Imagine growing up reading books, watching TV, and going to the movies. Knowing and understanding your place in the world and being smart at it.

Then, you move to a new country, enroll in a college, and the unexpected happens: you learn about your countrymen who emigrated before you and realize you’re a part of a story that hasn’t been written. Your experience will one day be a part of American history.

“When I came here from the Philippines, I was 18 and homesick,” said Nikki Santiago, president of the newly formed Filipino Student Union. “Two years later, I took English and history classes and learned about the struggles of those who came before and paved the way for Filipinos. I feel connected.”

The Filipino Student Union was formed a month ago to bridge the gap between Filipino and Filipino-American students at Skyline College. Currently, the members are writing two-page autobiographies and soliciting others to write their stories for a compilation they hope to publish.

Santiago is one of a cohort of students enrolled in the Kababayan Program. This two-year program is a recipient of the President’s Innovation Award that was granted recently. They are also affiliated with the Pilipino Academic Student Services at the University of California at Berkeley or PASS, a recruitment and retention center designed to address the needs of Filipino students.

According to Language Arts Instructor Liza Erpelo, the word “kababayan” means countrymen, and the core of the program is community. She alluded to the principle of self-determination in explaining the difference between Filipino and Pilipino.

The national language of the Republic of the Philippines is Tagalog which does not have the letter, F. The letter was imposed by Spanish colonialists who had occupied the country since the 16th century and ceded it to the United States in 1898 after the Spanish-American War.

“In high school, I didn’t read books written by Filipino or Filipino-American authors. I didn’t know about them until I got to college,” Erpelo said, adding that she experienced the same struggles the students have about the absence of Filipinos in the writing and teaching of United States history.

“The students have to build their own,” Erpelo said, “We have to create our own literature and history.”

The program fosters cross-cultural tutoring between immigrants and American-born Filipinos and taps into a growing movement of authors, artists, filmmakers and archivists in promoting stories about people of color in United States history. They’ve sponsored readings, film screenings and lecturers.

“Our challenge is to raise awareness,” Marcus Conui, vice president of the Filipino Student Union, said about the organization. “The students come in and out, get their education, and they’re done. I’m happy to help create something here. It’ll be a great accomplishment for all of us when we come back in years (to come).”

The Kababayan Program and the Filipino Student Union are sponsoring a film screening and an opportunity to talk with independent filmmaker, Dillon Delvo, at 2 – 4 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 13, in room 2-306. For further information about the event or the Kababayan Program and the Filipino Student Union, contact Liza Erpelo at (650) 358-6889 x 9588 or by e-mail at [email protected].