The Provincial Government of Camarines Sur’s Provincial Colleges, in partnership with the Bicol Regional Evangelistic Association for Development (BREAD) and the Discipleship Training School (DTS) through the Youth with a Mission (YWAM), held the Campus Connect activity on February 3, 2025 at Governor Mariano E. Villafuerte Community College (GMVCC) Libmanan.

With the theme, “Cultivating a Future of Hope for the Next Generation,” Campus Connect served as a youth development program where students learned more about values formation and education.

“We are developing the youth through workshops and spreading the word of the Lord regardless of their religious affiliations. We aim to really inculcate every student that we can help with their values education. This is part of their subject that we want to augment; we just wanted to extend help,” shared Pastor Joey Piano from BREAD.

He furthered, “It is our goal to share the Campus Connect with each and every student in CamSur because we believe that when students have a good values system in their studies, they will achieve excellence in life.”

The Campus Connect also integrated international exchange students from DTS based in Hawaii. Under the DTS program, students spend three months of the lecture phase to study the identity of God and build a deep relationship with Him and another three months for the outreach phase where they go out of the country to exercise what they’ve learned and share the gospel to other people.

“We have a program here in Libmanan focusing on the Bible and understanding God’s love and your identity in Christ. It’s really important because I believe a lot of students come to school, but they have a lot of problems in their personal lives. There are a lot of mental health issues now in the Philippines and I personally believe that God is the answer to the issues students are facing,” shared Hatty Tanteo, one of the young leaders from YWAM.

“When they get to know God, have a true identity in him, and have faith and salvation, they can overcome a lot of problems that they face in school with God’s help,” she added.

IDTS students also shared some of their personal testimonies of how God changed their lives. They also reiterated the need to study the Bible and spread the word of the Lord.

“This Campus Connect is very important for the development of our students because we trained them not only to be good academically but also to grow holistically. We want to nurture their character. With the uncertainties that are happening nowadays, I think there’s really a need to deepen their faith in the Lord. Not only did it help the students but also the teachers and the school as a whole. Through this, we built a partnership with an international organization,” said Michelle SB. Doblon, Student Affairs and Services (SAS) Coordinator of GMVCC Libmanan.

Students also received values education materials from One Hope Philippines that they can use to further enrich their faith and wisdom.