2011 has rolled in and the reins of the Association have been passed onto myself as well as many others. Many of you reading this are familiar with who I am, but I thought I'd give you a little background just in case you aren't familiar with me.

I was born and raised in South Kansas City, Missouri. I have been a member of St. Regis Church my whole life and attended K-8 there. I then attended Rockhurst High School followed by four years at the University of Missouri – Kansas City (UMKC). While attending UMKC I had leadership roles in resurrecting the Filipino-American Students Association (FASA) and the United Students of Asia (USA). During college I worked as an intern for General Motors at Fairfax.

After graduation I hired on with Bibb & Associates (now known as Kiewit Power Engineers) in Lenexa, KS where I'm employed as a Mechanical Engineer performing power plant design. I spent two years of my career at Kiewit located in Sarnia, Ontario in Canada as a Field Engineer at a power plant I helped design during the construction phase. I love the company I work for and the type of work I do for them, even if it calls for extended hours and traveling at times.

I've been a part of the Association since 1989 (as far as I can trace at least) where I became a Filipinette under the direction of Lito (later under the direction of Gemma and Maggie). I continued to dance with the Sinag-Tala as I grew and my closest friends have come from the Association and Sinag-Tala. I eventually became the artistic director and helped grow the Sinag-Tala to over 50 regularly attending members. This eventually led to putting together Larawan, the first formal concert by the Sinag-Tala in well over a decade. While part of Sinag-Tala I attended workshops in Los Angeles. My reins were passed onto Ian Rivera when I had to move to Canada for work.

While reading the operations book of the Association, I've become amazed at how far we've come as a whole. I realize how much work was put in by the founders and early generations to help incorporate the Association into an official 501(c)3 organization back in 1972.

I was reading several letters that were generated and signed by the Secretary of State of Missouri and there were some fundamentals of the Articles of Incorporation that I think we all should be reminded of:

• The fostering of close relationships and understanding between Filipino citizens living in the Greater Kansas City area.


• The orientation and assistance of Filipino citizens moving into the Greater Kansas City Area.


• The education of the population in general in the culture of the Philippines.


• The aid, both moral and material, of need persons.


• The making of distributions to organizations that qualify as exempt organizations under Sec. 501(c)(3), Title 26, U.S.C. (or the corresponding provisions of any future United States Internal Revenue Law).

For this year there are a few things I'd like to focus on, but in general would like to get back to the fundamentals of the organization. I'd like to focus on taking care of our members and fostering relationships as well as orientation and assistance of those that are new to this area. I've met quite a few Filipinos lately that haven't even heard about the Association and what it has to offer so our presence can spread to so many more. I'm very excited about the next step our Sinag-Tala Dance Troupe will take under the direction of new Artistic Director Romeo Bagunu, Jr. I think he'll bring a new level of professionalism to the group and I look forward to this year's performances, culminating with a mini-concert here at our newly renovated cultural center. This year we'll see a grand reopening celebration of our renovated Cultural Center, something all of us should be proud of. I'd like to bring back a formal talent show to focus on the talents of our members especially the younger future generation. Finally, all of our annual events which are so vital to our organization: the Parents Day, Fiesta Filipina, Ethnic Festival, September Affair, as well as our Social Parties on Easter, 4th of July, and Christmas.

You all have chosen me to represent you as your president. I'm not sure I'm the right guy for the job, but the Association has helped form some of my strongest friendships and foster the growth of my skills and I look forward to doing the best I can do at this position. I still have a lot to learn but I truly believe the Association is doing the right thing by getting the younger generation involved. I strongly believe that you have to develop the younger talent in any organization. Look at major corporations, at least the successful ones, they all always develop talent at all levels including the younger newer ones as they know eventually they will be the ones keeping things going. Younger ones will definitely make some mistakes, but they'll learn from those mistakes and continue to grow as leaders and this is what we need. Much is the same when building a national football team. Look at the emphasis that is put on the draft and developing rookies from day one. Those rookies make impacts early on, while they make mistakes, however several years down the line they are the ones leading the team.

From leadership classes I've taken at work, I've learned a lot about myself as well as truly what my strengths and weaknesses are as a leader. A couple of those weaknesses I've become aware of is asking for help and then delegating work, which are all essential functions of this position and leadership positions. I look for your patience and guidance as I develop these skills. Thank you and I look forward to a great 2011 and hope all of you will be there supporting this wonderful Association each step along the journey!