Alexis BagonName: Alexis Bagon (aka Little Alexis, aka Gulay)
Where are you now? Bay Area, CA What are you up to? Working as an immigration attorney at Asian Pacific Islander Legal Outreach, hanging out with my lola, going hiking and backpacking, enjoying gulay & frutas from the farmers market (the pic attached is from me at the market on my birthday this year) What years were you in Barkada? 2013-2017 Barkada Eboard? 2014-2015 External PR; 2015-2016 VP; 2016-2017 President Barkada Fam? DC!! Favorite Barkada memory? For my last Bahay Kubo, our E-board put together a really great storyline for the skits. Our plot twist was that our two main characters were twins who had been separated (one living in the US, the other in the Philippines), and we wrote a reveal scene similar to the one in the Parent Trap. When the reveal happened in the live show, the audience was roaring with excitement. It was so cool to have been part of creating that moment. Message for current Barkada members: Follow the people and experiences that make you feel more like yourself, both within and beyond Barkada 💛
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Ryan punzalanName: Ryan Punzalan
Where are you now? Shrewsbury, MA What are you up to? Moved back to Massachusetts because of my fiancée's (shoutout Nicole Rodis, another BKD alum) residency at UMass - Worcester. And, working remotely, full-time as a Business Analyst in the Ad Sales Technology division of NBCUniversal. What years were you in Barkada? 2009 - 2014 Barkada Eboard? Yes, Internal PR, then Performance Coordinator Barkada Fam? Lineage Favorite Barkada memory? My first Bahay Kubo in 2010! Being able to dance and celebrate with my Barkada friends and family was such a thrill, which helped kick my love for Barkada. Message for current Barkada members: Don't be afraid to do everything! My favorite thing about Barkada (and by association, Northeastern) was that there's a TON to do, events attend, and activities to dabble in. Although I wish I've gotten more sleep in college, being at GMs, dance practices, external mixers, and everything in between was something that I loved doing. Also, run for e-board! Even though I didn't get Internal PR the first time I ran, I knew that I wanted to run for that position and be more "out there." BKD holds a special memory in my heart and if it wasn't for everything that BKD did and offered, I definitely wouldn't have been the person I am today (as cliché as that sounds.) Ray, vito, & francis - AllegianceBIGGIE: Ray Valenzuela
smalls 1: Francis Alvarez smalls 2: Vito Montesa Fam: Allegiance Name: Ray Valenzuela Major (+Minor): Applied Physics (Mathematics + Data Science) Fam: Allegiance (cheech line ) Describe your relationship with your BIGGIE/smalls: Francis and Vito genuinely feel like brothers to me. I’ve always wanted a brother, since I grew up with two older sisters, so my relationship with them is something I truly cherish. When we’re all together it’s awesome how we all understand the same humor, hold the same values, etc. We can hangout forever without it feeling like a drag, and we even text in our gc nearly every day which is crazy considering how unresponsive I am on my phone . As for my individual relationships with both, our friendship is some of the strongest bonds I have made to this point in my life. With either of them I can talk about everything, ranging from our visions of the future, individual struggles that we’ve been facing, to just dumb banter. blah blah blah the list goes on. I've got so much love for both of these guys and there's really no limit to what I feel like could trust these two with. It’s difficult to find friendship like this in general, so I feel extremely lucky to have two friends of this caliber, and am thankful that the BIGGIEsmalls program brought us together. What's something you've learned from your BIGGIE/smalls?: I've learned a lot from growing with these guys over the past 4 years. I was the one trying to integrate them into the Filipino community back in the day and now we got a BKD president and D1 cochair, those mfers. Ig that was mostly just to brag about my smalls but here's some stuff I've learned from each: Francis knows what he values and invests all his time into those things. It’s something greater than just his work ethic, it’s about how he prioritizes things and doesnt leave room for random stuff that will end up wasting his time. Somehow, I’ve watched this kid work co-op and his ten one simultaneously, while handling his relationship, friendships and family, and somehow this guy still has enough time to indulge in his interests like reading way too much manga or being a cringe gamer at the end of the day. Maybe he sacrifices doing laundry and showering to find all that time (jk). With his new calendar this guy is actually unstoppable. This is definitely one quality of his that I admire and would love to improve at in my own life. Vito is very goal oriented and isn't scared to take steps to create the future he wants. Me and him are similar visionary types, but he has the confidence to take actions towards those futures, while I feel I lack that sometimes. For example, he saw barkada needed a president in an important time where integrating those who started online and those who had been around was a massive challenge, and he stepped up as a leader to build the community we have today. On a personal level he's always trying to better himself and do things that will help