Farmer’s son graduated as lone Summa Cum Laude of UP Los Baños
UP Los Baños – Helbert A. Paat, son of a farmer, graduated as lone summa cum laude of the University of the Philippines in Los Baños.
During his commencement speech to the faculty and graduating class of the University of the Philippines Los Baños College of Arts and Sciences last June 20, 2019, he started with the hardships he faced.
“When I first came to Manila before going to UPLB, the reality of poverty hit me seriously,” he said.
Based on PEP’s report, in his speech he tackled ” poverty and the ways we could possibly overcome it.”
Helbert also shared that he grew up in a humble home in Cagayan with his father who is a farmer and his mother was working as a saleslady to send him and his two siblings, Angelbert and Margarete, to school.
“Every peso is a product of their intense labor. Every day is a battle to get our needs met,” the summa cum laude said.
At a young age, Helbert already aspired two big dreams – to be a university scholar, and to graduate summa cum laude.
Initially, Helbert planned to take up Accountancy in UP Diliman but the university redirected him to the Applied Mathematics program in UPLB after seeing the results of his admission test.
The Department of Science and Technology granted him a scholarship. With his brain and determination to succeed, Helbert put on his gear to achieve his second goal – to be a summa cum laude.
“Above 1.20 every sem yung GWA (general weighted average) ko for the first four semesters, and I could not believe it,” he shared.
Despite the challenges, the UP Los Baños top student held on to his faith, based on the report.
“Before, I had all these feelings of insecurity, of lack of self-worth. Whenever I scored low on my exams, sometimes I thought it defined my worth. But when I came to know God, everything changed,” Helbert said.
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