A proud Negrense and alumnus of Silliman University is one of two Filipinos appointed as Brisbane’s International Student Ambassador.{{more}}
Xavier Tilos Villagonzalo, 26, was appointed as this year’s Philippine ambassador, along with 28 other international students from 24 countries on March 5 two months after floods hit the Queensland State capital.
Brisbane is back to business after it was inundated with floodwaters a few months ago, with the city’s Lord Mayor Campbell Newman announcing the 29 youth ambassadors’ honorary role, including Villagonzalo, to promote Brisbane as an international student destination to their home countries.
“I think these ambassadors are the perfect candidates to tell the world what a vibrant and multicultural city Brisbane is,” Newman said.
“We want to spread the word that Brisbane is a new world city offering world class education opportunities. And the best way to do this is with firsthand accounts from our student ambassadors.”
A former youth volunteer of the Diocese of Dumaguete (Commission on Youth), Villagonzalo finished his Bachelor of Mass Communication degree in 2006 at Silliman with a YMCA Outstanding Student Award of Negros Oriental in the same year. He also served as chairperson of the Silliman University Corps of Campus Ambassadors for two consecutive years 2004-2006.
He was among the nine Oriental Negrenses who joined the official delegation to the 20th World Youth Day in Cologne, Germany in 2005 including four priests from the Diocese of Dumaguete like Fr. Ramonito Maata and Fr. Roland Omatang and four other youth volunteers.
Orphaned at an early age in Dumaguete, he struggled in life as his mother died in an accident involving a passenger jeepney which fell off the cliff of Bondo, Siaton in 1994, when he was at the age of 9, and his father died in diabetes complications.
Xavier said, “It’s never a good excuse to mess up your life because you come from a broken family or you’re parents have passed away. All the more reason that you need to twist the fate of your life to your advantage.”
As part of his role, he will be using a variety of tools to communicate his real life experiences, such as Facebook, Twitter, and regular blogs on their ambassador profiles at www.studybrisbane.com. Some of the formal activities will include media interviews, official visiting delegations to Brisbane and hosting media familiarization tours.
At the same time, he is pursuing his Bachelor of Information Technology at Queensland University of Technology.
Deiter Dizon, an alumni of the University of the Philippines-Los Baños is the other Filipino who joins Villagonzalo in the ambassadorial role. (PIA NegOr/JCT/XTV)