Lady Carmina Litonjua's Profile

Strive, Dare, Prove--- PUP

By: Josephine M. Kayas

Strive to be equal, dare to be different. Popularly unique university for the poor. Controversial, outstanding, and creative, these are the words that best describe the Polytechnic University of the Philippines as perceived by other people. But how does it really feel like studying at PUP? Let’s take it from a certified “Iskolar ng Bayan” and delve deeper into her thoughts about her Alma Mater.
Born to parents who are both Certified Public Accountants (CPA), Lady Carmina Litonjua, 19 years of age, had the chance to study in private schools from kindergarten up to her high school years. According to her, she ended up studying at PUP because it was her parents’ decision. Since her mother was a former Finance Director and her father was a former Chairperson in Accountancy at PUP both wanted their child to be a CPA like them so they made her take up Bachelor of Science in Accountancy.
Apparently, she shifted courses and took up Bachelor in Broadcast Communications after a year for some reasons she didn’t share. Nevertheless, it did not hinder her from describing her life at PUP to be happy. It served as a way of opening her eyes to the reality of life and how to be more independent.
Bragging that the edge of being a PUPian is humility, Lady said that for her, the system of education at her school is good but in her opinion, there is still plenty of room for improvement. Well, it is clearly visible that there are a lot of things that the Polytechnic University of the Philippines is lacking. Most of these are facilities that could have helped in making the university more susceptible to learning.
This was one of the difficulties she had encountered as PUPian. Having studied at private schools before, she had a culture shock when she studied at PUP. Everything seemed different from what she was used to. From the environment, the people she’d dealing with everyday of her student years, up to the way these people live their lives, it was totally different.
Although she admitted that it was hard for her at first, she then accepted and tried to understand everything she witnessed with an open mind. All these contributed in helping her grow as a person. Knowing the realities of life made her realize how other students strive hard for their goals inspiring her to do more but still dare to be different in her own way.
Just recently, the university had faced numerous criticisms and sensitive issues concerning the security and moral stature on the whole studentry. When asked to make a comment on this, Lhady simply told that it’s the fault of one of the system’s problem. Different issues popping up about the Polytechnic University of the Philippines are quite alarming but even if it were so, she said that it could have been just a matter of proper crisis handling.
Undeniably, living the life as an “Iskolar ng Bayan” is never easy. Facing the usual college student antics pus the downfall of having insufficient facilities for better learning, studying at PUP is one great experience a student can be proud of. Being able to survive all of the struggles that any other schools don’t have and still ending up successful proves that college education isn’t all about high tuition fees. Most of the time, it’s about owning the guts, intelligence and abilities to prove your worth to the rest of the world. Like what my brother used to tell me, “It’s not in the school, it’s in the student.”