Benjamin Alves, a filipino actor, visited APC for the first time for a Poetry Reading session and to celebrate his birthday with the students. Other than being an actor, he is also a model under the management of GMA Network.
Before the event started, we were greeted by a very lively host who gave us a rather entertaining intro.She really livened up the room with jokes. We also played Pinoy Henyo. And then after a while, announced that Benjamin Alves was coming up next so we sang "Happy Birthday" to him which made him very happy. He thanked all of us and said that he was thankful to be invited to such an event. I had a video of this, but sadly the file was way too big to be uploaded.
During the event, we had other students from different courses to read some poetry which they've made by themselves. The three groups were amazing and you could really feel the emotions they were trying to convey to the audience. Benjamin took to the stage and thanked us again. He also told us a bit about himself, and what his dreams were when he was younger.
After the poetry reading, we had some snacks to eat and some juice to drink while Benjamin took some photos with students who approached him, he also took pictures with his cakes that were displayed on top of tables at the front of the room.
Soon after eating some snacks, we were offered some freebies. So my friends and I decided to get in line to get some free stuff. I got really close to him and got to shake his hand.
Before the session ended, we were given the chance to ask him some questions, which in turn, he would answer. Some questions were serious and were aimed at tips on taking a profession you really want, and some are just humorous.
After all of this, I could really feel that Benjamin is a very down to earth guy. It's nice to see that even though he's an actor- a very popular and a very good-looking one at that- he's still a very genuine person. And there should be more people like him in this world.