Describe how you felt when you got into Ateneo.
Some would answer with words like “happy,” “blessed,” or “grateful.”
And while I did feel all of those things…
The word that stood out to me the most was “scared.”
I was scared.
I’m a small girl (literally) from a small province in the Visayas.
Scared of living alone in Manila for the first time.
Scared of speaking up because Tagalog isn’t my first language.
Scared that people wouldn’t understand me… or worse, wouldn’t accept me.
But I did it anyway. I did it scared.
And somehow, that fear made my Ateneo education the best one yet because it has shaped
me in more ways than I can count.
Being an Atenean paved the way for opportunities I only dreamed of having, once upon a
time.
I was scared when I auditioned to be a radio DJ for Q Radio 105.1.
What if I wasn’t good enough? What if they didn’t like my voice, my accent, my energy?
But I did it scared.
And I became the only student jock from Ateneo.
I was scared to apply for an internship in ABS-CBN, especially for TV Patrol.
I knew how competitive it was, how intimidating the newsroom could be.
But I did it scared.
And I ended up appointed as the Chief of Interns, working with anchors like Noli De Castro
and Karen Davila who I grew up watching, and found out that one of them, Sir Alvin Elchico,
is also an Ilonggo.
I was scared to leave the comfort of journalism and venture into marketing and advertising, a
world I wasn’t trained in.
But I did it scared.
And now, I’ve written commercials for brands like Netflix, Grab, Bonchon, and Klook.
Each year at Ateneo, fear showed up in a different form.
The fear showed during enlistment, the shift from online to onsite, oral exams, thesis
defense, release of grades on AISIS, and many more.
But each year, I chose to show up with it.
Even now, I’m scared to graduate.
Scared of what lies ahead.
But I’m doing it anyway.
Because beyond the lectures and the readings, what Ateneo taught me is that fear will
always be there.
But so will the choice to act anyway.
To lead anyway.
To serve anyway.
And in the middle of all that growth, I found AASA.
AASA, with the OAA, was the first to tell me: “You belong here.”
AASA gave me something I didn’t expect to find so soon…a home.
A family I wasn’t born into, but chose me anyway.
You welcomed me with warm smiles, open arms, and kind eyes.
You let me tell my story.
You gave me the stage to host, to speak, to be seen.
You made space for me — an Ilongga and the proud eldest daughter of a delivery rider and
an online seller.
You saw me not as someone who didn’t belong, but someone who had a place.
And in that space, I found people I’ll keep for a lifetime.
Friends I’ll call family.
Mentors I’ll always look up to.
And memories I’ll carry forever.
Like how our AASA batch always wins the New Year Get-Together presentations and brags
about it for months
Or the first time we first met online during the pandemic. We were seated behind a screen
yet the bond felt so real, so solid. That showed when we met onsite for the first time as well.
There were so many kwentuhans.
How food stubs from AASA meant more than meals. They meant being cared for, and
remembered.
And how, in the hardest moments, AASA wasn’t just an organization…
AASA was a hug.
It’s only fitting that AASA means “hoping,”
because this community, this family, gave me exactly that.
Hope.
Hope that I’ll never have to face anything alone again.
Hope that I belong, not just in Ateneo, but wherever I choose to go next.
Thank you, AASA, for turning fear into faith.
And I’d like to point out that this is such a full circle moment for me because I didn’t know
that the person giving the talk today is the man who made all of this possible for me, my
benefactor Sir Francis. I want to say this, from the bottom of my heart, maraming salamat
po. Me, my mama and papa are beyond grateful for your generous heart.
You didn’t just give me support.
You gave me a chance. You gave their Little Angel a chance.
And I hope I made you proud.
To the AASA scholars who will take our place:
If I could leave you with just one thing, it’s this: Do it scared.
That’s what I did, and it was worth it.
If you want to speak but are scared of being judged… do it scared.
If you want to dream big but feel small… do it scared.
If you want to apply, to audition, to try again… do it scared.
If you’re thinking of asking Ms. Lani for extra food stubs but you’re nervous she might say
no…do it scared anyway.
Because the truth is: fear doesn’t go away. But courage means showing up with it.
Do it scared, because you’ll miss out on the chances, the memories, the stories, the growth,
and the people you’ll grow to love if you don’t take that first step.
Some of my favorite memories and proudest moments came from things I was initially too
scared to do.
So be scared. But more importantly, be brave anyway.
Because trust me, you have a generation of scholars behind you.
Maraming salamat, Ateneo.
Maraming salamat, AASA.
