Becoming Class Salutatorian

This post is based on my opinion. I don't mean to offend anyone.

I've already forgotten the Mallari issue but I was reminded when I read at the social media that she was interviewed at The Bottomline which is one of my favorite shows. I was so sad I wasn't able to watch it live. Based on the comments posted online, some were really disappointed to Krisel. Some also said she's just doing the right thing. I don't take side on this issue because I don't know what really happened.But, granting without conceding that what Krisel said in her speech and interviews were true,here are my points at the issue:

Krisel and I did not come from the same school so I don't know how it REALLY works in theirs but in OUR school, in OUR CURRICULUM it works like this.

1. The basis for honor students' grades will only be their grades in their fourth year in high school and not based on their Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) since they were in first year.

2. Tranferees are qualified to be Class Valedictorians even if they came from the Science School or schools with different curriculum than ours. In case of tie, all students who got the highest score will graduate as class valedictorians, if there's two, then two of them will receive the award. But it never happen in the history of our school yet that there was a tie.

3. All honor students should take the final exam simultaneously with the other honor students from other year levels in ADVANCE in preparation for the deliberation.

4. During the deliberation, parents are invited so they could see how their children's grades are computed.

5. Parents, students, and subject teachers are allowed to raise questions during the deliberation.

6. The academic coordinator (a representative of the school admin ) was there to attend the deliberation.

7. The final grades are solved like this: 30% extra curricular activities (SSG President, student writer, winner at competitions, etc.)and 70% curricular or academic grades (Math, English, Science etc.).

8. We have guidelines from DepEd of the valid extra curricular activities to be included in solving grades.

9. We have index cards for the list of our extra curricular activities signed by our coaches/ advisers. We also have certificates as proofs.

10. After the deliberation, all grades are deemed true and correct. Reports are made and signed by the authorized personnel.

11. Most important: We are taught how to solve our grades.

I've known someone who has a similar story with Krisel. Know her story HERE

What a competitive student should do? It is shameful to fight that you must be the rank one if you don't have proofs to show. Hence, you should:

1. Keep all your quizzes, exams, report ratings and test papers.

2. Not absent, unless, otherwise NEEDED.

3. Participate in the school activities as much as possible.

4. Make sure you excel in both curricular and extra- curricular activities.

 Some might say Krisel can't accept defeat. She's just too competitive. But why some student work hard to be class valedictorian?

Being Class Valedictorian matters because:

1. It gives you full scholarship (100% tuition fee disc./ entrance scholar) in college without acing the entrance exam.

2. It gives you privilege to take college entrance exams for free. (UP gives it for top 20% of graduating class)

3. It gives pride, honor and confidence to you, your family and your friends.

4. It's the fruit of your labor.

It's so frustrating that you will not be able to harvest the fruit of your labor because someone stole it from you. However, we should not dwell so much on our school grades, since:

1. Anything SO MUCH is not good. We should know our limits.

2. There is more to life than school. Like making friends, having fun, enjoying your age.

3. We go to school to learn not just to have good grades.

4. Some academicians (good in school/have high grades) are not really good at work or in the real life. Some are poor in decision making.

5. It's more important to be life smart than bookish.

I cannot imagine myself experiencing what Krisel is going through. As class salutatorian, you are only tasked to give welcome remarks and not address of thanks which is the role of class valedictorian. If I were Krisel, maybe I will also speak up about the matter but in a different way and not in the whole world. After all, if the school has a questionable deliberation system the community will know it even if you don't disclose it to social media. I can't also afford to put the school to shame because of my experience. My siblings also went to my school and they were also honor students. What would other people say to them then? That they just got the medal because the school favored them?

I cannot judge Krisel for what she's done. After all, it's her life. She should live it according to her will. I admire her bravery for making such decision. I just hope she won't regret it. Because it's very difficult to live with so many eyes looking at you.

Even if you're the smartest in your class, when you go to the university, especially to UST, there will always be students who are smarter or dumber than you. You should know how to deal with it. Her future professor might have high expectations of her. She'll be pressured to prove herself in every way because her classmates will expect her to be THAT smart. If she apply for a job some might also remember her expecting her to be good at her job.   She made a major decision at an early age. Good thing is, there are lot of trending topics everyday so some might forget her story anyway.


I remember my friend saying, "sa college makita ang katag (in college, you will know who truly excels)".I know, it MATTERS to be a Class Valedictorian especially if you worked hard for it. It truly hurts if it's stolen from you. But, there's more to life than school and grades. After all, our worth isn't measured by our CGPA.

