Eilonwy Salvacruz
- With High honors, HUMSS 2021
- Award-Winning Essay Writer (Regional and National level)
- Participant Harvard Essay Writing Contest (International Level)
Two years. Ask me and I’ll tell you that two years as a Lycean is indeed a short time. Maybe it’s because more than half of it was spent at my own house so I felt like I did not get to experience the “full package.” However, I cannot deny that I gained valuable learnings and irreplaceable experiences while acquainting myself with admirable people, both in the physical and virtual plane.
I was given a lot of opportunities to demonstrate and hone my skills through various competitions and performances inside and outside of school. The previous me who’s afraid of failure would not have done it and said no, but because of my friends who encouraged me, I took the risk and I do not regret it.
I used to shy away from team projects and tasks because I said that I prefer doing things alone. But the truth is, I hated being the leader of a group and thought that I didn’t know how to work with a team. Despite that, I kept being voted or assigned as the group leader and was even elected class president in twelfth grade! I would have respectfully declined until I realized that most of the class voted for me, which means that most of my classmates trusted me so, I trusted myself too and I do not regret it.
I am an opinionated person and always full of ideas, or so I thought. I never expected that as a HUMSS student, I would run out of ideas and even opinions! Well, I never really expected to be a humanities student in the first place. I was torn between STEM and HUMSS, but I chose the latter. In this strand, our teachers would often start a debate to challenge our knowledge. Some of it would end with me losing as I realize that I know so little about the realities that I so adamantly believed. My perspective shifted over and over again and I do not regret it.
I learned to learn from failures. I learned to be a good leader and teammate. I learned to be open-minded to deepen my understanding. I learned all of these and so much more. I am a Lycean and I am thankful for those two meaningful years. #LyceanTestimonial
