Eara Cayanga

Making a Difference 101 with Student Leader Eara Cayanga

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Be of help to other people.

They say the students of today are the leaders of tomorrow, but who says they can’t lead right now? Eara Cayanga shows us how keeping that mindset of openness and learning can propel us forward as a society. 

School days are unforgettable for a reason. Designed to train you for impending adulthood, your workload as a student can at times be just as heavy as that of a full-time office worker, if not more so. Whether you were the responsible type who always studied and completed assignments in a timely manner, or the daring type who managed to churn out all their papers and projects just hours before deadlines hit, one thing school teaches you is: you are capable of much more than you think. 

University of Asia & the Pacific Student Government President and 5-6YP Master of Arts in Integrated Marketing Eara Cayanga, who also hosted the NYLON Manila Career Fair stop at her school last October, believes that this generation of students has a lot to offer to the world. And it doesn’t have to wait until after graduation. Hear from her how Generation Now can be socially responsible and active.  

Related: 13 Websites That Will Help You With Your Thesis

KEEPING THE STUDENT MINDSET

With most Gen Z in their teens to mid-twenties, the majority of their lives up until this point have been spent in school. And while some have now had some working experience under their belts, a lot of them still have a lot of fresh viewpoints to offer. In Eara’s view, this is one of their greatest strengths: “I feel like the openness of this generation to discovering new things, accepting new perspectives is what makes us different because when we mesh all of these ideas together, we basically get to form bigger, better ideas just to make the lives of the people around us better.”

This is single handedly the most valuable thing that the young have to offer: their inexperience (yes, really). As a newbie to life you may not know how to do things well yet, but you also don’t know how to do things badly. You are not limited by tradition and standards. Your individual experiences are irreplicable, and in a world that is changing at a rate that is equal parts exciting and terrifying, the ability to devise new ways of tackling issues is crucial. Modern problems require modern solutions, after all.  

EARA CAYANGA

Halter dress by @althea.laluna X @addipanadero , Althea Luna , addipanadero, Heels by @smfashion , SM Fashion

The incredible brain power that Gen Z possesses is truly a marvel. However, the ability to problem-solve is also greatly affected by the input we receive. Having access to accurate information is key to progressing as a society. So, in a time when fake news and misinformation is so active and easy to spread, it’s important to go back to the media literacy skills instilled in us during our school years. Eara explains, “I think the best way for us to stay well-informed is to not rely so much on the factor of convenience. I think that’s what’s missing in our generation. We practically choose whatever is most convenient. Not to say that convenience is bad, but with important issues and topics, taking that extra step to validate, so going to more reliable websites. You know all of these things, but, basically: be very wary of where you choose to get your information from because we don’t want to contribute to the already large percentage of fake news that’s going around.”

Remember all those nights you spent crying over your cited works and review of related literature pages? That’s what all of that was for, bestie. Even if there’s no longer a terror prof breathing down your neck to ensure you’ve used the correct citation style, being critical and mindful about the things that appear on our screens and feeds is something we should carry with us long after we’ve thrown those graduation caps into the air. 

STEP BY STEP

Something else that tends to stay with us long after we’ve marched is the times we failed. In fact, the fear and pain of failure is something that tends to follow you around regardless of the chapter of life you’ve reached. And, for Eara, it is the single most important thing you must learn to accept in this life. “University is the best avenue to fail. Not in the sense that you’re going to fail on purpose, but being in school is the best avenue because you really get to learn so many different things,” she asserts. “A lot of the times we kind of crucify ourselves for making all these mistakes, but the sooner in life that we accept that failure is going to be a part of everything, whether little or small, the more successful I feel that we’re going to be.” 

