that some members are already bound to “graduate” from JCI, the group decided to tap the younger and more dynamic millennials who lead the workforce of today. With this in mind, PROJECT RECREWTMENT was born.  JCI Alabang revamped the old structure of the Opportunity to Impact and made it more personal by getting speakers that are either “super members” or current or past Board of Directors who would share their life stories and how their lives have significantly changed through JCI.  The story telling session, backed up with a lot of pictures and visuals, provided a more intimate and an up close and personal approach as each baby jaycee listened to the changes that happened in our speakers lives, whether it was honing a hidden potential, realizing your creative talent, finding lifelong friends, being a better businessman or simply just getting a girlfriend.  The speakers of the night would also serve as mentors of each batch so that the baby jaycees have someone to run to if they have questions or clarifications about anything JCI.

For the past year, JCI Alabang has had four successful batches of the newly revamped OTI recruitment scheme which proved very successful as each batch had an average of 7 participants. These small groups also became their mini barkada as they would call themselves “batchmates” or batch 1, batch 2 etc. Without realizing, this also gave another avenue for our current members to step up as the batch mentors and to also practice their public speaking skills as the chosen speaker as well as for other members to get to know them better because of the stories they tell. With the success of this newly revamped Opportunity to Impact, JCI Alabang will continue to use the same format for the following years as it hopes to grow its members to 100 strong.