16-year-old
Mikaela Irene Fudolig triumphantly steps into the spotlight as she delivers a
speech as the valedictorian of the graduating class.
The summa
cum laude with a general weighted average of 1.099 will
also receive the Best BS Physics Student award and the Dean’s Medallion for
Excellence in Undergraduate Studies at the UP College of Science. (She earlier
qualified as a regional finalist for the Ten Outstanding Students of the
Philippines.)
Mikaela was only 11 when she became a college student as
part of an experimental program that would test the possibility of gifted
children entering university without compromising their emotional and social
development.
The
conditions of the program required that Mikaela be hidden from public scrutiny
and the unforgiving glare of the media.
And she
told the Inquirer in an interview marked with much laughter that more than her
awards and achievements, she was proud that the Early College Placement Program
(ECPP) originally designed for her had succeeded.
“It was
a great thing that I was able to show people that it can be done,” she said.
Now, she added with a hopeful smile, similar programs to help gifted people
like herself could be conceived and implemented.
According
to Mikaela, many gifted children end up discouraged or unproductive because of
a dearth of programs to guide them and maximize their abilities.
They
sometimes refuse to take required courses, claiming early mastery in these
areas, or are simply interested in other things.
Happy experience
“I know
one brilliant classmate who was very promising. But for some reason, he did not
attend many of his classes and even retook some subjects,” she said.
Mikaela
did not undergo such a dilemma. She thinks of her academic life at the
Philippines’ premier state university as “a happy experience.”
“Many
people think that a child, even if equipped with the mental abilities, is not
emotionally prepared to enter college. I am glad to have proven them wrong,”
she said cheerfully.
Tony
Fudolig and Lyn Dimaano apparently took pains to have their eldest child grow
up a balanced individual. Lyn made Mikaela join her nursery class in the
afternoons even if she was already enrolled in the first grade at the age of
four.
“Mikaela
could read and write English and Filipino at three years old,” Lyn recalled.
But she said she made sure that the child still had her share of playmates and
nursery games.
Mikaela
said that at three, she already had a keen interest in science. She recalled
enjoying the times her mother would take her to the UP Botanical Garden and
point out to her the different plant families.
“We
also grew mongo seedlings and conducted small experiments. I was fascinated
with how nature and science worked even back then,” she said.
Science
appears to be a family passion. Tony is an industrial engineering graduate, and
Lyn used to teach biology courses at UP. (They are now managing the
family-owned Brains Review Center.)
Their
second child, Miguel, 13, is an incoming senior at the Quezon City Science High
School. The youngest, 9-year-old Raphael, is in sixth grade at the Jose Abad
Santos Memorial School.
Best option
After
grade school at Saint Mary’s College, Mikaela was accepted at Quezon City
Science High. It was, she said, the best option for her at that time.
“I
enjoyed my first year in high school. I had very nice classmates, good teachers
and a challenging environment,” she said.
She was
elected first-year-level council president and spearheaded many projects,
including a scholarship program for underprivileged classmates.
The
family decision for her to enroll at UP for a summer class marked a critical
turning point in the 11-year-old’s life.
When
Mikaela formally sought permission to register for a Mathematics 11 class in
UP, her case was referred to Dr. Leticia Penano Ho, then dean of the College of
Education.
Ho,
also the president of the Philippine Association for the Gifted, noted the
child’s potential to survive in the university at the end of the summer course,
and later designed the ECPP for her.
Baby doll shoes
Mikaela
recalled how intimidated she was on the first day of her Math 11 class.
Comparing
her high school and college classmates, she said laughingly: “It was one thing
to have your classmates stare at you because you are three years younger, and
another for them to strangely appraise you because of the way you dress.”
She
recalled in particular how her Math 11 classmates stared at her baby doll
shoes, which she wore in high school: “They were all so quiet, choosing to
remain silent in their seats, wearing their college get-ups. And there I was,
wearing a skirt and a blouse, squirming uncomfortably in my seat.”
Then on
the verge of adolescence, Mikaela was shocked at the fast pace of the summer
lessons. She was disheartened when she got a grade of 72 in the first exam,
which was held a week after classes started.
“I was
feeling low, but when I saw that my seat mate got a score of 71, I felt that
there was still hope,” she said, still laughing.
The
following week, after days of intensive study, Mikaela took the second exam
along with the rest of the class. The professor later announced that the
11-year-old got the highest score.
“I felt
very happy that I could fit in,” Mikaela said.
She got
a grade of 1 in that Math 11 class.
Exceptional grades
The following
semester, Mikaela enrolled at UP as a nondegree student and volunteer for Ho’s
program.
But she
enrolled as a sophomore at Quezon City Science High at the same time, just in
case her yearlong trial with ECPP fell through.
“We
eventually found out that this kind of setup could not work because I had no
more time to take my high school exams,” she said.
