April 15, 2025
by Jon Lorence Panelo
Since I was a high school student, I had already been speaking in front of a crowd. However, I would not have come this far without countless practice sessions, wins, and losses. My public speaking journey started as early as Grade 9 when I was selected as the representative during the poem-making competition. Despite countless practice sessions, I experienced my first defeat as I forgot my poem halfway through the competition. It was when I experienced my first mental block and found out that memorizing is not my strength. When I turned grade 10, I was selected to compete in smart-talking, and this time, it was talking about anything under the sun. I then experienced becoming a champion for the first time at an event.
Fast forward to college life, I was a frequent host for online and in-person school events. A highlight during online class was when I became a guest speaker for a webinar on the benefits of research from a student-researcher perspective. Also, during the AISATunggalian 2021, I became the champion of the first-ever extemporaneous speaking competition. During face-to-face class, I hosted the first-ever club day and even the student orientation when all classes returned to the face-to-face modality. Such experiences have greatly helped me in aviation management, as we usually do presentations weekly. On graduation day, I was tasked to deliver a heartfelt tribute to parents, which still lingers within me today.
A month after graduation, I was hired as a part-time aviation management instructor. My experiences in public speaking as a student have helped me build my confidence from my teaching demonstration until my conduct of classes during the first semester. I was fulfilled when I found out that I was an effective teacher based on the faculty evaluation and with positive comments from my students. I then became one of AISAT’s career guidance orientation staff in the second semester. During this time, I had already gotten used to speaking in large crowds and enjoyed interacting with students while conducting school-to-school marketing campaigns. Recently, I was invited by the Jesus and Mary Thevenet School Foundation as a resource speaker during their career day. With the theme of global learners, looking at the future full of hope, I could share my experiences from being a working student to an intern to working diverse jobs.
For April, I hosted the Sarcon-Nones/Nuñez grand family reunion, participated by more than a hundred of my relatives. From the program flow to the games, I could apply my years of public speaking experience to hosting such events with family members of all ages. To the AISAT students, I was once like you, having experienced a mental block and nervousness on stage. However, with consistent practice and exposure to speaking engagements, I got used to speaking in front of a crowd. I hope and pray that you, reading this right now, expose yourself to public speaking. Through this, you will be able to build confidence from your student life up until your career and even have doors opened for more opportunities. Believe me when I say that public speaking will surely be an asset that will help you let your dreams take flight!