𝐓𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐇𝐚𝐤𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐠: 𝐀𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐨 𝐁𝐥𝐮𝐞 𝐕𝐨𝐭𝐞 𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐕𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐫𝐬

Ateneo de Davao University – August 12, 2026 — Newly onboarded Ateneo Blue Vote Volunteers gather for their orientation, marking the beginning of their journey toward active citizenship, voter education, and meaningful civic engagement.

A first step does not have to be grand to create meaningful change.

This was the spirit behind the orientation of the newly onboarded Ateneo Blue Vote Volunteers, as the Community Engagement and Sustainable Development Office (CESDO) welcomed a new batch of student volunteers into a continuing journey of voter education, active citizenship, and community engagement.

The orientation was grounded in the intention of Hakbang—to encourage young people to take that first step toward service, participation, and social involvement, while recognizing that meaningful change often begins with simple acts of showing up.

Welcoming the volunteers was Mark Paul O. Samante, Director of the Community Engagement and Sustainable Development Office (CESDO), who opened the gathering by emphasizing the importance of young people’s participation in communities and civic spaces.

The volunteers were also introduced to a perspective shaped by experience as Ms. Jai Estocapio, a former Blue Vote Volunteer and now a development sector professional, shared her journey from student volunteerism to community engagement work.

For Estocapio, Blue Vote was her first Hakbang.

She recalled how the program provided her with an encouraging and supportive environment to learn, grow, and explore. More than an avenue for volunteering, it became a space where she found mentors and peers who supported one another and learned together.

Her experiences with Blue Vote eventually became a stepping stone toward community engagement, advocacy, and development work. Working with communities across Mindanao allowed her to develop not only practical skills, but also the perspectives necessary to understand the realities of communities and the kind of work she wanted to pursue.

Yet, beyond these experiences, Estocapio highlighted the importance of believing in the purpose behind the work.

She shared her belief in Blue Vote’s mandate of promoting active citizenship and meaningful participation, a purpose that gave significance to even the smallest tasks carried out by volunteers.

For the new volunteers, her message was both simple and deliberate: “Your first step doesn’t have to be big.”

Volunteerism, she emphasized, is not always defined by the scale of an initiative or the visibility of its impact. Meaningful change can emerge from small actions accumulated over time—from listening to communities, offering help, learning from others, and choosing to return and participate again.

Join. Listen. Help. Learn. Show up. Do it again.

These actions may appear ordinary on their own, but together, they can become a sustained practice of service.

As the newly onboarded volunteers begin their Blue Vote journey, the orientation became more than an introduction to a program. It became an invitation to discover purpose through participation—to engage with communities, learn from experiences, and understand that every contribution, no matter how small, can be part of something bigger.

For some, this may simply be another volunteer opportunity. For others, it may become what Blue Vote was for Estocapio: a first Hakbang toward a deeper commitment to community, citizenship, and service.

And sometimes, taking that first step is already the beginning of change.