HED: (On) To Greater Heights

DEK: Awardees of a prestigious award give us a/n exclusive/closer look into their personal lives
Written by: Joff Angeli Villareal
Photographer: Dix Perez

INTRODUCTION
Some of us might not even bat an eye on the thought of high school, but we all can agree that these
years are very crucial in terms of forming and guiding young minds to the path that would lead
them to their chosen careers. Outside the four corners of the classroom, students have a myriad of
opportunities that they could get themselves into; from discovering their strengths and weaknesses,
finding out their passions, to forming friendships that could last a lifetime, high school is that full
platter meal that you need to jumpstart your day - or life.

The Cum Laude Society, which was founded in 1906, is the highest honor society of the
International School of Manila (ISM). Devoted to honor scholastic achievement in secondary
schools, the society also promotes excellence (Areté), justice (Diké), and honor (Timé). In 1954, the
ISM chapter was organized.

Nine students are the recipients of this award and we got the chance to hear their stories. Given all
the extracurriculars that they had, it is incredibly amazing how these kids, while doing exceptionally
well in their academics, found where their heart really lies. From wanting to change the society to
contributing to the country’s technological advancements, ISM did a good job in producing students
who are focused yet versatile.

Discover more on these outstanding students and be truly astonished as we walk you through the
lives of different teenagers who found solace in their second home and would eventually leave their
nest to fulfill the goals they have not only for themselves, but for their beloved country as well.

ALEXIS LOPEZ
Having to juggle a lot of exta-curriculars in high school and adjusting to a whole new world in the
International School of Manila (ISM), published writer Alexis Lopez shares how her four-year stay
in ISM transformed her into a woman who dreams to pursue an English major in the University of
Notre Dame. “I have always loved listening to, reading, and writing stories ever since I was a little
girl.”, she shares. With the goal of bringing the school community closer, she focused on having
leadership positions, which made her the President of the Fine Arts Council and Co-Executive
Director of the Battle of the Bands Committee. Alexis believes that journalism plays a vital role in
our country; she wants to start telling the stories of the Filipino people to spread awareness and,
hopefully, inspire meaningful change. Growing up a quiet girl did not stop her to venture out into
different fields, such as theater, which she enjoys so much. For the last five years, she has been
working with the White Cross Orphanage where she holds drama workshops and storytelling
sessions. This experience gave birth to her published book entitled Jorlie’s Journey, which follows
the story of a young girl preparing to move to Spain. She believes that knowing about other
people’s experiences that are similar as ours gives us a sense of reassurance that we are not alone.
Right now, she is working on her book to be distributed around different children’s homes in the
Philippines including White Cross, Virlanie Foundation, and Hospicio de San Jose.

ANDREA LEE
The batch president of the International School of Manila (ISM) has poured her heart and soul into
sharing her exceptional writing skills not only to her school, but also to the community as well.
While being the vice president for their school’s Forensics Club and Debate Club, Andrea also
worked as the editor-in-chief of their literary magazine, “Liham”. She did not only spend the last
four years representing ISM in regional competitions, but she also helped in revitalizing their
magazine by starting a new podcast, having a new tutoring and editing program, and redesigning
their website. Inspired by her global politics teacher, she plans on taking up International Relations
or History at Yale University. “I’m not too sure about my future, but I am currently fascinated by
the growing culture of migration and the way it warps cultural identity, exacerbates past conflicts,
and influences current policy.”, she added. This driven woman has lead her batch to come up with
“Project Jeeptree”, a schoolwide project where they raised money to purchase a custom mobile
education vehicle for ChildHope Philippines, which brought about an indisputable connection
between the ISM community and the communities of the street children that ChildHope caters to.
Working with a non-governmental organization that aims to provide a creative caring space for
underprivileged students, Andrea’s first program in Right Start involved creating a film that is
written and acted by children. Her second program is geared towards helping the kids create
Filipino-English poetry portfolios that are inspired by Shel Silverstein, photographs of the
Philippines, and the children’s favorite pop songs. As her final act as president, Andrea left ISM
with words that ought to reflect what made her batch so unique; her speech drew inspiration from
NASA’s golden record - a cosmic time capsule telling the story of humanity.