But as
Mikaela, her family and Ho happily learned, there was no need for this fallback
plan. She completed her first year at the university with exceptional grades—an
average of 1.395. Mikaela next wrote then UP Chancellor (now president)
Emerlinda Roman to consider her application to be a regular student. With her
parents’ assistance, she also requested then Education Secretary Edilberto de
Jesus to help her get into UP even without a high school diploma.
De
Jesus wrote then UP president Francisco Nemenzo and endorsed Mikaela, attaching
her transcript of records and her teachers’ certificate attesting to her
excellent performance.
Lyn
Dimaano said that according to Department of Education officials, “not many
people could get the kind of average Mikaela obtained in her first year in UP.”
“Their
only concern was that she’d be happy,” the mother said.
In May
2003, the Board of Regents approved Mikaela’s admission—the first case of its
kind nationwide, said a UP Newsletter.
Between math and physics
At the
age of 12, Mikaela was formally enrolled as a BS Physics student at the UP
National Institute for Physics.
“I had
the choice between math and physics and in the end, I chose the latter,” the
teenager said, adding that she had no particular reason for doing so.
“But I
also think physics is more concrete than the more abstract mathematics,” she
said.
After
the yearlong trial period, life at the university went smoothly for Mikaela.
She made friends with her classmates, joined the UP Student Campus Ministry at
the Parish of the Holy Sacrifice, passed a Japanese language proficiency exam,
and attended classes she enjoyed.
“I took
two consecutive music courses because I just love studying different kinds of
music in the world. Some people at the College of Music even thought I was a
student there,” she said.
Mikaela
also kept in touch with her high school classmates, and even attended their
junior-senior prom.
“I
think I was able to extract all the good things I was supposed to have missed
in high school,” she said.
Her
most traumatic experience at UP was an encounter with a student assistant who
thought her grade of 1.75 in a math subject was “a bit low.”
“Maybe
the assistant expected that because I was admitted to UP at such a young age, I
would get a higher grade. I thought that maybe getting a 1.75 was equivalent to
getting a barely passing mark,” she said, again laughing at the memory.
Esguerra’s case
The
ECPP’s careful steps in keeping her out of the public eye helped a lot,
according to Mikaela.
Her
adviser, Dr. Jose Perico Esguerra—who, before Mikaela, was the youngest student
accepted at the university in 1984—was not as lucky.
Esguerra
was a 13-year-old Philippine Science High School student when he passed the
advance placement exam for Math 11 and Math 14, and was allowed to enroll at
the UP College of Science.
“Cameras
would sometimes follow Dr. Esguerra when he came out of the classroom. The
other students, perhaps resentful of his achievements, would also bully and
make fun of him in the corridors,” Lyn Dimaano said, adding:
“It was
a good thing there was an agreement that Mikaela be shielded from the media so
she could live her life as a normal university student.”
No problem
Mikaela
plans to teach at the National Institute of Physics and to take up her master’s
degree in physics at the same time.
She
said cheerily that she did not mind teaching students older—or taller—than she.
“I’m used to it. Last night, I tutored a high school classmate three years older than me, and I had no problem doing it,” she quipped.
“I’m used to it. Last night, I tutored a high school classmate three years older than me, and I had no problem doing it,” she quipped.
Mikaela
said her graduation speech would focus on opening new opportunities for others,
including gifted ones like herself.
“Instead
of taking the road less traveled, the new graduates should make new roads,”
said the 16-year-old trailblazer.
Source: Inquirer.net
=======================
Mikaela
Irene D. Fudolig of Quezon City Science High School won first prize in Cluster
2 Individual Category for her project entitled:”Cleaner Air near Gas Stations:
Recycled Activated Carbon, Terracota and Single-Fired Earthenware Granules as
Filter Adsorbent for Gasoline Fumes.” The project sought to use recycled
materials as substitute for activated carbon used to control air pollution in
gasoline stations.
source: Science Education Institute
=======================
Mikaela Irene D.
Fudolig, BS Physics with a GWA of 1.099, led the top honors. She also delivered
the valedictory address on behalf of the graduating class.
Only 16 years old,
Fudolig is the youngest student to be graduated by the University in the recent
years and one of only two admitted to UPD without a high school diploma and
without taking the UP College Admission Test.
She was only 11 years
old and a sophomore at the Quezon City Science High School when she was granted
permission to enroll at UPD as a non-degree student, having volunteered for a
prototype Early College Placement Program the UPD College of Education was
spearheading. After earning remarkable grades for an academic year, the
Department of Education (DepEd) endorsed her admission to UPD, which was
approved by the UP Board of Regents on May 30, 2003.
