‘SUMMAblay’: UP student graduates summa cum laude despite failing UPCAT

Frances Nikka Alfonso graduated with Latin honors during the 113th commencement exercises held at the UP Diliman Amphitheater on July 28, 2024. Photos courtesy of Frances Nikka Nyx Alfonso/Facebook. Graphics: Lance Uy/INQUIRER.net

Frances Nikka Alfonso, a tenacious student from Tondo, Manila, proved that failing the University of the Philippines College Admission Test (UPCAT) couldn’t hinder her from studying in her dream school. On Sunday, July 28, she graduated summa cum laude with a 1.17 general weighted average at the University of the Philippines Diliman campus. 

Alfonso thought she encountered the biggest sablay (mishit) of her life when she did not pass the UPCAT in 2019. But through persistent appeals, she managed to enroll in the state university, and five years later, she earned the university’s remarkable “sablay,” the academic costume worn during academic functions such as the commencement exercises.

Keep pressing forward

Despite not making it into the UPCAT passers’ list, giving up was never an option for Alfonso. With a 2.176 grade in UPCAT, she remained hopeful and submitted appeals to various programs at other constituents of UP.

Behind the countless interviews, appeal applications and numerous transfers and shifting of courses, Alfonso took advantage of every opportunity – even the slightest hope – until she secured a spot in public administration at her dream university.

For her, Oble, or the Oblation, can give her a ticket out of poverty.

“As a child, I remember how I used to not eat much because I wanted to save up our food. […] We also don’t have our own house and have moved between four rooms for rent since I was a child. […] Living in Tondo, I also had to endure studying while my surroundings were noisy and the people in our barangay were always singing in videoke,” she said in her Facebook post.

True essence of ‘sablay’

The sablay she thought of when she didn’t make it to the UPCAT passers’ list evolved into finally wearing a sablay, UP’s symbol of years of hard work.

During her stay at the university, she learned that determination and grit can help one survive hopeless days, and that poverty is truly a hindrance to success.

“In the first place, access to high-quality education shouldn’t be this hard to achieve. The lack of access to education and poverty are just two of the many structural issues in our society. We shouldn’t accept this reality as it is, instead, we should fight to change this reality,” she stated in her Facebook post. — Cyril Buenaflor, INQUIRER trainee

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