ANNIKA ALLADO

We grew up drawing the thick line between the arts and sciences, but Annika begs to differ. Shaped
by her determination to put her love for dance and STEM in one lane during her stay in the
International School of Manila (ISM), this student-athlete will embark on a journey at Duke
University, where she will take up an engineering program. “I love how the school [Duke
University] puts a lot of emphasis on their interdisciplinary courses, which means I could continue
my passions in the arts without having to compromise my interests in STEM.”, she says.
Graduating cum laude while having a lot of extra-curriculars molded Annika to be an exceptional
student, as she was their dance group’s company captain and president of the Athletics Council. She
was also able to raise over PHP 200,000 for cleft palate surgeries during her term as the president of
the National Honor Society. On top of that, she also spearheaded different sessions of Math and
Science classes with Energizing Engineers, where she is also a head of. These might be
overwhelming for some of us, but our dancer still finds the time to destress by performing (she was
the lead of their school’s play, In The Heights!) and powerlifting in the gym. Dancing her way
around high school made Annika output-oriented; the fruits of her labor remain to be an inspiration
and motivation for her to power through. Even if she would go abroad for college, Annika’s love for
the country prevails. She wants to come back to the Philippines with the goal of building an
underground transportation system that would help improve the traffic situation at EDSA.

AUDREY SY

Living a life of service is what makes our class salutatorian the driven woman that she is. Dinners
with Audrey’s family paired with business talks inspired her to consider taking up social
entrepreneurship, but did not stop her from looking into Computer Science, Product Design, or
Engineering in Stanford University. “Stanford [University] and Silicon Valley has such a unique
entrepreneurial and tech-driven environment, and I’m excited to have the opportunity to learn from
people working in the industry.”, she shares. While being on top of her academics, she ensures that
there is a balance when it comes to her extra-curriculars, making her the Executive Director (for
two consecutive years) of the Battle of the Bands, their yearly musical charity event. She was also
able to raise a total of PHP 3.9M (2017-2019) for different charities and causes such as The
MEALenium Project and NVC Foundation’s Peter Project. She found a family and discovered her
passion for service by being a member and president (2018-2019) of an out-of-school youth service
organization, Promoting Rural Education in the Philippines (PREP). They would create interactive
lessons for over 300 kids and go to public elementary schools in rural Tagaytay to conduct these
activities. Audrey surely gives us the natural-born leader vibe, but she grew up with the fear of
public speaking. Nevertheless, this did not stop her from going outside of her box, pushing her to
take up Introduction to Theatre. Being sporty is also one of her attributes, having been a co-captain
of their varsity team for badminton, and playing volleyball for fun. Practicing calligraphy also takes
up the time of our Moon Koo Lee Outstanding Senior Awardee.

DAVID ZHANG

Should you need help with balancing school work and extracurriculars, David would be more than
happy to lend you a hand. Being the student council’s president on your senior year while wrapping
your head around graduating and going to college may be taxing, but this man surely made it seem
like it’s just another walk in the park. David used his position to organize large scale events for the
school community, speak with the school administration on pressing issues, and lead student
assemblies. Apart from student council, he also devoted his time in participating in different events
like the Battle of the Bearcats, which was an avenue for him to spend quality time with his friends -
both old and new. David looks into taking up a joint concentration of Economics and Applied Math
in Harvard College, as he sees himself having a potential on being a financial analyst. This career
path was deeply inspired by his Economics teacher; having the opportunity to see the application of
economics in one’s everyday life inspired him to take the specific degree program. Outside of
school, he makes time for things that would help take his mind off of the heavy workload that he
has in school; playing the saxophone and piano, going for a swim, or breaking a sweat are a few
things he finds not only enjoyable, but are surefire ways to relieve him from stress. Back in fifth
grade, David had the chance to visit the La Mesa Watershed where he learned about tree-planting
and hiking. This experience gave him a new-found passion for the environemnt which is, in his own
words, “a defining feature of who I am.”
ELISABETH CAJURAO

Growing up in the Philippines and having to see the inequalities brought about by the living
conditions in the country, student-leader Elisabeth aims to come up with solutions to different social
ills like inequality and poverty by going to Georgetown University. She wants to pursue law school
and looks into Political Economy as her undergraduate degree. What drew her to this school is not
only how her values are aligned with their motto, but also, in her own words, “..how it regularly
interacts with its community through numerous opportunities for political internships and service
outreach.”. With that being said, it is clear that she wants nothing but the best for her community, as
she was able to pull off various service initiatives that benefit the people around her. Hosting annual
Filipiniana celebrations for the International School of Manila (ISM) community helped her raise
around PHP 2M for Papaya Academy, which she really takes pride on. She may have a lot on her
plate, but that did not stop Elisabeth from working between different extra-curriculars and
leadership positions. Planning and leading an International MUN Conference with over 200
international participants as the secretary general could be taxing, but she made sure to give herself
some time away from these responsibilities by going back to her passion for dancing. Elisabeth
feels strongly for education, as this is what drives her to give back to the Filipino community that
she grew up in. Albeit shy and reserved, she is very eager to meet and collaborate with like-minded
people.

