SG President Attends World Youth Meeting in Japan

The president of the Silliman University Student Government (SUSG) is currently in Japan for an international gathering which is attended by 700 university and high school students.

Marian Vanslembrouck, a fourth year student at the College of Nursing, is at the World Youth Meeting (WYM) in Nagoya, Japan from August 1 to 10. She joins youth leaders from Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan and the Philippines.

(Silliman University Student Government president Marian Vanslembrouck [standing third from right] pose with fellow participants at the 2012 World Youth Meeting in Nagoya, Japan [Photo by Megumi Siti Hino].)

Conceptualized and regularly hosted by Nihon Fukushi University (NFU), WYM provides an opportunity to youth leaders in select universities to interact and collectively discuss issues that affect the region and the role that the youth play in addressing them. It also serves as a venue for the promotion of intercultural experiences and understanding.

Vanslembrouck, whose advocacy in the SUSG includes the protection of the environment through proper waste segregation and the use of bicycles around the campus, doubles as a resource person on issues that shape Philippine society.

Part of WYM, which is chaired by Prof. Makoto Kageto, Dean of the Faculty of International Welfare and Development at NFU, is a homestay program with a host Japanese family.

The travel of Vanslembrouk was supported by the Education Ministry of Japan and NFU.