[Fabilioh! Dec 2022] Beyond the Trees

When Ira Valdez (AB Lit Eng 2005), now a Foreign Service Officer at the Philippine mission in London, was choosing between universities, a few things caught her eye in Ateneo. Firstly, the trees. There was something about walking around the Ateneo campus on the day of the Ateneo College Entrance Test, surrounded by nature, that made its way into Ira’s heart.

Secondly, she knew that the Humanities were heavily embedded into the Ateneo way. As an avid reader growing up, she wanted to immerse herself in the Humanities. Lastly, she heard that Ateneo was always about service but was unsure exactly what that meant. Like an invisible string, this yearning for something she did not know about eventually pulled her into entering Ateneo.

As a child, English was her favorite subject. She recalls reading her favorite book, The Canterbury Tales, for school. She spent her summers finishing her Summer Reading Lists before everyone else could. She would even read her sisters’ books, essays, and homework any chance she could get.  Although her initial course in Ateneo was Legal Management, she knew English Literature was where she belonged. 

“If I’m going to spend the next four years in school studying, I might as well do it learning something I love.”

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