“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.” ― Buckminster Fuller
This was the premise why 30-year-old millennial businessman Ralph Layco initiated the idea of building a school for passionate Filipinos, dubbed as “The New Bold University.”
Layco, who also serves as Chief Marketing Officer of SAM Asia Holdings, can be considered as one of the most decorated young marketeers in the country. He’s best known in his work as a cultural provocateur in the southern Philippines having renamed an entire region, Soccsskargen to SOX and branding the biggest beach festival in the country, SarBay Fest. These efforts were paid off as Asia Marketing Federation awarded Layco the Asia YWN Marketing Excellence Award for the Category of “Asia’s Top Outstanding Youth Marketeer of the Year” in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia early this year.
This July 1-6, fresh from his achievement in the intentional scene, Layco embarks on a mission to fuel dreams and passions of Filipinos through his project called “The New Bold University” (NBU).
NBU is an ambitious attempt to reinvent education one step at a time. It is a 6-day transformational learning to help professionals, artists, freelancers and aspiring entrepreneurs get their passions and big ideas into a business and life they wanted to live.
“The current educational system doesn’t work anymore. We have abundance of information, from a quick Google search to a Youtube series that teaches coding. We don’ t need to feed people what to learn, we need to make them intellectual curiosity. That will empower them to learn more on their own.”
In the age of AI and robotics and exponential technology, our current educational system are preparing for jobs that has never existed before. Worse, there will be less available jobs when they graduate. If we want to prepare for the future, we need to start with education”
“If you look into Google, the look of the classrooms are same with what we have now. That’s scary. It means we’re not adapting fast. That educational system is a factory-model education, but we can’t push for individuality if we teach people all the same”
Asked on how his version of school will look like, he said “Instead of being stuck in four years of education, why not a week every year. Learning never stops, why should school? Students get to re-enroll as new classes will be made available every year depending on relevant skills and trends.
“In Day One. Before we encourage anyone to a career they like, we need to help them go inward first. We are collating sessions and tools that will reveal they’re strengths, weaknesses and their personality. We need to make them secured about what they’re good at, and equally as important, what their weaknesses are because this is the foundation of the many decisions they will make in life.”
NBU’s speakers and mentors will compose of founders, CEOs and award-winning changemakers including Celebrity Hero Angeles who will talk about his journey as multi-potentialite, Forbes 30 under 30 awardee & MyKuya Founder Shahab Shabibi, International Viral CEO Charity Delmo, The Dessert Museum and Inflatable Island President Lance Tan among others.
“On the next days, students will get to choose classes with CEOs, Founders and changemakers. They will also be taught about mindfulness, the power of their minds, compassion, purpose and classes that teach them how to be a better human”
What if school can be more fun? Other than transformational sessions that will happen throughout the week, students are invited to a weekend party. Ralph adds, “We never should graduate from learning. Instead of graduation, why not a celebration”
He envisions changing the typical four-year college bubble into a one-week crash course every year. He said “education is a lifelong pursuit. Why should it end in college? We go back to school one week every year and practice what we’ve learned the entire year
Ultimately, the pop-up campus is designed and curated for transformation, not incremental learning. Ralph said, “If we turn on their intellectual curiosities, they will be ultimately changemakers who are not accepting the status quo and will find ways to solve problems with more courage.”
Here’s the good news. There’s an early bird rate for the first 40 attendees. Visit www.newboldu.com/apply today to enroll yourself and start creating an impact!
For more information, check out their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/pg/thenewboldorg.
