The College of Arts and Sciences, University of the Philippines Visayas (UPV-CAS) honored its senior and graduating students during the CAS Recognition Program 2023 held at the AVR, Pidlaoan Hall, Miagao campus, on July 18.
CAS recognized its honorific scholars (university and college scholars) and special achievement awardees, particularly for most outstanding CAS-based student organization, CAS Student Council outstanding students, and college service awardees.
Dr. Alice Joan Ferrer, CAS Dean, and Prof. Nilo Araneta, Associate Dean, led the distribution of awards and certificates together with some of the division and department heads of the College.
Dr. Bernadette Madrid, head of the UP Philippine General Hospital Child Protection Unit (PGH-CPU) and 2022 Ramon Magsaysay Awardee for her work on children’s protection, was the guest speaker of the program where she talked about love for the country.
“The choice to love [the] country and to stay here and work here and make our country better is actually a choice that is difficult, and I hope it is a choice that you will make because our country needs you,” she said.
“I hope that when you go out and graduate from this University, that love for country will be foremost in your heart,” Madrid cited.
She also talked about being “human” despite how easy it is to access information with the advancement of technology, emphasizing the need to continue sharing experiences with family and friends.
Meanwhile, Joyce Ken Lei Daquio, a graduating Bachelor of Science in Public Health student and magna cum laude, gave a response on behalf of the awardees. She shared her and her batchmates' experience as students of the University, particularly during the pandemic.
“I believe that it is in these challenging moments where stories of inspiration are made, but let’s not make it to the point where we have to romanticize the hardships we have to go through. Filipino resiliency is important, yes, but it can be made better if we are able to offer more opportunities to them,” she said.
Daquio ended her speech saying, “Whatever we gained in the university, let’s use them to pay it forward to the Filipino people and be responsible citizens. After all, this is what UP has trained us for – lagi’t lagi, para sa bayan!”
