brightest of the bright

oops. forgot to update. hoo. that's something. haha.

i've been uber busy this week (as if other weeks i'm not); i'm in between research and lectures.

i'm so jealous of the graduating students. i wish i'm graduating and not stuck in college for a few more semesters. but more so, i'm jealous of the university valedictorian. let me tell you why.

she's a bs physics (one of my more favorite subjects back in highschool) graduate. she most probably aced the math subjects most of us are crawling through. her gwa is 1.099 (highest is 1.00). but that's not why i'm so jealous.

she's only sixteen years old. (read about it here.)

yep. at the age when i was still in sweet bliss sixteen not minding academics and gushing over prom gowns and dates and parties, mikaela irene fudolig is already graduating, not highschool, but college, mind you. she's too young to get a non-pro driver's license, too young to drink, heck, even too young to vote. she probably has lots of job offers right now, that is, if the department of labor and employment would rule her as working at that age as not child labor.

she stepped into UP at the tender age of 11 (huwaaaaaatt?!?), an age so young it makes me mutter profanities. heck, at 11 i haven't gotten my period yet.

it gives a whole new meaning to the phrase, "oh how they grow up so quickly." yep, child prodigies start so young.

and i recall that the students i'm giving lectures to (for the upcat review) are also around the age of mikaela: 15 or 16, give or take a few months. i'm happy that so many of them are hopefuls to get into this country's premier educational institution, that many of them are eager enough to sit through english review with me.

if only that eagerness is enough to get them into UP. it's a sad fact that many students fail in english. i am sometimes disappointed at the students who fail to get the correct answers, even if questions are easy. i am saddened at the dumbfounded faces looking straight at me in the classroom, and sometimes i don't know if it's because they had an epiphany with the english language, or they simply don't know what i'm blabbering about. my mom, an english prof, is disheartened at the grades many students get. and many don't even know the basics to the language, something they should have learned in elementary school.

so i try. i try hard. i want them to know and understand what i teach. but more importantly, i want them to appreciate english as much as i do. at the end of the day, the gauge of my tutoring is if they had learned enough from me to pass the upcat (or the acet or ustet or dlsu exam).

and hopefully when they graduate college, even if they aren't child prodigies, they become the light of the nation. yes, the salt of the earth. i earnestly wish they don't forget this immorality-stricken country when they graduate.

i'm so happy for this young girl. and for the many graduates this sunday in diliman. the feeling that so many fresh young minds which are (hopefully) not yet corrupted by the black hole of reality. we need these people in our down-trodden nation.

it is my hope that our beloved UP graduates live up to the call of Serving the People.

(and this is a big good news break from the virginia tech massacre that is sprawled all over the media lately.)