Before getting admitted to the University of Science and Technology, it was like a test because I didn ’ t know whether I would be accepted, but it was like a leap of faith that I made it to USTC as the first Filipino student. I know that USTC requires and expects a lot from its students, and these expectations motivated me to strive much harder and thrive on growing professionally.
A few things that I learned from my transformative journey as a master’s student are to have a good network of good students who are willing to help and extend assistance. I was struggling with research since I was not really good at it, but a good classmate friend, brother, and adviser of mine guided me all throughout my journey. Indeed, diversity is a good ingredient in success. My journey was really bumpy and was never easy for me, and I sometimes describe this as a humbling experience because this taught me a lot how to persevere and be more resilient because at some point I got frustrated and disappointed after many failures and rejections, so I decided to quit and just go back to my country, but it never happened after realizing the importance of pressure, rejections, and failures.
I thought that publishing a research paper once would be enough, but the fire in me encouraged me to write and publish more. My experiences fueled my passion and the love for research, leading to encouraging more students and teachers to write and publish papers through research conferences, seminars and workshops, and colloquia. Citing my experiences helped me a lot to encourage them. Conversely, some of them were able to present their papers and publish them in different local journals.
This led to more participation in international conferences, where I garnered awards for the best research paper and presentation. These achievements earned me recognition as an outstanding citizen in research and education in my country. I have been appointed as high school principal in my country, as lower secondary vice principal in Myanmar, and now as the dean of the institute of liberal arts at Kolehiyo ng Lungsod ng Dasmarinas, a locally funded academic institution in the Philippines, and I strongly believe that USTC has a bigger contribution to these achievements.
I took up a master’s in public administration, and am a proud alumnus of USTC from the Philippines, and I believe that once a UTSCer will always be a USTCer who values excellence, works for quality, and uses innovation to benefit the community. I will be forever grateful to USTC, the Chinese Scholarship Council, and China for providing me with the opportunity to see the appearance of academic success and realize my full potential. As I continue to make contributions to academia, I will always carry its teachings and fundamental principles with me.
