An inspiring break

WITH the Willie Revillame-Jan-Jan issue and a lot of bad news hogging the headlines lately, it would be good for everyone’s morale to take a nice, quick break – away from all the negativity to focus on the good, but lesser-noticed success stories.
Recently, two inspiring, intelligent and achieving young people – both from the University of the Philippines – were given a small share of the spotlight.
John Gabriel Pelias, 19, will be graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics as summa cum laude, with a general weighted average of 1.016 – the highest achieved in UP history after World War II. On Sunday, Jose Wendell Capili, assistant vice president for alumni relations, posted Pelias’ achievement on Facebook. Capili claimed that Pelias beat the record made by Professor Emerenciana Yuvienco Arcellana, who graduated with a GWA of 1.193 in 1948.
In an interview, Capili said that “He (Pelias) has unwavering focus, maturity beyond his years and he is not difficult to get along with.”
On the other hand, Shamcey Supsup is the epitome of beauty and brains. A magna cum laude graduate and an architecture board exams topnotcher, Supsup is also now a bona fide beauty queen. She will be representing the Philippines in the Miss Universe Pageant in Brazil this coming November.
What’s truly remarkable about Pelias is that like millions of Filipinos, he comes from a poor family. Living with his grandmother, Pelias survives on meager savings and has practically “no family income” to speak of. But it has not deterred him from giving his best and living his dreams.
Despite his lola’s financially-challenged state, Pelias managed to sustain his education through scholarships. He graduated a scholar and class valedictorian of his high school batch from the National College for Business and Arts.
Meanwhile, Supsup breaks away from the stereo-type by proving that beauty queens are also capable of being smart.
During the question and answer portion of the pageant, Australian Consul General Hugh Wilson asked Supsup what worthy cause she supports and this is how she responded: “Valuing education. You can have money. You can have fame. But in the end it can be taken from you. But education is something that cannot be taken away from you.”
Both stories focus on the importance of education – the great equalizer among men. As Supsup succinctly said, education can never be taken away from you. It’s also the one thing that has led to Pelias and Supsup’s success – in their own respective endeavors. You can never have enough of a good thing, but regardless whether Supsup won the crown or not, with her educational background, she still has a bright future ahead of her.
Both also inspire in the sense that they break out from the usual mindset. In Pelias’ case, it is about beating the odds of poverty by striving to be the best you can be. In Supsup’s case, it’s changing the usual perception about pageant contestants – that they are not intelligent. Mindsets are difficult to crack, but it was through education that the two were able to break free from them.
Pelias’ story is living proof that the Jan-Jans of the world need not resort to desperate measures in order to achieve their dreams. There have been convoluted arguments on the gap between the rich and the poor in the Philippines. And poor Jan-Jan has become the poster boy of that seemingly unbridgable gap. But there is hope. And this is what Pelias exemplifies. His story is one Jan-Jan should look up to and learn from.
As the great late President Abraham Lincoln once said, “That some achieve great success, is proof to all that others can achieve it as well.” The road to success mat be long and winding, but with patience, perseverance and persistence, nothing is impossible to achieve.
(www.asianjournal.com)
(LA Midweek April 13-15, 2011 Sec A pg.6)