(Shira Amina Olivares, the mathematics wizard shows her diploma and medal of academic excellence. With her are (from left) Dr. Evaristo Abella, dean of the CLSU College of Arts and Sciences, DOST regional director for Central Luzon Julius Caesar Sicat, and her father Meynard. Photo Courtesy of CLSU)
SCIENCE CITY OF MUÑOZ – While rushing in her steps for the recognition program of the Central Luzon State University here Wednesday, Shira Amina Olivares broke the heel of her left shoe.
She decided to leave it, together with the half of the pair, and on barefoot, she mounted the stage.
There was loud cheering, and little laughing, from among the 1,978 candidates for graduation.
In regal form, though, she went on to receive her presidential award for academic excellence.
She got a grade point average (GPA) of 1.27 and the magna cum laude honors.
That shoe heel-breaking incident made her to incorporate it in her speech. She said in addressing her co-candidates for graduation: “Let’s keep our feet on the ground. Let’s receive our diploma with integrity, honesty and gratitude”.
She added: “They say we are iskolar ng bayan (country’s scholar), but may I say let’s become iskolar para sa bayan (scholar for the country’s sake).
On Friday she, who calls herself a “Mangyan-at-heart,” with her cap and gown and brand new pair of shoes, received during the CLSU’s 66th graduation rites her diploma for fi nishing her BS in Mathematics degree.
Her finishing the degree carried with it her experience of attending for four months last year some courses at the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas, USA under the “Fulbright Global Undergraduate Exchange Program”.
Born in Cabanatuan City 20 years ago, she, along with her three siblings, were raised in Magsaysay town in Occidental Mindoro, the native town of her father who engaged in farming for some years in that place.
“Our place is near the mountain range and the vast ocean at the southern tip of the province. She counted as her closest friends the Mangyan children who used to go down from the mountain and played with her,” she said.
“I used to go with them, too, in their mountain communities,” she added. This made her feel and publicly say “Mangyan sa puso, hindi sa dugo” (Mangyan at heart, not in blood). The Mangyans are one of the ethnic tribes in Mindoro provinces.
She graduated as salutatorian in the elementary grades and valedictorian in the secondary level at the Magsaysay National High School.
Shira was smitten by the “good environment of CLSU” when she was tagged along by her mother and some relatives to visit a relative studying in the university at that time five years ago.
Her mother’s word “na maganda at mahusay ang unibersidad na ito” (this university is beautiful and good) sank into her mind and decided to take the entrance examination and eventually enrolled at her course at the university’s College of Arts and Sciences.
Her being a university scholar plus her scholarship grants from the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and a micro financing bank helped her breeze thru with her financial needs for her studies and stay in a dormitory.
The diminutive (5-foot tall) academic giant, applied for the Fulbright Global Undergraduate Exchange Program last year and was “one among 250 worldwide” who made it.
Her courses taken at the university in Texas were accredited as electives in her course in CLSU.
Shira also successfully conducted her “baby thesis” (special problem) titled “Survival modelling in the residency in the BS Mathematics pattern in CLSU using the problem-Mier estimator and life table method” as one of the requirements in finishing her course.
She also passed last year the career service examination given by the Civil Service Commission (CSC).
For her hobby, she likes to make string art and associating its pattern with number’s theory and abstract in algebra with images.
When asked, Shira said: “I don’t have a boyfriend and never had one. Mas mahal ko ang libro (I love more my books),” Shira said.
She is not keen on seeking a job at the moment but instead she will search for another scholarship grant.
“I want to continue my studies. I want to finish a masteral degree in data science,” Shira said.
“There are only a few graduates of this course in our country,” she added.
