ACHIEVEMENT is not about prestige but being a person in the service of others.
Batch 2013 valedictorian Christopher Rey Dacanay, an 18-year-old graduate from the Faculty of Pharmacy, reminded his fellow Thomasians to keep the virtues of humility and generosity—the same qualities St. Thomas Aquinas, UST’s patron saint, possessed.
“In a time when creed is to flaunt what you possess, when self-centeredness becomes an attitude, when humility and charity do not stand a chance, we, Thomasians, stand out,” Dacanay said in his speech during the Student Awards Day last March 15 at the UST Quadricentennial Pavilion.
Humility and generosity are not just virtues but “a form of perception,” silencing the “I” in each person to be able to reach out and “hear the voice of others with love,” he said.
“Grades will always be grades. The 1.0 that we get now would be insignificant in time. Thus, it is our task to look for its significance,” Dacanay said. “Just like what St. Thomas said, ‘It is better to illuminate, than merely to shine.’”
For obtaining a general weighted average of 1.069, Dacanay was conferred the Rector’s Academic Award, the highest academic award given to students for outstanding academic excellence, beating valedictorians from other faculties and colleges.
Dacanay, who was admitted to UST Grade School at age five and finished elementary and high school in UST, beat Kriskyn Diane Cabrera of the College of Tourism and Hospitality Management (CTHM), who obtained the second highest grade of 1.119.
Dacanay said his longing to make his parents proud drove him to persevere in school, which he considered as not only something that he “ultimately enjoyed but understood as something that he needed to do.”
He also credited his success to UST, which he said had served as his “beacon of light that guided him in the formative years of his life.” UST also taught him “how to be responsible and how to become a person for others,” he said.
“Yes, it was difficult [and] we sometimes complained, but we worked because that’s what UST had imbued in us—to work patiently, to be steadfast in achieving a personal goal, to be responsible for our future, to attain a level of perfection that befits a genuine Thomasian,” he said.
Other Rector’s Academic Award recipients were Seminarian Jan Gresil Kahambing (Philosophy), Bro. Art Vincent Pangan, O.P. (Sacred Theology), Lean Angelo Silverio (Medicine and Surgery), Mary Del Jasa (Arts and Letters), Anthony John Crisostomo (Engineering), Dale Aldrinn Pradel (Education), Mark Leonard Millares (Science), Kenneth Marvin Masing (Architecture), Leny Pe (Commerce and Business Administration), John Luke Jose (Conservatory of Music), Patricia Anne Atal (Nursing), Viennah Condor (Rehabilitation Sciences), Leo Antonio Cosim (Fine Arts and Design), Christine Heras (Accountancy) and Kriskyn Diane Cabrera (Tourism and Hospitality Management). Cez Mariela Teresa G. Verzosa
