Academic Management Team Resource

• Templates for standard labeling
• Sample of department mission, vision and objectives given by Dr. Lontoc

Smiling through her braces, Mikaela Irene Fudolig said she plans to apply for a teaching position in the coming days. At 16, the challenges do not deter her.

Fudolig told ANC’s “Dateline: Philippines” that the University of the Philippines can ask the Department of Labor and Employment if she is allowed to apply as a college instructor at the state university.

The teen has every reason to be lively and brave in making decisions. Just a few weeks ago, she graduated at the top of her class in UP with a summa cum laude citation, a grade point average of 1.099 and a Bachelor of Physics degree.

Asked what her plans are after graduation, Fudolig said it’s back to UP for a teaching post.

“They told me, actually, that a sixteen-year-old is allowed [to work] provided I [can handle] work conditions,” Fudolig said.

Fudolig is the first and only graduate of what was once UP’s experimental Early College Credit Program. The program had her enter college without a high school diploma.

But for her, it has paid off. She said: “I feel I have achieved more than what I could have done before.”

No problem
Meanwhile, she said that she is not intimidated by the fact that many of her future students would be older than her. “I actually tutored some [older] people. They asked me for help. I did love doing that.”

Asked what she will be able to contribute to the teaching profession, she said that it would most likely be “concentration more on process.”

“You see, I think more than the results of the exams, it is how you achieve them. [You should] not look at the answers,” Fudolig said.

And despite the fact the college teachers in UP are not known to earn much, Fudolig said she will not change her mind. “I think it’s what I should do, to share knowledge and inspire people and it’s the best time to teach right now, I think, for me.”

Quoting Robert Frost, Fudolig encouraged new graduates to “take the load less traveled” by opening up new opportunities and going beyond ““what is perceived to be possible.”

“If I had taken the road well traveled, I would be now in third year high school. Just high school with my age fears. If I had taken the road less traveled I would have been an incoming third year college student. But since I had decided to make my own road I am now a graduate of Physics from UP Diliman,” she said.
Fudolig (2nd from left) with fellow delegates at the Japan Institute of Invention and Innovation Future Creation Fair. (Photo from www.upd.edu.ph)

She admitted, though, that the road she chose was difficult to negotiate. Without a high school background, she said: “I just studied and worked really hard for it.”

“As the founder of ABS-CBN said there is no substitute for hard work,” she said, quoting the late Eugenio “Geny” Lopez Jr.

‘I also went to malls and movies’
A typical school day for Fudolig was usually full of study sessions. “I have free time. There is always enough time for study, there’s always enough time, if I have to cut on my TV time, cut my relaxation time, then I do it.”

She said in between study groups she would “go to the mall, watch TV, watch a movie or just eat at a restaurant, go out with my friends.” Those friends, however, were mostly years older than her.

Though she had virtually no friends of her age, she said: “It makes no difference. I have friends who are eight years, 10 years older and we call each other by our first names.”

Physics it is
During her first years in college, Fudolig settled on Physics, which she said was a “personal choice.”

“At that time I think it was the best course for me, it has Math which I really like. It also has applications, conflict applications…when you’re very young you like those things,” she said.

Fudolig added she was never turned off by the difficulty of the subject. “I love studying, I love Physics, I guess that really helped.”

At present, Fudolig knows her parents now expect her to move on to bigger things, perhaps being employed or earning a big salary. She, however, remains keen on teaching and establishing her career in the country.

“Yes, I think there is hope. There’s hope because you see you just have to keep on believing and keep on inspiring,” she said.

“Don’t migrate. Stay here. Maybe you can study abroad but go back here and make a change here — in the Philippines,” the new graduate said.

“Go beyond what you perceive to be possible and try new things — don’t be limited by what other people say. Believe in yourself and do what it takes. Dream and work hard!”