Our college, the College of Allied Health Studies, or UMak-COAHS as we fondly call it, celebrated our testimonial lunch last July 26, 2016. Like other testimonial events, one professional was chosen to give the testimony and one student was to be selected to give the response. I am very much honored to have been chosen as the new professional Pharmacist to give the testimony.
And here it is hehe:
And here it is hehe:
Even before I started college in this university, UMak has
always been my second home- literally.
It was here where my mom and I spent
hours preparing for an essay writing contest during grade school. I was 9. It
was here where my cousins and I first learned self-defense, with Sir Patrick as
our mentor. I was 11 . It was here where my sister and I took solace during
our not-so-good school days. We would ask ate Liway to accompany us to the back
of the school and eat manggang hilaw and singkamas with us. I was 14. I loved
UMak; just "not that way".
I was 16 when i came back from the States,
full of hope and plans for the school year ahead.
After all, I was starting college. I got accepted into 3 of the prime schools i applied to- UPLB, UST, and my dream school, DLSU. I had it all planned out with my friends. Even my whole family knew I was going to La Salle. That is why it was so heartbreaking for me to find out that my parents had no plans of enrolling me there. Instead, they wanted to send me to UMak. Aside from that, they wanted me to take up a course I've never even heard of before. You can only imagine the resentment I felt towards my parents. Going to school was torture. That time, my mentality was : fake it til you make it.
After all, I was starting college. I got accepted into 3 of the prime schools i applied to- UPLB, UST, and my dream school, DLSU. I had it all planned out with my friends. Even my whole family knew I was going to La Salle. That is why it was so heartbreaking for me to find out that my parents had no plans of enrolling me there. Instead, they wanted to send me to UMak. Aside from that, they wanted me to take up a course I've never even heard of before. You can only imagine the resentment I felt towards my parents. Going to school was torture. That time, my mentality was : fake it til you make it.
But it surprised me how I was able
to get over it- because of my newfound friends in my classmates. Soon, my
school of choice dilemma was over, and then came the real thing. I HAD TO
SURVIVE PHARMACY. To say that studying pharmacy is hard is an understatement.
Rather, studying pharmacy is deadly. You'd have to die to yourself to reach
success, much less finish the course itself. I can say this because I've
witnessed the struggle first hand. I was there to see my classmates and even my
closest friends drop out of the course one by one for various reasons. The most
common ones? They either did not have time to commit or they did not make the
cut. You see, commitment is necessity in studying pharmacy- and I learned that
the hard way.
To be able to make it up to my parents, I applied for an academic
scholarship during my first year. That way, I can also show them that I've become
more responsible by them not having to pay a single centavo. I maintained my
scholarship until the 2nd semester. Why only up until my second semester? Because I took things for granted, skipped my
classes, and ignored my exams. That semester, I had 2 grades marked incomplete, and
1 Unofficially dropped. All of them were minor subjects, and that's why my
parents were so disappointed. My dad argued that if they were inorganic chemistry or pharmaceutical
calculations, then at least they'd have known I failed because the subject was
hard. But rather, the subjects I failed were PE and Rizal. What kind of physically, mentally healthy person fails PE???
Mine was not an academic issue, rather me taking things for granted.
The next semester, I paid for my tuition by myself. I worked hard to earn money
and send myself to school. I did errands for my sister and her friends, who
were then studying in La Salle. I offered tutoring classes, and sold
calligraphy artworks to strangers. It was then that I realized that really, through hard
work and perseverance, I can do anything and will be able to help more people.
So I started doing better in school. I joined organizations and even ran as Circle of Hygeia president, and won. That year, my sophomore year, was also the year I fell in love
with Pharmacy. It was with a brief encounter with a patient- a very thin,
pretty girl 3 years older than me. I noticed she frequented the drugstore i was
having my internship in because she bought laxatives in bulk. I made it a point
to get to know her & be friends, so I could tell her that laxative abuse
could lead to major health issues. Turned out she was bulimic. She thanked me
by a box of donuts; but more than that, she told me she was thankful someone
cared, and that I might have saved her life. I became even more motivated and
even decided to run for COH pro, and my most difficult task yet, as Student Council Vice Chair.