Accepting failure as a natural part of the learning process can be a difficult pill to swallow. But seeing it for what it is – the opportunity to increase your knowledge and stay humble – can make it a bit easier. “Our experiences and our failures are what enrich us. So the sooner we’re open to failure, we will be better people,” Eara shares. And, in true Gen Z fashion, she ties this acceptance back to our ability to service others: “At the same time, helping people maybe avoid the same mistake that we created so it plays a part in our lives but I think more importantly the people around us as well.” 

All of this, of course, is much easier said than done. After all, societal standards of success and the successes we see from our peers on social media can make us feel like we’re lagging behind in spectacular fashion. “I feel like, especially in this generation, we’re so pressured. We have this timeline in our head that: hey, by this age I need to have already found my career path. By this age I need to have a particular salary. By this age I need to start a family,” Eara observes. Her advice? Focusing on the full journey rather than the individual stop. “One reason to stay inspired is to realize that progress is never linear. I feel like when we’re so set on instant gratification that: oh, I want the results now, I want what’s good for me now. But that’s the beauty of life. You have to go through the ups and the downs, the beautiful and the ugly, and I think just realizing that everything we do contributes to the bigger picture.” 

PURPOSE IN OTHERS

Speaking of the bigger picture, for Eara this has always been civic engagement: “That’s one thing that I really want to reinforce to the people of today: just to really be of help to other people.” She points to this strong sense of social responsibility as something that has kept her grounded since her younger years, proudly announcing, “I do believe that each person really needs to extend themselves to the people around them. It doesn’t have to be in the big things, you know. It doesn’t mean that in every calamity you’ll give out thousands of pesos, give out a hundred relief bags. Just making sure that you’re always there to give back to the community that ensures that you’re okay. What we don’t realize is that our community contributes to who we are today. Realize that we’re privileged and make sure we go beyond ourselves and stop limiting ourselves to just our personal desires.” 

GENERATION NOW COVER

The desire to be our best and truest selves can be a powerful motivator. But when our main character syndrome starts to enter unhealthy delulu territory is when we are unrealistic in setting our goals. Small improvements are worth celebrating as well. “Get rid of the mindset that you have to start out big,” Eara urges. “I’m a firm believer that doing little things, everything basically adds up. So even if it’s something as little as changing your habits or doing a small act of kindness, all of these things kind of create a ripple effect and in turn create bigger changes in our society.”

When it comes to affecting meaningful change, a lot of Gen Z definitely understand the assignment. But if you’re unsure exactly how to go about it, Eara has some words of wisdom for you: “You can’t really put a time stamp on it just because purpose holds so much significance. So to rush that entire process is doing a disservice to yourself, because, in your life, you have one purpose. That’s basically where you will keep going back to when you’re having a hard time. You go back to your why. So this is the very root of what makes you you, and if you feel like you haven’t found that yet then I’m sure it will come at some point in your life. You just really have to be patient and know that you don’t have to follow a particular timeline.” So keep learning and keep growing, fam. We’re all in this together. 

Photography by ALAN SEGUI

Assisted by JEO JINGCO and JOHN LIM 

Creative and Fashion Direction by ANDRE JUDD CHANG

Art Direction by GELO QUIJENCIO 

Styling by ANDRE JUDD CHANG

Fashion Assistant KURT ABONAL

Assisted by APRIL LOZADA

Production Design by ARJ MADZ of JAGGER STUDIOS 

Makeup by ARON GUEVARA (Elijah and Eara) and KATHY ORAN (Abi and Gab)

Hair by PATTY CRISTOBAL (Abi, Eara, and Elijah) and SAM CORBILLON of TRIPLE LUCK HAIR STUDIO BY TLBNS (Gab)

Nails by CATHY BALINGASA of TRIPLE LUCK HAIR STUDIO BY TLBNS (Abi, Gab, and Elijah)

Shoot Coordination by JASMIN DASIGAN

Managing Editor RAFAEL BAUTISTA

Brand Associate BIANCA LAO

Grab your copy of the Generation Now MyZine Print Issue featuring Elijah, Abi, Gab, and Eara now HERE.

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