#AcadGoals: Tiffany Uy, Jomel Lapides and other inspiring stories of hardworking Pinoy students
Jomel Lapides and Tiffany Uy were trending topics today (November 26) in social media after topping this year’s physician licensure exams.
Lapides was the topnotcher, while Uy was top five.
Here are more details about their outstanding academic journey, as well as other inspiring Pinoy students who exemplified not just brains but also grit.
1. Jomel Lapides (Topnotcher, 2020 Physician Licensure Exam with 88.67%; topnotcher, 2011 nursing licensure exam with 88.40%)
There is no discounting the exceptional feat of topping the board, but what made Lapides more remarkable was that this was the second time he topped a nationwide examination. In 2011, he also topped the nursing licensure exams.
When he was interviewed in 2011 by the Inquirer, Lapides narrated that he was a construction worker’s son, whose family then lives in a relocation site in Rizal.
Now, Lapides told News5 that he got recently accepted as a resident under the ophthalmology department of the Philippine General Hospital.
In this Twitter video posted by a friend, Lapides could be seen laughing as he is referred to “as a future topper” before the results came out.
SABI KO SAYO EH! TOP 1 TO!!! Like and RT mga beks kasi napakahumble tong si Jomel Lapides!!! pic.twitter.com/mSCbFmGDdL
— Kylo Ven ♥ (@venieceitaly) November 25, 2020
2. Tiffany Uy (Co-top 5, 2020 Physician Licensure Exam, 88.08%; highest general weighted average in UP Diliman since World War II)
Tiffany Uy got 88.08% in this year’s Physician Licensure Exams, sharing the top fifth spot with Hannah Chito of UP Manila and Chino Samson of Lyceum-Northwestern University.
But like Lapides, Uy had also made a mark before when she graduated in 2015 from the BS Biology degree in UP Diliman with the near-perfect general weighted average of 1.004 (about 99.9%), the highest in the university since World War II.
Uy also finished last July magna cum laude at the UP College of Medicine where she received a Faculty Gold Medal award and the Dr. Gregorio T. Alvior, Jr. Award for Academic Excellence during the virtual ceremony.
Like Lapides, Uy also trended on Twitter.
Some humorous tweets like this one below jokingly prodded others to retweet her picture to have a piece of her brain cells.
RETWEET THIS LUCKY PICTURE OF MS. TIFFANY UY PARA MAWISIKAN TAYO NG BRAINCELLS CHAR PERO GRABE IBANG KLASE!!! ???
— HOOMAN 간호사 인간 (@thenursehooman) November 25, 2020
Before:
BS Bio (Summa Cum Laude) ng UPD!
(Magna Cum Laude) ng UPCM!
UPDATE: TOP 5 PLE 2020!!! ? pic.twitter.com/JU7GbBphwq
3. Mikaela Fudolig (summa cum laude graduate in 2007 at 16 years old with a BS in Physics degree from UP Diliman; received best BS Physics student award and the Dean’s medallion for Excellence in Undergraduate Studies at the UP College of Science; earned masteral and doctoral degrees in science; Fulbright scholar; started taking up law at UP in 2016)
In 2007, Mikaela Fudolig made the news after finishing her bachelor’s degree in physics from UP Diliman summa cum laude at the age of 16. She was called a child prodigy after starting college at only 11 years old when she got accepted under an experimental program for gifted kids.
She then finished her master’s and PhD degrees shortly after, taught at the UP Institute of Physics, became a Fulbright scholar, and then had a stint at the private sector.
And just when you thought she was ready to reap the fruits of her academic labor, Fudolig then took up law at UP in 2016.
4. Hillary Andales (2017 winner Breakthrough Junior challenge, Massachusetts Institute of Technology sophomore student majoring in Physics and minoring in Astronomy and Philosophy)
In 2017, then Grade 12 student Hillary Andales bagged P20 million worth of prizes after winning the prestigious Breakthrough Junior Challenge Award, a worldwide video competition funded by iconic technopreneurs Mark Zuckerberg, Sergey Brin, and Jack Ma among others. Her winning entry was a three-minute video that explained the concept of relativity.
Last year, she gained admission to the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she is now majoring in Physics.
Before her major milestones, Andales said she also had a large share of setbacks where her previous entries to international contests were thumbed down.
“For me, I don't call them failures. I call them learning experiences. I really join contests for the opportunity to learn,” said Andales.
She shared in a previous interview that these incidents are all compiled on her computer under a folder named “attempts.”
“For me, it’s a good way to look back on my growth. When I look back at my ‘attempts folder,’ I see myself as someone who is not afraid of failure and someone going into things with the attempt to grow,” Andales said.
5. Carvey Ehren Maigue (James Dyson Award Sustainability Winner 2020)
Carvey Ehren Maigue made news recently after winning the James Dyson Sustainability Award this year for his novel invention — a plastic-based material made from rotting fruit and vegetable that converts UV light into renewable energy.
Maigue is hoping that his invention could eventually be scaled and commercialized to help better manage our natural resources as well as help farmers make better use of their crops.
From plastic, Maigue is now working on how his technology — called AuREUS — could be applied to fabric.
This was also Maigue’s second shot at the contest after an unsuccessful first attempt.
The 27-year old is still also a student in his tenth year at the Mapua University as his graduation has been put off for some time due to financial difficulties.
Schooling is undoubtedly a very important aspect in anyone’s life that could provide immense opportunity and value to the student and society at large. But some, however, may not be as lucky as others. Regardless, as Maigue showed through his grit and as stated by a famous maxim often attributed to Mark Twain states, one should not let one’s schooling interfere with one’s education.