My new mentality was: Eat Pray Slay.
My new mentality was: Eat Pray Slay.
I was in my third year
and the most frequent question I kept hearing was, "Ilan na lang
kayo?" "Lima po." Bakit lima na lang?" "Mahirap po kasi ang
pharma" "Ilan kayo dati?" "Nung first year po? 19" "E nung 2nd year?" "Medyo dumami po dahil sa transferees. Mga 22
po kasama mga irreg" "Ilan kaya kayong magffourth year?" "Ilan kaya kayong ggraduate?" "Ilan kaya kayong papasa ng
board?" Numbers, numbers, numbers. It's no question that you, my lower classmen, must have
experienced the same thing. Everything, every year, every opportunity is
defined by numbers. But I don't want you to remember yourselves as number 3 of
19, or 6 of 22, or 1 of 5. You are not just a number, and you have to prove
that by doing your best and showing people who you are.
You are not just part
of a ratio. You are Angelie Cabe. There are times when the thing that causes you the
most stress is your studies itself. There are times when you lose motivation to
study. But you have also been serving COH for the past 2 years. 
You're not just a ratio because you are Katrina
Ordoño. School have sometimes been hard because people judge you for being your
own person. But you went past that, decided to start choosing your friends and
like Anglie Cabe, started serving COH for the past 3 years. Aside from that, you have
also been an officer of Arts de la Scene, and is vice president 2 of CBI.
You're not just a ratio because you are Ruel Tumaca. You claim that you carry a bigger burden than others because
you say that the problem is with yourself. You have a hard time balancing your
priorities, and instead of studying, you would rather binge-watch your favorite
series and scroll endlessly on your social media timeline. But you finally
learned to keep track of time and be more responsible. You have now founded and
headed Catalyst, the center's first media org. But aside from that, I think that your
greatest achievement, Ruel, is that you do not have a single failed grade in Pharma. And that counts as a very big thing.
You're not just a ratio because you are Abdel Baharan. Your very first challenge was being away from home, away
from your family, away from your comfort zone. Your home away from home always
presented a challenge, and it led you to be distracted and angry. But not for
long. You did not let your negative emotions consume you. Instead you made
means, even if it meant you were by yourself. It paid off- with you being one
of the students at the top of the class, you winning various interschool
contests, being the champion in the national pharmacy debate, and being elected
as this year's COH vice president.
If I kept going it would probably take us
til 9 in the evening. But my point is, you are your own person, and despite the
difficulties, you'll find your OWN way and make it through Pharmacy. You will graduate, and you will pass the board exams, even with those barriers. Those very
adversities that have blocked you from your goal are the same ones that will make
you even stronger. Imagine if you had the easy life, if everything was fed to you
with a silver spoon and you never had to work a day in your life. Then what if
failure comes? You wouldn't know what to do then. So be thankful for those
trials, those failed grades, those contests you didn't win, those people
desperately trying to bring you down. Most of all, be thankful for the people
walking with you. Your friends in Pharmacy who are going through the same
things as you are. I am forever grateful for my beloved professors, and Ma'am Donna and Ma'am Nette for guiding me- pushing me to do my best whilst letting me
correct my mistakes on my own. I do not know where I'd be without them. My motto:
prepare yourself today for what God has for you tomorrow.
