Meet the finalists for the 2024 ASCEND Awards

Every year, the Ateneo Socio-Civic Engagement for National Development (ASCEND) Awards honors undergraduate, senior, and graduate students for project and research work outputs that demonstrate mastery of subject matter and the capacity for synthetic thinking, while engaging the larger community outside the Ateneo in contributing to national development.

Projects are development interventions that have been implemented with observable impact. Research work outputs are those that contribute to knowledge creation with the potential for social impact.

All nominations for the said awards are reviewed and evaluated by an ASCEND Awards Committee composed of faculty and student representatives, and through a careful and meticulous deliberation process, Finalists and Excellence Awardees are identified.

The ASCEND Excellence award is given to a particular project or research work that is the most outstanding at the undergraduate, senior, or graduate level and manifests, in an extraordinary manner, all three of the following: 

1. Extraordinary mastery of subject matter and application of synthetic thinking. 
2. Deep and extensive engagement with partner communities and/or institutions.
3. Addresses a national development concern in a strongly strategic and/or creative manner with very significant short-term impact on target beneficiaries and/or the potential for significant longer term impact in promoting the well-being of the greatest number.

The ASCEND Excellence Award is conferred on deserving projects and research work outputs under the following categories:

1. Undergraduate level
   • Excellence for Research
   • Excellence for Project
2. Senior level
   • Excellence for Research
   • Excellence for Project
3. Graduate level
   • Excellence for Research
   • Excellence for Project

For SY 2023-2024, the following have been identified as Finalists for the ASCEND Awards across the different categories:

ASCEND Undergraduate Research

“It Stops With Me: Stories of Escaping Intergenerational Poverty in Old Balara, Quezon City”

“Akay sa Paglakbay: A Participatory Action Research in Strengthening the Youth and Kapitbahayan Governance of GK St. Joseph”

ASCEND Undergraduate Project

“Sleepent”

“Pagyabong ng Yamang Ani: Cultivating Growth and Sustainable Livelihoods among Agricultural Communities in Antipolo”

“Project SigLakas: Empowering Barangay Bagong Silangan Parents for Health Resilience and Advocacy”

ASCEND Senior Research

“HPV Vaccination Knowledge, Attitudes, Beliefs, and Intentions among Parents of Girls Aged 9-17 in Quezon City, Philippines”

“Fostering Active Stewards of Health: A Triangulated Analysis of Cognitive Development in Health Textbooks and Classroom Practices in Philippine Public High Schools since 1989 and Their Impact on Students’ Health Literacy”

“Angking Galing: Utilizing Ethnographic Methods to Conduct a Narrative Inquiry on the Indigenous Maternal Practices of the Tagbanua in Aborlan, Palawan”

ASCEND Senior Project

“Kumusta, Bata?”

ASCEND Graduate Research

“Inclusive Geometry Curriculum for the Deaf and Hard-of-hearing Mainstream Classroom: A Curriculum Adaptation Model”

All ASCEND Finalists will be given recognition for their inspiring work during the awarding ceremony referred to as “Paghahandog 2024: A Celebration of Student Leadership and Service” scheduled for 10 June 2024, 3:00PM, at the Ricardo and Rosita Leong Hall Auditorium. The ASCEND Excellence Awardees across the different categories will be announced during this special event.

Photos courtesy of the 2024 ASCEND Awards Finalists