Ate Franny

Growing up, I have always wanted to become a teacher.

I love seeing the sparkle in the eyes of children when I tell them stories.

But relatives discouraged me from pursuing teaching with some of them saying that it is a job that will not take me places.

The adventurous girl that I was did not like the thought of not being able to travel.

So when the teacher asked what I wanted to be when I grow up, I wrote: “I want to be a pediatrician who travels.”

A pediatrician is a doctor to children so I probably thought then that I can still interact with children if I chose to be a pediatrician.

I held on to that dream until high school when I embraced the fact that I love the arts over the science.

While science fascinated me, I was not keen in handling microscopes or knowing more about virus and bacteria.

I excelled in essay writing and just about anything that had to do with history and literature.

I said goodbye to wanting to become a pediatrician.

In 2003, I was a 16-year-old girl, who graduated from a Catholic institution in Ormoc City, who found herself entering the University of the Philippines Cebu. My course: Mass Communication.

However, unlike several youngsters of my generation, I did not have a role model to look up to.

I was the first in our clan to enroll in the program.

We were a family of teachers, seafarers and engineers. Almost everyone in my class was taking up nursing.

As a UP Mass Comm freshie, we had the chance to meet individuals from older batches.

The juniors (third years) that year were beautiful, talented and intelligent ladies that I immediately wanted to be like them.

They were fashionably cool, and they seem to slay every single UP subject known to the Mass Comm world.

Among them, I developed a strong admiration towards Ate Franny.

We were never introduced.

I just found her to be perfect and amazing.

At the end of the semester, the names of the honor students are posted by the School Registrar’s bulletin board.

I saw Ate Franny’s name there and I told myself I want to be just like her.

She rocked a short hair like nobody in campus could.

I heard from professors how smart she is.

She did not appear geeky or nerdy.

She had make-up on and she spoke with certainty.

She never knew this but she became my role model.

I did not hear anything about her until I came back to the Philippines a year and a half ago.

We were later reintroduced and like a fan girl, I told her I was a freshie when she was a third year student.

Last weekend, Ate Franny brought a colorful bunch of ladies to Manila to experience what it is like to stay in a Seda Hotel.

I am 31 but I still look at her like a 16-year-old fan girl who admires the way she walks and talks.

Ate Franny, also known as Frances Dominique Conejero Alfafara, I am forever a fan.