Everyone kept saying
pharmacy was a good career choice. My mom and I flew out to the US last March
to find out why. True enough, pharmacists in the US never run out of job
offers and were highly valued members of the healthcare team. Though my eyes
were opened to opportunities abroad, and I had high hopes, truthfully I didn't
think I would pass the board exams, let alone graduate. All the signs were
there- I missed my clinical graduation because I was not able to catch an
earlier flight back home. I did not have my graduation photo taken. I was late
for enrollment in my review center. And the biggest choice of all, my lolo
asked me if i could forgo my review center and opt to self-review. My lolo was
recently diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer last January. Since then, he has been
flying back and forth China to get treated. It happened that that April, I
was the only one in the family who could accompany him. With my parents, aunts
and uncles already used up their leaves for work, and my siblings and cousins
were having their final exams. He needed me to come with him to China and take
care of him there for 10 days. My lolo probably did not understand that if i
did not review, that means I would have to postpone my plan and take the exam on January the
following year instead. I was so torn. I chose my lolo because I love him and nothing could be more important than him. My motto: PUSH. Pray Until Something
Happens. Something did happen. My aunt's last leave was approved and lolo has
decided to take her with him instead. I was able to take my review classes and
make a decision to take the boards. But it did not help that my Nanay suddenly had a stroke. The right part of her body was paralyzed from her
shoulder down, and she was confined in the hospital for weeks. I had to help
out, and so on some nights I found myself reviewing drugs of choice beside her
hospital bed, or reciting the Krebs cycle while giving her a bath. Lolo is now declared cancer-free, and my Nanay
eventually got better, in fact today she can now walk on her own.
The last days
spent reviewing for the boards was the most confusing time of my life. That's
where all thoughts of self doubt was entertained. "Nabuhay pa ba ako? Bakit pa
ba kasi ako nagpharma?" "Sana pala January na lang ako magttake ano ba yan." I
even prepared myself for the worst and saved quotes saying "God can turn
your failure into your biggest blessing" or "God will never leave you
empty. He will replace everything you've lost with something greater." I was preparing mysellf for failure. When
the results came out, you know what made me happiest, aside from our school
garnering 100% passing? It was seeing my father's face- full of pride and full
of joy, feeling fulfilled and thankful. It was as my parents and grandparents hugged me as we
were staring at my name that I felt all the pressure and the stress go away.
And believe me, seeing your parents, your loved ones that happy, is the best
feeling in the world.
(spot my name)
After all that I've been and been through, I've realized
that my parents were right all along for sending me to this school. UMak is, and
will always be my home. I say this because it is the very people who though
have not been with me, but have been there for me, who put me to where I am
now. It is in this university where you will find the most content people,
because they grew up not having much. It is also where you will find the most
grateful people, because they are not fond of receiving much. People here work
harder than hard, because they have to. People their value education, because
to some of them, its all they have. More than quality education, UMak has
imparted in me the simplest values that I will take with me through life.
Though it is better to become intelligent as well as kind, if you can't have it
all, opt to be an honorable pharmacist. Even as you achieve success, always be
humble but strive to be the bigger person. Forgive. Be grateful. And always
keep in mind that you are a professional. A professional whose purpose is to
serve others through healthcare. It is now most that you must remember that
your grades matter, but not as much as your integrity costs. Because you know
what? Even if you pass the board exams or not, those 600 questions do not, and
can never define who you are as a pharmacist, much more who you are as a person.
You might not have your picture plastered on the walls for everyone to see, but
at least you made it to your parents' Facebook post.
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| (my chubby cheeks sa tarp ft. one of my students, Angel Flores) |
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| (daddy's very-serious-but-you-know-he's-proud-and-happy-naman post) |
No matter how less or more
you have to offer, give your all for your patients. At the end of the day it is
the humble servant who is rewarded. UMak is my home. And that is why no matter
what opportunity is given, I will always choose to serve here first. And I will
be willing to stay, as long as maam nette needs us here. As she and maam donna
always tells us- Make your mamas proud, and that is what i want you to
remember. My new motto: I've done my part. Lord, You lead the way.
-end-
I had many pauses during my speech because (1) I couldn't help but cry whenever I recall some of the events I was narrating and (2) my dad was there listening intently and it made me emotional hahaha
I hope that you got to know me better; and that even in the smallest way, I have inspired you. Our dean, some of my professors, and my lower classmen shed tears whilst I was narrating this, and I hope that in some way my testimony has also touched you.
Please feel free to drop your comments below, or even on my Facebook post with this link. :) Thanks for reading, stay golden. xx
