Princess Virginia Mercado

Verso is centred around hosting activities and events that promote environmental sustainability

and societal well-being, tackling global issues and raising awareness within our school. We also

hold the Vihreä lippua (green flag status) for the school as a bigger involvement in ourcommunity. From being a committed member, I now take on a role as one of the leaders. We

mostly do all tasks and work collaboratively. Although, more specifically, I am the Pärskeitä

correspondent, which involves writing, doing layout, and managing the articles for the school

magazine (Pärskeitä) published under Verso's name. Alongside our involvement in Pärskeitä, we

plan and execute various activities for the student body to further uphold our values as an

Eco-School. For example, we hosted recycling and craft workshops, bake sales to prevent food

waste, and transformed the waste management within our school. Through my leadership in

Verso, I engage with global issues relating to environmental management and promote ways of

sustainability, strengthening our institution and local community that form the basis of our

common earth.

Café Lähde is the cafe at Lapinlahden Lähde. Here, I am volunteering to work at the café by
performing different tasks assigned to me in and outside of the kitchen. I assist the workers at
the café in their everyday duties, gaining new practical skills as well as improving my social skills.
For example, I clean tables and appliances, organize equipment, or design the notice board. I
socialize and collaborate with the employees and customers in contributing to the café’s
workplace. Through volunteer work, I dedicate myself in promoting the well-being of the
community that Lapinlahden Lähde fosters as a centre for arts, culture and mental wellbeing.

As one of the selected peer tutors in Ressu, I guided students in their studies and helped them

throughout their journey in the IB. We have meetings every week and discuss various topics

that concern the students. In collaboration with my fellow peer tutors, we recognized the

strengths and weaknesses of each other, and harmonized those to carry out service in a way

that will be most effective to the students. Acting as a mediator between the student body and

teachers and authority, I developed mentorship and communication skills that I believe are

essential for client advocacy, building trust with other people, and creating a network of

support and collaboration.

As a student council leader in the Philippines, I was in charge of monitoring and recording the

financial activity of our organisation. I provided transparency reports of all inflows and outflows

in our account as well as regulate the dissemination of funds. This has allowed me to promote

honesty and transparency in our institution as well as gain financial management skills.

Moreover, I actively participated in outreach programmes to indigenous societies, namely the

Mangyan community native to our home. Our outreach programmes, which include teaching

services, provisioning, and workshops, have empowered the Mangyan community and other

underprivileged groups. Through outreach and volunteering, we were able to promote access to

social justice, uplifting communities for their development.

I was the main editor for the feature writing section of our school publication The Divine Lens. I

managed, oversaw, and coordinated the planning, writing, and production of feature articles. I

assigned topics to my team of writers and guided the development of their articles to ensure

quality, preciseness, and accuracy. As a journalist, I also wrote feature articles and opinion

columns for the newspaper that delved into different topics such as current trends in media,

social issues, and school events. I collaborated with other journalists in brainstorming ideas,

composing layout, and providing feedback to create high-quality publication issues that were

dedicated to providing truthful and honest journalism.