him reach his career goals, personal goals, etc. Seeing him strive to be his best encourages me to take action for what I want as well. What's your favorite memory with your BIGGIE/smalls?: A large fraction of my favorite college memories is with these two. When we first met, they'd come over every Thursday after barkada gms and we'd just play smash and hangout all night in my crusty 319 Huntington dorm. I remember I'd have them over until 3 or 4 am even though I was on co-op because I always felt like the memories we were making were way more valuable than the extra hours of sleep (and I was right). When we got sent home because of Covid our gc was the majority of my entertainment and outlet. We'd talk everyday about the most random stuff and I feel like that time would've been a lot more lonely if didn't have their friendship. After we got back that fall vito wasn't in boston but francis would come over all the time. I remember we were choreoing for barkada but all we'd do is play videogames or just talk instead, leading to him having to come over more and more lol. The day we finished the choreo i made him spam eggs and rice and it was the day of our workshop . Vito visited and he slept over my apartment, and we stayed up all night making dumb jokes and singing Olivia by one direction . When Vito moved back, I feel like we'd hangout and do random shit a lot too. We got really into buying mystery packs from Newbury Comics and it's still something we do every time we see them. There was also the one night the three of us bought boba twice instead of eating at gyu kaku because someone didn't make a reservation and that's a good story. Or the time we hid in Matt's trunk while picking Vito up from the airport that was fun. Anyways this is getting long, but basically every time I hang out with these guys it feels like I'm making memories that I'll tell my kids someday and that's the best feeing ever. Name: Francis Alvarez Major (+Minor): finance and economics Fam: Allegiance Describe your relationship with your BIGGIE/smalls: Ray and Vito are my best friends and I haven’t met another group of guys like them that I’m excited to talk to every day What's something you've learned from your BIGGIE/smalls?: I learned that Ray will be bald by the age of 30 What's your favorite memory with your BIGGIE/smalls?: Our first performance together as a trio was Kamayan 2021 and it was cool because it had been so long since we were able to be together and perform for everyone. I’ll never forget the day and the after party was also very fun (shoutout 74 Symph)! Name: Vito Montesa Major (+Minor): Mechanical Engineering (Marketing Analytics) Fam: Allegiance Describe your relationship with your BIGGIE/smalls: Ray and Francis are my best friends, I love these guys so much it’s kinda cringe. They’re always the first people I go to for anything whether it’s advice or just for fun or if I want to play Fortnite . These guys are so much like brothers to me – When we’re together, it’s the both the dumbest and the best thing ever because we act so stupid but there’s no other people I’d rather act stupid with. crazy cause Ray recruited me to Barkada back when I was a freshman and now we’re roommates. And Francis was my best friend in our freshman class back in the day and we’re still super close and have done so much together What's something you've learned from your BIGGIE/smalls?: From Francis, I learned to be more spontaneous and do more things that you normally wouldn’t because another chance might not come From Ray, I learned how to be more thoughtful about your goals and who you want to be From both of them, I learned to not kill the cringe in you, but kill the part the cringes What's your favorite memory with your BIGGIE/smalls?: My favorite memory with Francis and Ray is when we went to go get boba at Shin Mio near Fenway and the boba was so good that we got 2 more rounds. We’re crazy! Michael ChichiocoName: Michael Chichioco
Where are you now? San Francisco, CA What are you up to? Currently a first year medical student at UCSF What years were you in Barkada? 2017-2020 Barkada Eboard? IPR (2017-2018) , PC (2018-2019) Barkada Fam? Allegiance <3 Favorite Barkada memory? I have so many wonderful memories during my time with BKD at Northeastern, but if I had to pick one, I think back to my time as PC and we were practicing tinikling the week of BK. There was this really hard formation that we were all struggling with, it was like 9:30pm on a Friday night. After hours of working on it, we finally got the choreo perfectly and we all screamed so loud all of curry student center could hear us!!! Message for current Barkada members: Embrace the moment, appreciate the people around you and trust yourself! Savor the moments you have with people in BKD and all of the fun things you get to do now like all the GMs, dance performances, culture shows, etc. Truly, college is one of the only times you'll ever have all of these opportunities to do all of these things and make the most out of it. The people I met in BKD are some of my life long friends and they have supported me all the way throughout college and continue to support me during medical school! Lastly, trust and believe in yourself! I remember college was filled with times of self-doubt for me and my career, but just remind yourself of how far you have come, and to remind yourself that you can do whatever it is you put your mind to! Sam de laraName: Sam De Lara
