Revitalizing, Revisiting, and Reminiscing Peace: Ateneo de Zamboanga University – Ateneo Peace Institute Conducts Peace Colloquium for AdZU Faculty and Staff
October 31, 2023
For years, Peace Education in the Ateneo de Zamboanga University had its struggles, from being embedded in the university’s curriculum, to its implementation and the many hurdles it faced from its conception. With the onslaught of the pandemic and its lingering effects in the lives of the students and the different units in the University.
With the school gradually opening, the Social Development Unit-Ateneo Peace Institute, under the leadership of Mr Mario Rodriguez, and his team, Ms Mary Elizabeth S Apolonio coordination with the
different departments and colleges throughout the Ateneo de Zamboanga University has organized a colloquium on Peace Education to reminisce, revisit and revitalize Peace Education which needs to be reminisced, revisited and revitalized following the crises that has gripped millions back on their homes.
The colloquium was conducted in Lantaka last October 26 and 27, 2023 and was spearheaded by Ma’am Arlene Perla S Ledesma, Dr Elpidio Biton Jr and Sir Rene Tiblani to aid in the participants’ review and revisit of peace to think of the ways forward as a university. With this, the College of Nursing was also invited and is represented by the following: Ms. Antonia R Quilos RN MN, Ms Lilia F Wahab RN MN, Mr Tommy Lloyd Wee RN and Ms Jomarie Mhel P Himor RN MN.
The cooperation of the faculty & staff members from different units and their ideas, queries and perspectives were collated and processed by the aforementioned speakers and have been vital in rekindling the flame of peace education (Colloquium Proceedings Report-API, 2023) among the participants. The colloquium has ended with high hopes of carrying this flame not just among the people invited in the said activity, but spreading it among the University—not literally, but figuratively. In the words of St Ignatius de Loyola—“go, set the world on fire.”
Bridging Peace and Nursing: AdZU College of Nursing Hosts Four-Day Seminar
August 12, 2024
The Ateneo de Zamboanga University (ADZU) College of Nursing, in collaboration with the Social Development Unit – Ateneo Peace Institute, successfully conducted a four-day seminar titled “Orientation to Peace Education in the Nursing Context” from August 6 to 9, 2024, at the Campion Lecture Hall, Bellarmine-Campion Building, Fr Eusebio Salvador, SJ Campus.
The seminar sought to promote a deeper appreciation of peace education and its significance in the practice of nursing—a profession grounded not only in competence and compassion but also in the commitment to serve and care for others within a framework of peace and human dignity.
Under the leadership of Dean Maria Lorna B Paber, the College of Nursing Peace Institute Committee, headed by Assistant Dean Antonia R Quilos RN MN, and composed of Lilia F Wahab RN MAN LPT; Tommy Lloyd Wee RN MAN; and Jomarie Mhel P Himor-Sali RN MN, worked closely with Ms Mary Elizabeth S Apolonio from the Ateneo Peace Institute to design and facilitate the program.
Throughout the four-day seminar, Ms Apolonio guided the participants through the Six Petals of Peace namely, dismantling the culture of war, promoting human rights and responsibilities, living with justice and compassion, building intercultural respect, reconciliation, and solidarity, living in harmony with the earth, and cultivating inner peace.
She encouraged students to reflect on how these “petals” resonate with their experiences in both classroom and clinical settings.
Through interactive discussions and reflective activities, students were able to connect the concept of peace with their daily encounters as nursing students and future healthcare professionals.
The sessions also emphasized that peace in nursing extends beyond the absence of conflict. It is a continuous process of fostering empathy, understanding, and ethical care—values deeply aligned with the Ateneo mission of forming “men and women for others.”
By the end of the seminar, participants expressed their readiness to practice what they have learned in the session.
They also gained a broader understanding of how peace education can be woven into nursing practice, not just in patient care but in the way how nurses build relationships, advocate for justice, and nurture communities.
This initiative marks another step in the AdZU College of Nursing’s ongoing efforts to integrate peace education into its curriculum and culture—reminding every nursing student that healing and peace are inseparable pursuits in the vocation they have chosen.