For Karen Mae Calam, emerging on top of the bar examinations was made possible by divine intervention.
In an interview with ABS-CBN News Channel, the University of San Carlos of Cebu alumna attributed her success to her prayers and her devotion to Sto. Niño or the Child Jesus. Calam led the 3,747 examinees who passed the last year’s bar exam, dubbed as the toughest professional test in the country.
READ: USC alum tops 2016 bar exam; provincial schools dominate top 10
“I really didn’t expect na Top 1 talaga, although you pray for it from God. You pray for it as early as law school, but I did not expect that God will be very good and merciful and amazing. This is beyond what I prayed for talaga from Him,” Calam said.
Calam said she was planning to go to the Basilica Minore del Santo Niño in Cebu to personally offer her thanks to her patron saint.
“I really want to go to Sto. Niño, to the Basilica here in Cebu, because He is one of my patrons for the Bar exams. So I just want to go there first to pray and just offer all prayer and thanks to Him, and probably Visita Iglesia, too, to give thanks, just to make sure that I don’t forget to give thanks to the Lord who gave this all to me,” she added.
READ: FULL LIST: 3,747 successful passers of 2016 bar exam
A speechless Calam, who is currently working at SGV and Company, said she had no particular plans yet after learning of the bar results.
“I don’t have plans yet. So far I love doing my job so no particular plan yet. Currently I’m in private practice. I don’t know, I’m still processing all the information. I’m still processing it,” she said.
Calam also thanked her school, family, and fiancé for her success. Asked about her study habits, she said she studied at least six hours a day but noted that “rest is also needed for your brain to function.”
Calam said she was friends with other USC graduates who landed in the Top 10, namely Ann Margaret Momongan (#7) Jefferson Gomez (#8), and Fiona Cristy Lao (#3). “We feel so blessed. It’s like a dream. I don’t know, there are no words,” she added. IDL