BERSALES
The Annual Year-End Planning Conference of the University of San Carlos opened and closed in an upbeat mood.
Never before in the history of the Cebu or of USC — hey, even the country perhaps — where in a single month, four examinees from the same revered institution landed first place in different national board licensure examinations.
Even better, never in the nation’s history have there been two examinees coming from the same school who landed first place in the same exam who happen to be cousins.
This harvest of firsts began early this month when the USC College of Law produced its pioneering first-placer in the person of Karen Mae Calam, who led three others from USC: Fona Cristy-Lao in third place; Ann Margaret Momongan, seventh; and Jefferson Gomez, eighth. And all 2016 first-time takers at USC made it.
According to USC Law Dean Joan Largo, last year’s second-placer , Athena Plaza, was in fact just 0.15 points shy of the first-placer and so this year’s harvest was but a confirmation of the kind of outcomes-based education being pursued at USC that produced these results.
This batch of law topnotchers also happen to come from outside Metro Manila, mostly from the Visayas and Mindanao, another record-breaking feat.
Then came the Certified Pubic Accountant (CPA) licensure exam results the other day. I actually had an inkling of the possible results last week from my fellow passengers to New York, Fr. Generoso B. Rebayla, Jr., SVD, the outgoing vice-president for finance at USC, and Dr. Challoner Matero, dean of the USC School of Business and Economics (SBE), who were talking about the possible outcome in the wake of the Law school victories.
Dr. Matero told Fr. Rebayla that he was confident of producing topnotchers because the examinees told him that they did not find anything difficult with the exam. And so the two first-placers, cousins Vianca Pearl Amores and Jesus del Rio, from USC.
Together with them were second-placer Vanessa Bermudo; fourth-placers Alyanna Kate Buenavista and Maaku Saito, and tenth-placer Cristiemay Vertudazo.
They were joined by three others, also from Cebu, at the University of San Jose-Recoletos: sixth-placer Harold Pacaña and seventh-placers Marie Claire Cortes and Jessele Ann Echavez.
USC landed anew as the top-performing school and had a 100 percent passing for all first-time takers.
Now if this was not enough, as the annual planning conference came to a close yesterday, the news broke out that USC once again produced another first-placer in the Chemical Engineer Licensure Examinations.
Not much of a surprise there as the Department of Chemical Engineering has from time to time produced first-placers and other topnotchers, but coming on the heels of this earlier harvest of first-placers, this was truly a good way to cap a month of victories.
Congratulations are in order, therefore, especially to the Fr. Pres. Dionisio M. Miranda, SVD, and the outgoing members of his cabinet, Fr. Anthony Salas, SVD (vice president for academic affairs), and Fr. Jun Rebayla, SVD, as well as the remaining cabinet member, Fr. Eleno Bucia of administration and the deans of the three schools that have made every Carolinian and every Cebuano really proud: Joan Largo of the School of Law and Governance, Dr. Chal Matero of SBE and Dr. Evelyn Taboada of the School of Engineering.