She Almost Miss It

She was a consistent first honor student (in all grading periods from first year up to third year). She was also a consistent SSG officer, a consistent student writer and a consistent Math Quizzer. She participated in all curricular and extra-curricular activities as much as she can. At the end of her third year, she joined the advance training for CAT to be an officer but she didn't finish it because her adviser told her that she might lose focus on her academe.

During her fourth year in high school, she joined a lot of competitions, elections, seminars and workshops as an honor student, an SSG officer and a student writer. Most of those she attended on her own with her coach. She did everything to lift up the name of the school and she went home with various awards and recognition. There are some she doesn't want to accept because she will miss a lot of classes hours but the academic coordinator insisted her to join. The downside is, she was always absent in her class and she has to take the exams without much review because her notes were not complete.

Her adviser didn't remind her of her grades in compromised. On the second grading of her fourth year, she ranked second for the first time in her high school life. Because of that, she was discouraged. She didn't attend the recognition day because she felt that people will laugh at her failure. Worst is, their rank one was her best friend. She didn't blame anyone but her classroom adviser and herself.. Why did it happened?  She told herself, "I've done everything for the school but the school doesn't seem to care for me". At the end of the day, what is leadership award and journalist of the year if she's not the class valedictorian? National leadership training and national schools press conference won't give her scholarship anyway. So she gave up some of her commitments such as regional leadership training in which she should be one of the moderators.

She heard some people in their school, including her teachers, telling she cannot accept defeat 'cause she didn't come to receive her rank 2 recognition card. She didn't care. Those people didn't know what she's striving for anyway. She knew she would have been able to maintain it to the top had she not exhaust her time in joining those extra- curricular activities. She learned her lessons the hard and painful way. She focused on her studies and at the end of the school year she was awarded as class valedictorian.

 It was painful that somewhat her school betrayed her but she was thankful it happened early, at least she was able to prevent her worst nightmare from happening. Gladly, some teachers also believed in her and they stood up to defend her. Her father also came to school not to scold the teachers but only to ask for explanation. The school admin, the teachers and the parent talked about it and the issue was resolved. She wasn't able to change her second grading rank but she was able to get up and move forward again.

Right now, she continues to prove herself to the public that she deserves to be class valedictorian. She's very much aware that a lot of people are waiting for her to fall again but she doesn't care. She will live her life according to what makes her happy. If she fall, then be it. After all, failures make us stronger!

You don't need other people's validation that you are good, bright or smart. If you know yourself, you know where you stand.

In Building a Career

(c) Zig Ziglar Facebook

I didn't get a scholarship grant for MedSchool! Hence, I bid goodbye to MedSchool and say hello to more brilliant opportunities that await me.

I was so busy running errands these past few days to meet my ultimate goal of building my awesome career this 2015! And that includes going back to school!!! Ohh I am so excited.

Unfortunately, after spending bucks, efforts and precious time all I've done is to realize that building a career takes A LOT of time, energy and effort and if your lucky enough you'll reach the summit early or you'll fail a lot but perseverance will take you far.

I went to a nursing school to inquire about their master's degree program. It's a private school so I expected it's expensive but when the cashier told me the tuition fee I was still surprised and my jaw dropped. I looked for scholarships such as fulbright but it's not open for nursing.

I also went to the law school to inquire about their requirements for the incoming freshmen. They told me the requirements but the sad thing is the ENTRANCE exam for this school year is SO OVERRRRR and I was just one week late. So I bid farewell to Bachelor of Laws.

I'm thinking of working abroad to save money and go back to school. So I went to CHED to have my documents certified, authenticated and verified (CAV) and also red ribboned. But they told me that I should go to CHED ARMM for my documents not at their office because I graduated from Marawi City. I don't want to go to ARMM because I know how it works in ARMM. Been there you know! I looked for an alternative. My friend, who's working in KSA, told me that she had her documents red ribboned at DFA Manila but I should just try my luck because sometimes, they don't accept applicants form Mindanao in their office. Well good advice. I'll just try my luck then.

I also went to OWWA to ask if I can apply at POEA. The guard ask if I have my passport ready and valid. I answered not because I lost it in 2012 when someone stole my things at my boarding house. He told me to secure an affidavit of loss (which I already have) and apply for a replacement, then I could apply for POEA.

Nice one. Series of unfortunate events, right? But that's how we build our career. We plan a,b,c,d up to z. We try to put our plans into reality and pick those fitted for us, work hard until we succeed. Because sometimes, what we really aim for doesn't really fit to us. We have to continue to find our place in this world.

I had a lot of trials. But I did not regret everything that I have done because for me, it's better to take risks, fail, learn, and move on than to live my whole life with what ifs.