Source: UPD.edu.ph
=======================
Take
not the road less traveled
One of
the things that strike me as being very “UP Diliman” is the way UPD students
can’t seem to stay on the pavement. From every street corner that bounds an
unpaved piece of land, one will espy a narrow trail that cuts the corner, or
leads from it. Every lawn around the buildings sports at least one of these
paths, starting from a point nearest to the IKOT stop and ending at the nearest
entry to the building. The trails are beaten on the grass by many pairs of feet
wanting to save a fraction of a meter of traveling, no matter that doing so
will exact some cost to the shoes, or, to the ubiquitous slippers, especially
when the trails are new.
What do
these paths say about us, UP students?
One
could say that the UP student is enamored with Mathematics and Pythagoras,
hence these triangles formed by the pavement and the path. Many among you would
disagree.
Others
could say that the UP student is naturally countercultural. And the refusal to
use the pavement is just one of the myriads of ways to show his defiance of the
order of things. This time, many would agree.
Still,
others will say that the UP student is the model of today’s youth: they want
everything easier, faster, now. The walkable paths appeal to them because they
get to their destination faster, and presumably, with less effort. Now that is
only partly true, and totally unfair.
These
trails weren’t always walkable. No doubt they started as patches of grass,
perhaps overgrown. Those who first walked them must have soiled their shoes,
stubbed their toes, or had insects biting their legs, all in the immovable
belief that the nearest distance between two points is a straight line. They
might even have seen snakes cross their paths. But the soiled footwear, sore
toes, and itchy legs started to conquer the grass. Other people, seeing the yet
faint trail, followed. And as more and more walked the path, the grass gave in
and stopped growing altogether, making the path more and more visible, more and
more walkable.
The
persistence of the paths pays tribute to those UP students who walked them
first – the pioneers of the unbeaten tracks: the defiant and curious few who
refuse the familiar and comfortable; the out-of-the-box thinkers who solve
problems instead of fretting about them; the brave who dare do things
differently, and open new opportunities to those who follow.
They
say how one behaved in the past would determine how he behaves in the future.
And as we leave the University, temporarily or for good, let us call on the
pioneering, defiant, and brave spirit that built the paths to guide us in this
next phase of our life.
We have
been warned time and again. Our new world that they call “adulthood” is one
that’s full of compromises, where success is determined more by the ability to
belong than by the ability to think, where it is much easier to do as everyone
else does. Daily we are bombarded with so much news of despair about the state
of our nation, and the apparent, perverse sense of satisfaction our politicians
get from vilifying our state of affairs. It is fashionable to migrate to other
countries to work in deceptively high-paying jobs like nursing and teaching,
forgetting that even at their favored work destinations, nurses and teachers
are some of the lowest paid professionals. The lure of high and immediate
monetary benefits in some low-end outsourcing jobs has drawn even some of the
brightest UP students away from both industry and university teaching to which
they would have been better suited.
Like
the sidewalks and pavement, these paths are the easiest to take.
But,
like the sidewalks and pavement, these paths take longer to traverse, just as
individual successes do not always make for national progress. The unceasing
critic could get elected, but not get the job done. The immigrant could get his
visa, but disappear from our brainpower pool. The highly paid employee would be
underutilized for his skills, and pine to get the job he truly wants, but is
now out of his reach. And the country, and we, are poorer because of these.
Today,
the nation needs brave, defiant pioneers to reverse our nation’s slide to
despair. Today, we must call upon the spirit that beat the tracks. Today, we
must present an alternative way of doing things.
Do NOT
just take courage, for courage is not enough. Instead, be BRAVE! It will take
bravery to go against popular wisdom, against the clichéd expectations of
family and friends. It will take bravery to gamble your future by staying in
the country and try to make a prosperous life here. It might help if for a
start, we try to see why our Korean friends are flocking to our country. Why,
as many of us line up for immigrant visas in various embassies, they get
themselves naturalized and settle here. Do they know something we don’t?
Do NOT
just be strong in your convictions, for strength is not enough. Instead, DEFY
the pressure to lead a comfortable, but middling life. Let us lead this country
from the despair of mediocrity. Let us not seek to do well, but strive to EXCEL
ineverything that we do. This, so others will see us as a nation of
brains of the highestquality, not just of brawn that could be had
for cheap.
Take
NOT the road less traveled. Rather, MAKE new roads, BLAZE new trails, FIND new
routes to your dreams. Unlike the track-beaters in campus who see where they’re
going, we may not know how far we can go. But if we are brave, defiant
searchers of excellence, we will go far. Explore
possibilities, that others may get a similar chance. I have tried it myself.
And I’m speaking to you now.
But
talk is cheap, they say. And so I put my money where my mouth is. Today, I
place myself in the service of the University, if it will have me. I would like
to teach, to share knowledge, and perhaps to be an example to new UP students
in thinking and striving beyond the limits of the possible. This may only be a
small disturbance in the grass. But I hope you’ll come with me, and trample a new
path.
Good
evening, everyone.
Source: Email
message
===============================
Source of pic: UPD.edu.ph
.jpg)