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UNDERWATER SQUAD

UNIPRO PILIPINO AMERICAN UNITY FOR PROGRESS, INC.

MISSION STATEMENT RUTGERS ASSOCIATION OF PHILIPPINE STUDENTS

To unite the Filipino students within the Rutgers

community by establishing solidarity on the basis of a

common heritage, to educate the Rutgers community on

various aspects of the Philippine culture, to provide

information of current socioeconomic and political

conditions about the Philippines, and to provide services

and programs that will be beneficial to Filipinos both

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The mission of UniPro is to facilitate and encourage

cooperation through coalition development among various

Pilipino organizations, institutions, and programs by:

• Identifying the unresolved and/or unaddressed issues,

problems and concerns that burden the Pilipino

community and provide the information necessary to

remedy them.

• Informing, encouraging, enabling and mobilizing the

Pilipino people to serve the community and improve

the lives of the underprivileged and others in need.

• Forming alliances, building coalitions, fostering

cooperation and resolving misunderstanding among

community members and organizations.

BARRIO FIESTA FEAT. REX NAVARETTE

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Rex Navarette is a Filipino Ameri-

can comedian whose material is geared

toward Filipino audiences. He started

his career in 1989 with a performance at

University of California Santa Cruz. He

has since performed in over two dozen

colleges and universities as well as vari-

ous comedy clubs and festivals, includ-

ing headlining a sold-out performance

at The Warfield in San Francisco as well

as the Wiltern LG in Los Angeles. As of

December 2006, he has toured extensively throughout North America,

Europe, Asia, and Australia. These include performances in San Francis-

co, New York, Montreal, Manila, Geneva, Hong Kong, Singapore, and

Sydney.

WHAT IS BARRIO

FIESTA?

RAP’S Barrio Fiesta is meant

to showcase an extended ver-

sion of our hilarious Battle of

the Barrios skit as well as oth-

er talented groups from the

RAPS and Rutgers community.

There will also be delicious

food and a performance by

the comical Rex Navarette!

Barrio Fiesta will be Sunday 4/26 at 4PM in Trayes Hall! Admission is free!

Hope to see you there with your family and friends!

RAPS RECAPS CHECK OUT WHAT WE’VE BEEN UP TO THIS SEMESTER

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UNDERWATER S Q U A D @ FIND

FIND @ UMD NOM-INATIONS NOM-INATIONS

RDT WORKSHOP

EBOARD GOOD LUCK TO THE 2015-2016 RAPS EBOARD

OFFICER POSITIONS

Secretary

Treasurer

Executive Board Positions

Internal PR

External PR

Community Chair

Graphics Coordinator

Media Crew Coordinator

Events Coordinators (2)

COUNCIL MEMBERS

BALITA Editor

RDT Coordinator

RCDT Coordinators (2)

Sports Coordinator

Webmaster

RAGS Coordinators (2)

Alumni Chair

RAPS EBOARD 2014-2015

WHAT I FOUND AT FIND BY—MJ ALEJANDRINO

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It’s funny to think how RAPS, an organization I once overlooked, has now be-come an integral part of my college life. Seriously. RAPS has become love, RAPS has become life.

I remember going to the general interest meeting in my first semester and then not staying. I had enough friends from high school (60+ of my classmates go here) and I didn’t click with anyone new. Back then, I didn’t have a reason to return.

But I still kept RAPS at the back of my mind. I still joined the Facebook group and occasionally heard about events. I told myself that maybe one day, I would go back. After all, there’s something special about an organization dedi-cated to the heritage I grew up in.

Months went by and life went on and then I found myself unhappy and un-settled. I learned that it was a mistake to limit myself to the same, comforta-ble crowd because with them, I wasn’t inspired to change. College is supposed to be about new experiences and I decided I needed to branch out and meet new people. I thought RAPS would be the perfect place to do that.

Thankfully, the universe aligned and I was right. Flash forward to now, I can say that RAPS has changed my life. They say it isn’t about what you know, but about who you know that matters and they’re right. Through RAPS, I’ve gone to or performed in events that I normally wouldn’t have. More importantly, I’ve met so many people that I always look forward to seeing every Wednes-day at the meetings. I’ve gotten a Big, a Grandbig, a lineage. I’ve finally found a group that I clicked with.

What I appreciate most about RAPS is the family environment that everyone, most especially Top Five, has created and nurtured. From what I’ve heard, this family atmosphere was lost before but I honestly believe it’s slowly returning and becoming better each day. I’ve never been part of an organization this close, one that welcomes you so enthusiastically right when you walk through the door, or who does beso-beso as a greeting. It might be a Filipino thing. All I know is that it’s incredibly sweet to see. It makes me feel like I belong.

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This sense of family is what I found at FIND. FIND, or the Filipino Intercolle-giate Networking Dialogue, Inc. was a day long event packed with workshops headlined by inspiring Filipino speakers successful in their respective fields. While the workshops themselves were informative and interesting, what I really enjoyed was the social aspect of this trip. FIND was held at the Universi-ty of Maryland this semester, which meant a 3 hour long drive from Rutgers. In other words: Road Trip!

45 of us packed into a few cars and then into a few motel rooms. We ate to-gether, traveled in packs like wolves and took countless selfies. In the group pictures we took, you can see how much fun we had, how beautiful the weather was and how much prettier the University of Maryland was than Rut-gers.

But my favorite part wasn’t the sights, the food, or the “studying”, it was the little things. By that, I’m talking about how Vanessa stressed that all the cars should travel together from place to place like “a caravan.” How Mikee went from room to room making sure everyone was settled and okay. How Misha wanted everyone to meet up and go to the Cherry Blossom festival together. I’m a freshman and a newcomer and I’m not that close to everyone, but I see this and I smile because these little things are what makes RAPS worth going back to, week after week.

So to my big Josh who puts up with me, to my grandbig Ericka who buys me bubble tea, to Alan, Nicca, Jareth and Carl who have welcomed me into their UR chat and squad, to Kim, Alaisha and Darienne who make me laugh, to Top Five who work so hard and lose sleep balancing their academics while still making RAPS what it is today, and to everyone else, I want to say thank you for all the laughter, the fun, and the memories. May my happy years with RAPS be as long as this shout out list. Amen.