A MARKETING management student was named valedictorian of the Class of 2026 after attaining the highest general weighted average (GWA) of 1.508 among graduating students this year.
Allyah Amboy of the College of Commerce and Business Administration received the Rector’s Award for Academic Excellence — given to seniors with the highest GWA within their academic unit — during the UST Student Awards Day on May 22 at the Quadricentennial Pavilion.
Amboy described her Thomasian journey as “everything but ordinary,” emphasizing the unconventional path she took throughout college.
“I think one of the best words to describe my Thomasian journey is irregular. I didn’t have sort of a conventional path,” she told the Varsitarian.
After graduation, Amboy said she would focus on the business she had built together with her family.
Amboy shared the spotlight with her fellow Thomasians—working students, student leaders, athletes, researchers, and children of overseas Filipino workers.
“Some of them carried grief, and kept going anyway,” she said.
Among the lessons she shared with the graduating class was the importance of growth through discomfort.
“Always put yourself in a room where someone is better than you… That is not defeat, that is how you grow,” Amboy said.
Amboy also paid tribute to her late grandmother, whom she described as her “mother figure.”
Amboy recalled the last time she stood on a podium was for her eulogy to her grandmother.
“If she were here, I would tell her something that might sound strange coming from me. Lola, I was never the smartest person in the room,” she said.
UST conferred the Rector’s Academic Award on 16 other graduating students:
- Bro. Antonius Pramudianto, O.P. – 1.113 (Faculty of Theology)
- Bro. June Mercede, O.P. – 1.198 (Faculty of Philosophy)
- Abigail Amrad – 94.02 (Faculty of Medicine and Surgery)
- Ryan Toyocan Jr. – 1.063 (Faculty of Pharmacy)
- Brandon Capiña – 1.064 (Faculty of Arts and Letters)
- Mark Añasco – 1.14 (Faculty of Engineering)
- Charles Cuyana – 1.148 (College of Education)
- Deone Sanchez – 1.137 (College of Science)
- Camila Puse – 1.476 (College of Architecture)
- Christine Catelo – 1.164 (Conservatory of Music)
- Daniel Clerigo – 1.374 (College of Nursing)
- James Cruz – 1.090 (College of Rehabilitation Sciences)
- Mivida Aguirre – 1.13 (College of Fine Arts and Design)
- Joseph Corpuz – 1.189 (Institute of Physical Education and Athletics)
- Paul Pañebe – 1.299 (Alfredo M. Velayo – College of Accountancy)
- Dann Figueroa – 1.132 (College of Tourism and Hospitality Management)
The 2026 Baccalaureate Mass for graduating students is set on May 29.
