He thought that it was just a big joke, but then it wasn’t.
By the time he figured out that it was all true, he couldn’t help but laugh at his good fortune.
After all, he only wanted to give it his best, but as it turned out, his “best” landed him second place in the September 2016 licensure examination for Respiratory Therapy (RT).
“All I wanted was just to give my best so that whatever the results, there will be no regrets,” said 20-year-old John Marlou Lumapas Medado of Cebu Doctors’ University (CDU) who garnered an average of 88.75 percent.
The results, released by the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) Friday night, showed that there were 582 passers out of 818 examinees. Aside from Medado, there were six other graduates from CDU who made it to the top ten.
Medado, a native of Sogod town northern Cebu, took the RT exam last Thursday in Manila and learned of the results while having dinner with his friends Friday night as they were awaiting their flight back to Cebu.
Medado was stunned with the results posted on the web and called his mother just when the news sunk in.
John Marlou is the only child of Gamelyn Lumapas and Marcelino Medado of Barangay Poblacion, Sogod. Both his parents are school principals.
“Of course my goal was just to give my best,” Medado said, laughing in an interview with Cebu Daily News.
He added that living alone in a house in the city also helped him to focus on his review.
“Every time I went out, I felt guilty,” he said.
He used several “post-its” to write down important equations that he needed to remember always.
When asked by CDN what his advice would be for incoming examinees, he said, “Learn the Physics classes and don’t forget to pray.”
A week before the RT licensure examination, he and his friends visited Simala Shrine in the town of Sibonga and other old churches in southern Cebu.
During his free time, Medado also attended masses at Basilica del Santo Niño in Cebu City.
“Especially in times when I felt that there was no hope and I lost confidence and trust with myself, I would go to the Basilica del Santo Niño,” he said.
It was Medado’s cousin who influenced him to take up Bachelor of Science in Respiratory Therapy (RT).
“At first, I was undecided on what to take up in college, but I realized that RT is also rewarding. You take care of people,” said the April 2016 CDU graduate.
Medado plans to work abroad after gaining experience in the country for two years either working in a hospital or teaching in CDU.
He may also take up Medicine, he said.
The other CDU graduates who landed on the top ten of the RT examination were: Edrianne Paul Bacalso Casinillo who placed third with an average of 87.50%; Iza Jane Butad Antonio, fourth with 87.25%; Samantha Capuno Hamoy and Albert Bahag Howard IV who were both tied at seventh place with 86.50%; Katrina Ompok Villareal who ranked 8th with 86.25%; and Haidee Chio Hernandez, 10th place with a grade of 85.75%.
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