Ian Buenavist, President of the Stars Club, LPC Payatas, The Philippines
My name is Ian Buenavista, a motivated 21 years old man from Manila, Philippines and I joined LP4Y in the year 2016. Before joining LP4Y I used to live in the province. I just graduated from High school and got scholarship from the university, however in an unfortunate time, my father died and we got into a serious financial problem, that is why I stop studying and from the young age I learned to be independent and work in the wet market where I tried different work and can say that I never had have a purpose in life.
God’s timing is so perfect that he let me meet LP4Y. It may not be the timing and the things I want, but it’s the timing I need in life. My relatives far from the province asked me to considered LP4Y. I came here to Manila living in my aunt's house to learn more about LP4Y. When I heard about the foundation, the word “Scam” is the first thing that came to my mind but then I gave it a try and considered it - I remember myself saying “If I don’t try then I will never know”. Since I am a youth with a lot of curiosity, I started to go to the Center. Step by step I learned a lot from being shy, not confident, not good in English, from being a Youth who doesn’t know computer skills and who comes from the countryside.
The coaches had patiently and consistently taught me the things I needed to learn. It started from the process of micro-business and how the business works on-hand. I have learned to be the follower that makes me a responsible youth not only to myself but then to the people around me. What I learned in LP4Y has been my armor to fight for my position in life. LP4Y helped me building and improving my qualities and skills that are very helpful because all the things I did in LP4Y are the same things inside the company from inventory, processing of records and files and being a great team player.
LP4Y really is a foundation for experience. The time management for being punctual, be responsible, be the follower, to focus more on the objective, and different skills like communication skills, English, email and computer skills and be a professional worker while helping the company towards its growth. Most importantly I also learned to be the leader who provides examples and be a role model for the other Youth.
I am also proud and happy as the current President of Quezon City LP4Y Stars Club who’s still
assisting the Youth in the center by providing trainings and building the Communication link between the Stars who graduated in LP4Y and the Youth currently in the program.
I started in CGI as a Global HR Member Services Associate and worked with my team for 2 years.The opportunity of working into a Global IT company such as CGI have a lot to be grateful for, but then of course it is a challenging environment and I have been criticized due to the lack of documentations or degree and in this challenging times I have realized and proved that LP4Y Youth are the most equipped Youth with skills needed in every position in every company.
After the 2 years as HR I grab the opportunity to move to the Financial Shared Services as a Payroll Junior Consultant in CGI and I am still working hard and doing what I have to do for my personal growth, the growth of the company and the people around me. I am currently working at home with the privilege given by the CGI and now I can focus more on my own improvement as I am currently studying in Polytechnic University of the Philippines taking up Business of Arts in Broadcasting and have time for the QC Stars LP4Y improvement. I realized all this time that we don’t have to be great to start, but we have to start to be great. To focus on the positive and learn a lot from the experiences because your simple experiences and your stories could help someone else to be motivated in life!
Last February from 2 to 6, I was given an opportunity to become an Assistant Coach and be the volunteer for one week in Payatas Quezon City, Manila for PayataSport Team. I had a great week with the youth and I have seen their professionalism and responsibility Skills during my stay. While helping them learn, I, myself, learn from them too and can see the team spirit with one dream to succeed in the future. From this experience, I learned to appreciate life even if it's not perfect and reminded that happiness is not a fulfilment of what we wish for, but an appreciation of what we have and what we can provide. I am very thankful and grateful for this opportunity that I will cherish my whole life.