In 2018, Maria Andrea Endicio entered the UST Faculty of Pharmacy with a firm purpose: to begin her journey toward becoming the first doctor in her family.
The road was far from easy, defined by grueling class schedules and a demanding academic workload that often ran from early morning until night.
Amid the pressure, she managed to balance pageantry and her love for sports. In her sophomore year, she was crowned Miss Galaxy Philippines 2019, and by her senior year, she served as UST’s courtside correspondent for the UAAP Season 84 volleyball tournament.
Endicio passed the pharmacist licensure examinations in 2022, and as her journey unfolded across different paths, she credited her pharmacy education for pushing her into unfamiliar and exhausting territory.
“I realized that no matter how hard and heavy things are, if you surround yourself with the right people and you know what you want, nothing can really stop you,” she told the Varsitarian.
“That’s one thing about the Faculty of Pharmacy that shaped me. … I was surrounded by great people. I was in the right environment.”
Although she initially planned to practice pharmacy and eventually pursue medicine, Endicio placed those ambitions on hold after receiving opportunities from TV5, where she was tapped for sports journalism projects following her UAAP courtside work.
What started on collegiate sidelines soon extended to the professional stage, as Endicio went on to cover the Philippine Football League and the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League.
Alongside her work in sports media, Endicio returned to pageantry, a passion that traced back to childhood. She recalled watching her older sister rehearse her pasarela at home and quietly copying the walk long before she understood where it would lead.
Her national pageant journey saw her compete in both Miss World Philippines and Binibining Pilipinas, where she finished as a finalist in each.
Representing Quezon Province, Endicio joined Mutya ng Pilipinas 2025, winning the Darlings of the Press and People’s Choice awards during the preliminaries. She capped her campaign by securing the Mutya ng Pilipinas–Tourism International title on Nov. 17.
Reflecting on where her career has taken her, Endicio said it was driven by a mindset she developed at UST — never being content with where she stood.
“Just because, say, you’ve achieved becoming a courtside reporter, or you’ve achieved becoming a beauty queen, don’t ever put a stop to your improvement,” she said. “Because anyone can be limitless — don’t let anybody tell you that you’re only up to there.”
“You will only stop improving once you believe that it’s your peak. If sasabihin mo sa sarili mo na, ‘This is not yet my peak, I can’t see my peak yet,’ then you will keep on improving. And I feel like that’s the best mindset you could ever have, kahit anong edad mo.“
Even with a pageant crown to her name, Endicio pointed not to victory but to failure as the most defining moments of her journey.
“A lot of people think the crowning moment is the most transformational,” she said. “Pero for me, it was the times that I failed. Those moments pushed me to strive harder.”
“It is never too late for you to reinvent yourself,” she added. “Be fearless in every endeavor.”