GEORGIA ISABEL PUYAT LIMCAOCO

To bring joy into the International School of Manila (ISM) community by choosing to write a show
was the inspiration that Georgia had, making her successful in producing and directing their own
original student-run play. “I wanted to do this play to provide the ISM theater community another
opportunity to participate in a production.”, she shares us. Selling all tickets on opening night made
it easy for her team to raise funds for a non-profit organization. Her mother brought out her love for
reading by introducing Georgia to books when she was a child. She also finds happiness in writing
that since 8th grade, she worked her way on being a part of the managing team of their school
paper; she got to be in it on her junior year! Writing about controversial topics such as sexism can
be quite challenging, but her team was able to do so. Her experience in writing made her want to
pursue an English or Communications degree at Stanford Univerty. To create and inspire others
through her love for the arts did not stop her to explore different fields, as she is also interested in
Science and Politics. She also loves to spend time in the kitchen cooking her favorite meatball
risotto! Just when you think that Georgia is your all-around-girl, she also shares how she is very
passionate about community service. Having a high affinity for education and teaching, she founded
the KwentoBus program and partnered with the Institute for Foundational Learning. It is a mobile
library program that is based in Cabuyao which aims to improve children’s English literacy.

ZACHARY LOPEZ

As artificial intelligence is fast-emerging, Zachary tries to keep up with booming industry as he

widens his knowledge on robotics by taking up Computer Science in Princeton University. What
drew this tech-savvy guy to this field is how computer science plays a vital role in today’s world;
the freedom he gets by being able to create just about anything is rewarding. For his whole stay in
the International School of Manila (ISM), he has been a part of the robotics club, even garnerning
first place in Maker Faire’s multi-processor division. Having co-founded the school’s code club,
Zachary was able to teach other students the basics of computer programming through tutorials,
competitions, and online practice. One of their achievements was putting together and displaying
the students’ creations in Maker Faire. Not only that, his team designed, built, and programmed a
robot that placed 4th in ISM’s competition, which paved the way for their participation in an annual
VEX robotics competition held in Taiwan. To be able to compete in the semifinals is already
redeeming in itself, but on top of all that, what was really fulfilling was how travelling with his
team made them all the more close to one another. To make things even more interesting, this techy
guy also loves theater and card magic, which he has done throughout his stay in ISM. He believes
that, in his own words, “technological progress in the Philippines is slower in comparison to other
countries.”. With the hope of implementing his own projects to enhance the lives of the Filipinos, he
aims to come back to the Philippines after he learns more on this respected field.

SOFIA MONTINOLA

Sofia shares how she was at her lowest during her junior year, and with a little help from her friends
and focusing more on herself, she bounced back on her last year in the International School of
Manila (ISM), graduating as the class valedictorian and receiving an award from the school’s
highest honor society. Although her work suffered from it, she talks about how important it is to
take a break from all the pressure and just channel one’s energy into self-care; eventually gaining
the motivation she needs, she successfully made her way to the top. Sofia also shared a lot to the
ISM community by working on the set of their high school production, In The Heights, and also
working with the Spanish Honor Society and the WWF New Youth Council. She does different
things to gain serenity - from relaxing at home by baking and watching videos to sporting her
adventurous side by rock climbing, she surely is a lot of things rolled in one. Back in their travel to
Alaska, she ran into a passenger that told her about Behavioral Psychology and the different ways
that it can encourage others to limit their carbon footprint. Having been inspired to learn more, she
looks into taking up a degree that majors in Psychology and minors in art (she also does graphic
design!) in Harvard University. To live and study abroad is a huge leap of faith and can be nerve-
wrecking for some, but for Sofia, it is nothing but another exciting opportunity to discover herself,
find new interests, and have a clearer look at the picture that she wants to paint in the future.