On Nov. 12, the Pilipino Cultural Association (PCA) held their annual S.O.U.L Art event in the Athletic/Recreation Center (ARC) multipurpose room, located on the University City campus.
S.O.U.L stands for Searching, Observing, Understanding and Learning, which takes adjectives from the program’s slogan: “Forever looking, but never searching, always watching but never observing. Only the comprehension, but never the understanding, wanting knowledge, but never learning.”
PCA is an organization on UCity’s campus that highlights Pilipino traditions and history. They welcomed various organizations and people to showcase their talents and enjoy cultural food, music and art.
President of PCA Reigne Villanueva ’24 believes that PCA’s goal is not only to educate others, but also to bring together diverse cultural identities and organizations on campus.
“PCA’s mission is to raise cultural awareness on St. Joseph’s University and be able to advocate and help Pilipinos on our campus,” Villanueva said. “At the same time, we work with other cultural organizations both on and off campus to strengthen our ties and to create a space where DEI [diversity, equity and inclusion] is welcomed.”
The goal behind the annual event is to be able to bring attention to various diverse cultures within the St. Joe’s community. Events coordinator Louise Paed ’24 believes that S.O.U.L Art is a great opportunity for people of all backgrounds to come out and represent themselves.
“The main thing we wanted to do was to represent the Pilipino community and promote greater recognition and awareness of the culture, history and heritage,” Paed said. “Let it be a platform for people to showcase what they have.”
The event was formatted like a talent show, where different groups and individuals were welcomed to sign up and perform. This year’s winning group was Culture Shock, an Afro-Caribbean dance group. Culture Shock president Kezia Odamtten ’25 says that the group comes out every year to perform because they enjoy the support between the different cultural organizations on campus.
“Of course we want to come out and show out and just have people know about us,” Odamtten said. “PCA was really great coming to our event yesterday, our annual gala. They showed out, and they helped set up everything, so it was a little ‘thank you’ to show up for their event.”
While this event serves as an opportunity to showcase individual talents, it is also an opportunity for people to gain better knowledge about PCA and the type of activities they hold.
“With our big events, it’s really great to see people from other organizations or people from other places come and see what we’re all about,” Villanueva said. “Our GBMs [general body meetings] are mainly our members, even though they’re welcome to anyone, so it’s nice to see a lot of people come together [at these events] and see what PCA can do.”
According to PCA vice president Julianne DeCastro ’24, the organization not only hosts events, but they also continue to bring awareness to various important topics of conversation regarding the Philippines.
“We like to keep up on current events to teach people about what is going on in the Philippines, because some people aren’t always aware of what goes on there,” DeCastro said.
Laura Agyemang ’23, Culture Shock’s choreographer and music engineer, believes that events like this are a great opportunity for people to come together and express themselves while also continuing to search, observe, understand and learn from other cultures.
“What I’ve noticed on this campus especially is that we’re very diverse. I think everyone can learn something about other people’s cultures,” Agyemang said. “It’s nice to have someone celebrate where you come from even though they are not from where you are.”
