International Association of Traffic and Safety Sciences "IATSS FORUM" Leadership Training Program in Japan For Young Professionals in ASEAN countries

Hello Everyone! I am Charlle Sy from the Philippines.

I am grateful to have been selected as one of the delegates of the 61st IATSS Forum. Reading through the program and seeing the roster of the rest of the delegates have indeed gotten me excited about what this new experience would offer. The IATSS forum will bring together different members of society from both public and private institutions. Moreover, it will involve individuals coming from different cultural backgrounds. It is in this diversity that everyone would be able to gain a broader perspective on what challenges different nations are currently experiencing. The forum will address what changes the participants feel, how they view these changes, and more importantly, how they deal with these changes. I am certain that I will learn a great deal about each of the themed seminars and about the cultures of other ASEAN nations.

I believe that all organizations experience similar challenges in their day to day operations. But it is in the way they manage these challenges that will dictate whether one would succeed or fail. I have realized from past experiences that a lot could be gained through the exchange of ideas. I was able to change how I perceive things by observing and listening to what other people had to say. The IATSS forum is the perfect venue to understand and learn from one another. On a personal note, some of the participants might also share the same goals and aspirations that I have. They could be going through the same challenges or might have already overcome the same set of challenges. In this light, the forum will cater to an open environment where ideas are welcomed, and opinions are encouraged. May cannot come sooner enough!

The IATSS Forum exceeded every expectation that I had. I found the process of learning and growing with my co-participants truly rewarding. Each task that we had achieved together as a team made the accomplishment feel “bigger” and more significant.
I thought that the IATSS Forum will give me the answers I needed in life. But it didn’t take long to realize that it wasn’t going to be the case. At the onset of the program, we were made to realize that we already carry all these answers within ourselves. We just had to ask the right questions. Each seminar and field study we had gave us the opportunity and venue to find out which questions we needed to ask. The forum will make you question and reevaluate your life- in a most positive way. It will make you realize that it is never too late to pursue dreams or aspirations that may have been sidelined in the past. The forum is indeed more than just about the technical know-how that I got from the seminars and field studies. In the course of the 56 days, I was able to gain a new appreciation of the life that I was given and an even deeper motivation to continue to strive to become a better person for my own good and for the community I belong to.