DLSHSI HONORS FIRST SUMMA CUM LAUDE AWARDEE AT 2018 COMMENCEMENT CEREMONIES

DLSHSI’s Class 2018 made history as the first DLSHSI class to have produced a Summa Cum Laude awardee. And the name that will forever be etched in the history of her alma mater is Florielle Bacane Sia from the College of Pharmacy’s first batch of graduates. Truly, the College of Pharmacy has marked a lot of firsts this year. In addition to the Summa Cum Laude honors, the graduating class from the undergraduate colleges has also produced three Magna Cum Laude and 31 Cum Laude awardees from DLSHSI’s six undergraduate programs. All in all, a total of 459 new Lasallian health sciences professionals received their hard earned diplomas from the Colleges of Nursing (2, Master of Arts in Nursing; 46, BS Nursing), Rehabilitation Sciences (110 BS Physical Therapy; 40, BS Occupational Therapy), Medical Radiation  Technology (150, BS Radiologic Technology), Medical
Laboratory Science (82, BS Medical Laboratory Science), and Pharmacy (29, BS Pharmacy) during their commencement ceremonies held on July 4 at De La Salle Animo Center.

Guest speaker for the ceremonies was Ms. Vivian Que- Azcona, the person behind the country’s leading health and wellness and basic household product provider, Mercury Drug Corporation. She is a Registered Pharmacist who graduated from the University of Santo Thomas with Cum Laude honors. Ms. Que-Azcona is also involved in various organizations such as the Philippine Retailers Association as vice president and director, the Philippine Business for Social Progress as a trustee, and the Mercury Drug Foundation, Inc as its president, which is supporting the College of Pharmacy with scholarships and funding for its facilities.

PATIENCE AND PERSEVERANCE

In her message, Ms. Que-Azcona shared that when she was a young graduate herself, she, like today’s graduates, was also dreaming for a well-paying job, someone to love and raise a family with, a house and a car, and the chance to travel to different parts of the world. She also wondered what kind future was waiting for them after they received their diplomas and academic awards.

But if there’s one thing that’s different between her time and today, she underscored how today’s technology has changed the way life is lived, and the expectations that come along with it. “Everything is so much easier for you today – everything you need is readily available: e-books, online shopping, emails and texts. We didn’t have these communications tolls available to you today. We communicated face-to- face, through our body language, and there was no online shield to hide our true selves.”

Yet, she underscored, there were two values that her generation learned that might be hard to come by for today’s generation — patience and perseverance. “And these are important as you go out into the real world and work for a promising future.” Ms. Que-Azcona also shared how Mercury Drug Corporation started and how her work with the company has given her many opportunities to practice patience and humility. “Job satisfaction and success do not happen overnight. You have chosen to pursue a profession that demands honesty, integrity, patience, perseverance, sacrifice, and commitment. Your work will require more than just the technical skills you have mastered in school. It will also mean the use of social action skills to help your patients as they go through a difficult period in their life. You cannot focus only on the science of your work, on the medication, the therapy, and blood samples. You will need to care for the whole person — conversing with your patients, getting to know them better, listening to their fears and helping them feel less fearful and a bit more secure. Technical expertise is the hallmark of a competent health professional. But so is compassion and one learns compassion only by opening one’s heart to others. That will require personal sacrifice, the desire for service and a love for one’s patients and one’s work.”

In closing, she challenged them to ask themselves what kind of impact they would want to make on other people, the kind of mark they want to leave in this world, and to remember what author Jane Goodall said, “What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.”

DLSHSI’S FIRST SUMMA CUM LAUDE

Now, everyone must remember her name. Florrielle Bacane Sia. Class Valedictorian of the College of Pharmacy’s first batch of graduates, Class 2018, and the first ever to have earned a GWA high enough for a Summa Cum Laude award at DLSHSI.

In her speech during their graduation ceremonies, she was already characteristically a Lasallian health professional, as she firmly extolled the virtue of sacrifice in the name of service and profession. Citing lessons from Mitch

Albom’s “The Five People You Meet in Heaven,” she said, “Sacrifice is a part of life. It’s supposed to be. It’s not something to regret. It’s something to aspire for.” So she wants to let the graduates know that “even if we have to invest a ton of our time, energy, tears, and sometimes even blood, we have to do those sacrifices if we wanted to become Lasallian health professionals. We had to risk our own mental, physical, and emotional well- being if we wanted to save the lives of our future patients to uphold our very core value – reverence for life.”

AWARDEES

ACADEMIC HONORS

BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN PHARMACY
Summa Cum Laude / Class Valedictorian
Florielle Bacane Sia
Cum Laude / Class Salutatorian
Kristine Abegail Amurao Ramos
Cum Laude
Alodia Amor Ocampo Callado
Christine Mae Esteleydes Comia

BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN NURSING
Cum Laude / Class Valedictorian
Ysa Tish Julianne Fuentes Velez

BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN PHYSICAL THERAPY
Cum laude / Class valedictorian
Jeuz Jez Reel Velante Escanilla
Cum Laude / Class Salutatorian
Kim Louijie Rabino Lacsao
Cum laude
Rhodora Therese Gumabao Torres
Myrel Andrea Faustino Ramos
Ma.Rosel Laurente Trinidad
Jibreel Corpuz Vergara
Colleen Mangubat Santos
Camille Tolentino Del Rosario
Marilei Larosa Martinez

BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY
Cum Laude / Class Valedictorian
Andrea Jenine Kintanar Abad

BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN RADIOLOGIC TECHNOLOGY
Magna Cum Laude / Class Valedictorian
Anne Nicole Moraña Lamac
Magna Cum Laude / Class Salutatorian
Diana Jean Felizardo Caimol
Magna Cum Laude
Denina Astrid Abedejos Martinito
Cum Laude
Arianne Jamee Candelario Cardano
Shennyn Joyce Quijano Colorado
Ederleen Gancayco Escallar
Kim Emelo Austria
Shanaia Franzel Patambang Patambang
Sunho Judy Lee
Noreen Mira Batuhan
Mark Joshua Ocampo Calvo
Brigette Galos Vidal
Danielle Mateo Ramilo
Vienna Mae Flores Dela Rosa

BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN MEDICAL LABORATORY SCIENCE
Cum laude / Class Valedictorian
Ellisiah De Mesa Du
Cum Laude / Class Salutatorian
Angelica Rey Anchuelo
Cum laude
Ulric Lane Dacon Angosta
Kim Maureen Yanson Orodio
Hitomi Dunca Yambe
Vladimir Eric Bautista Santos
Lauritz Tan Fabreag

SPECIAL AWARDS
LOYALTY AWARDEES
BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN PHYSICAL THERAPY
Brian Emmanuel Yabut Castillo
Jacyn Joy Fabella De Leon
Ralph Arden Paul Fuster Murillo
Quennie Lynn Quijano Tabaranza

BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY
Miguel Ma. Lorenzo Salceda De Leon
ST. MUTIEN MARIE AWARDEE
Eizel Kaye Fernando Dy
(BS Physical Therapy)

MERCURY DRUG CORPORATIONAWARDS
BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN PHARMACY
Student Leadership Awardee
Darwin Japeth Eusebio
Academic Excellence Awardee
Florielle B. Sia