by Christine F. Godinez Ortega, Office of Publication & Information (OPI)
The Institute graduates two Summa Cum Laudes during the 46th Commencement Exercises on Wednesday, June 15, 2016 at the Gymnasium.
The Class Valedictorian is Joneil B. Medina, BSE Mathematics with a grade of 1.09016 and the Class Salutatorian is Daryl Dave G. Ditucalan, BS Electronics Engineering (formerly Electronics and Communications Engineering) with a grade of 1.11085.
They will lead 1,744 other graduates in this year’s 46th Commencement Exercises. Of this number, there are 37 Magna Cum Laudes, 260 Cum Laudes, 19 graduating With Honors and one With Highest Honors for the three-year Diploma courses, and six With Honors in the two-year Diploma courses.
Ditucalan, the Class Salutatorian is the first Summa Cum Laude graduate of the College of Engineering (COE) since it opened in 1977.
In an OPI interview, Ditucalan, 21 of Ceanuri, Iligan City believes an engineer has to bring development to the people such as jobs “to have an impact on them” hence, his wish to build his own company and become its CEO in the future but, not before he takes an MS abroad.
He believes that he learned the practical side of engineering from his College but he hopes that the COE will emphasize the teaching of entrepreneurial skills among its students who, in turn should ‘step up’ to become entrepreneurs themselves. But he did praise his mentors at the COE for their having lived up to their standards.
This articulate, guitar-playing future engineer is not all figures debunking the bias that engineers can often be square, because he has a healthy attitude towards the social and natural sciences. He said he reads novels by Dan Brown and John Michael Green and he took note of the values that the Humanities subjects had taught him. He remembers with fondness his readings of poetry and was quite active in co-curricular activities and other competitions winning in quizzes and participating in the Shell Eco-marathon where students did the work by themselves.
Class Valedictorian Medina, 20 from Mangagoy, Bislig City said his third grade teacher saw his potential skills in Mathematics and encouraged him to attend the Metrobank Math Challenge. He eventually won second place when he joined his first contest in Math in the Schools Division Level.
Medina plans to pass the Licensure Examination for Teachers (LET) to realize his passion to become a Math teacher in the future. He believes in being innovative in teaching Mathematics making use of problems because solving them is not ‘an end in itself.’
He believes that motivation is the key to be a successful teacher because to him, the best teachers have the ability to simplify the complex. Teachers should also know who their students are when teaching Mathematics to them referring to non-majors and to those who have the wrong attitude towards figures.
He said that he has made friends and helped him expand his horizons during his stay in MSU-IIT. As a religious person, he has likewise learned to accept criticism and to be with other people during social and religious interactions.
Topics : Summa Cum Laude 46th Commencement