Charles Hezekiah Importante is a second-year nursing student gunning for the top spot of the Nursing Central Board of Students (NCBS) as announced by UST Nursing COMELEC last March 21. He has served as an executive coordinator to the incumbent president Clare Dominique Quimson and as executive assistant to The Nursing Journal (NJ)’s circulating editor Denise Sevilla. In an exclusive interview with The Nursing Journal, Importante discloses his ambitions for running.
Personal reasons for running
Hezekiah feels that student recognition or yung self-recognition as a student, is “generally not held,”. Since the start of the pandemic, people tend to gravitate towards the negative aspects of it, which Hezekiah claims his projects would address. “The student recognition and also student representation is lacking and needs to be improved upon due to the prevalence of the pandemic,” he adds.
Why run independently
There are certain pros and cons when running with the backing of a political party, Importante believes. “I choose to become independent because of the freedom it gives me, and because the amount of value that I want to express the student body is fully expressed. I feel like I can see most definitely that through acquiring or through having a political party, you are limiting your self-expression or how you portray yourself, and how you want to give back to the student body as someone who is authentic,” he said The Nursing Journal.
Inspirations in leadership
Importante names two people as his inspirations when it comes to leadership; his mother and incumbent NCBS president Clare Quimson. On the one hand, he says that he is inspired by Quimson’s “amount of dedication” to her craft and the amount of projects that she has accomplished this year without the pressure getting to her. On the other, he says that his mother’s managerial position and ability to lead different groups of people is something that he wants to bring to the student body should he secure the position.
Attributes a leader should have
The lone presidential candidate named three; willingness to listen, the willingness to understand, and to allow oneself to be with the people whom they serve. Importante is confident that he already possesses these qualities. He says “...we have to understand the student body in such a way na yung perspective natin as a president, not as a person from the outside, but as a student as well. Which is why it’s important to allow yourself to be exposed to the people whom you want to serve,”.
General goals for the student body
“My overall platform of government would surmise or soberize that we have to recognize, represent, and redefine the capabilities of the student body,” Importante tells The Nursing Journal. He plans to achieve this through his platform of governance, which is to be revealed in the coming days.
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