Where are you now? Los Angeles, CA! What are you up to? I'm a Technical Artist over at TikTok. I code internal tools for in-house designers to use on their computers and my team makes a lot of the common TikTok filters. I also bike more now and am a 20 minute bike ride from the beach :D What years were you in Barkada? 2015-2019 Barkada Eboard? I was the BKD Media Specialist from 2015-2016 and the External Public Relations Officer in 2016-2017. Barkada Fam? Candy! Favorite Barkada memory? One of my favorite memories in BKD was acting in my first Bahay Kubo in 2016. We had a wild plotline involving a plane crash, and it was so cool to see the whole show come together. Dancing, acting, and laughing with friends was one of the most fun and magical E-Board experiences I've had. Message for current Barkada members: Cherish every moment you have and do things outside of your comfort zone! Your time in Barkada is going to be what you make of it, so run for E-Board, go to more general meetings, or talk to someone new who you think is cool. You never know what experience will help better you as a person until you do it. life as a 1st gen filipina immigrant (Gwen & amanda)"hey yall! so i interviewed amanda, who’s a 2nd year law student at northeastern. we met at the malaya protest a couple months ago :) we just talked about how it is as a first-generation immigrant and how it affected family dynamics as well as the differences between filipino and american culture, with a focus on religion and traditions. we also discussed how our perspectives have changed because of our shared identity as first-generation filipina immigrants."
Click here to listen to Gwen's podcast! sophy chen
College in the pi vs. in the us (Cassy & her mom)"My mother was born and raised in the Philippines and came to the US when she was 20 years old. She went to college in the Philippines and then also went to college once she came to the US. Throughout the years she has told me countless stories about her experience growing up in the Philippines, as well as how it was coming to America. So I thought it would be interesting to interview her on a topic that she has experienced both in the Philippines and in the US."
Click here to listen to Cassy's podcast! Jasmin & Paulina - sexyBIGGIE: Jasmin Yu
smalls: Paulina Acosta Fam: Sexy Name: Jasmin Yu Major (+Minor): Interaction Design and Marketing Major with a Minor in Film Production Fam: Sexyyyy Describe your relationship with your BIGGIE/smalls: I’d definitely say we’re close :-) we see each other almost everyday and we like to do a lot together since we’re both always down to try new things all the time! If we’ve had a rough time or if there are just silly things to catch each other up on we’ll always manage to find the time to always fill in each other on the crazy ups and downs of life. I always go to her knowing that she’ll make my days better and she never fails to put a smile on my face What's something you've learned from your BIGGIE/smalls?: How to stay calm within all the noise and hard times in life - she’s just always keeps me grounded and helps me focus on all the good things going on around me. What's your favorite memory with your BIGGIE/smalls?: This was so hard to answer because there have been a lot of sleepless nights with this silly girl,,, but one memory that definitely sticks out is when we planned to go to the Winter SoWa market together and spent hours walking around all the different vendors trying to think of last minute gifts for everyone Name: Paulina Acosta Major (+Minor): Computer Science and Design Fam: Sexy :P Describe your relationship with your BIGGIE/smalls: I look up to Jasmin so so much and see her as a role model and an older sister. She always checks in on me and makes sure I’m okay, and she always finds ways to make me feel better when I’m going through it. She surprises me with treats and I try to do the same for her and it always ends up with us arguing over telling the other how much it was so we can pay them back (but we never tell each other the price :))). I always go to her whenever I need advice because she’ll tell me what I need to hear. Also, she’s so much fun to be around and you can usually find the two of us at curry doing work and chatting with other people in paac. Jasmin is genuinely one of my favorite people to hang out with and to learn from, and I’m so happy that she’s my big <333 What's something you've learned from your BIGGIE/smalls?: I’ve learned so much from Jasmin but one of the biggest things I learned is what it means to work hard, play hard. Jasmin is one of the busiest people I know and has so much on her plate, and she still wants to do more ??? But even though she has so many responsibilities you can always count on her to make time to have fun, hang out and go explore. Oh, and I also learned to kind of enjoy walking everywhere. Jasmin literally walks everywhere in Boston and the idea is slowly growing on me. What's your favorite memory with your BIGGIE/smalls?: There are so many memories I can think of but if I had to choose one I would probably pick the day we walked from campus to the ASU picnic in Boston Commons over the summer. The walk wasn’t the shortest so we had time to talk and catch up, and we even stopped by Levain for some cookies. The weather was so nice that day and I genuinely enjoyed the conversations me and Jasmin had and it really made me appreciate having her in my life. |
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