Discussing the important aspects of what makes a good leader, student-athlete Jed Diamante highlighted the significance of one’s reason and purpose as motivation to persevere during the AdDU Junior Philippine Institute of Civil Engineers (JPICE) webinar series on Leadership yesterday via Zoom.

“Your ‘why’ defines what you want to achieve, dictates how far you’re willing to go, and it makes up the very soul of what you do. Your ‘why’ will help you overcome the challenges and make everything more fulfilling. Your ‘why’ is your fuel,” the De La Salle University (DLSU) football captain said.

Diamante, a BS Civil Engineering (BS-CE) student specializing in Transport Engineering and former AdDU Fortes-in-Fide awardee, asserted that an individual’s motivation is one of their most valuable assets.

“When I design a bridge one day, families can cross safely. When I design a residential building someday, the people living there could sleep soundly. This is what goes on in my mind when I am answering practice problems. I know that the more I learn, the more I can help others,” he expressed.

As one of the notable student-athlete members in the JPICE community, Diamante also shared his insights on the essential things to bear in mind when the responsibilities get overwhelming.

“Organizing and prioritizing puts everything into perspective, and you would have a better grasp of the things that you have to do. I suggest keeping a checklist,” he said.

“Understanding is better than memorizing. Memorizing defeats the purpose of our training, but understanding helps us appreciate the underlying concepts and continues to give us a constant sense of curiosity,” Diamante added.

The Civil Engineering student also emphasized the value of collaborative effort and humility to admit that one needs help from others.

“There is actually no problem in not knowing something yet. It is more damaging to pretend to know something and not ask for help; rather than accept that you do not understand something and reach out to others,” he stated.

“When we collaborate, we accomplish more things. More heads are working on a single task, and more ideas are brought to the table. Aside from asking for help, it’s also important to share what you know,” Diamante stressed.

Diamante also urged the students to open themselves to different opportunities and be exposed to taking risks to widen their perspective.

“College is not just about academics or getting those high grades. There are a lot of practical things that are not necessarily taught in class but can be learned best through experience.”

“The genuine relationships you form in college can transcend beyond the four walls of education. That is why I really urge you to invest in yourselves and invest in relationships. And when we do [this], we expose ourselves to viral opportunities,” he explained.

The participants of the said webinar also shared their takeaways on Diamante’s thoughts in forming BS-CE student leaders.

Javier Salvador, Civil Engineering Representative, shared the significance of helping shape the next generation leaders of the CE and School of Engineering and Architecture (SEA) community.

“The goal is to help these students realize their potential and drive for leadership. Before you are a leader, you are a student. Never compete with others, only compete with yourself. Because in the end, you will serve the same community,” he said.

Salvador also explained that the webinar would contribute to bringing out the potential of the students and their growth.

“The CE and SEA need leaders. Our course is filled with vibrant talent and potentially great leaders. During our planning phase, we realized that to bring out the potential in them, we also needed to invest in their growth,” Salvador said.

Meanwhile, Charles Del Socorro, a third year BS-CE student, shared that the JPICE Leadership webinar series is essential in honing leadership skills among the students.

“Given the situation that we have right now, we are really constrained into doing things online, and as leaders, we still really have to come up with solutions to improve and develop our leadership skills,” he stated.

Del Socorro also recognized the essence of learning to balance everything, as what the speaker mentioned in his talk.

“The thing that struck me the most is that being a college student doesn’t mean that we are going just to focus ourselves on academics. Just like Jed Diamante said earlier, we have to find the perfect balance of things,” he said.