How did a clueless and pressured high school student become an aspiring professional teacher with a Bachelor of Science degree in Physical Education? Truth be told, I almost didn’t make it. 

Our family of six was sustained solely by my father’s income and my mother’s sideline efforts as a housewife. It was barely enough to feed us and send all four of us to school at the same time. I could only hope and pray to Almighty God that things would get better, and I would be able to go to college. 

But that hope wavered when one day, my mother asked me if I could stop going to school until my older brother got his degree. I started feeling hopeless. Even my faith in God’s timing that I firmly held on to weakened. But even when my heart faltered, I didn’t stop praying and believing that, in time, God would make everything right. 

God answered my prayers through ANCOP, especially through the sponsors who gave me the chance to be where I stand today. Being an ANCOP scholar, I wasn’t just able to graduate with little strain on my family’s finances — surrounded by His beautiful instruments — I also grew in love and faith with God. 

Currently, I teach at Glendale School. Through my job, I can help form my students into compassionate and loving future innovators and servants of God. I’m also preparing to get my teaching license soon. 

I’ll continue working hard for my dreams, my family, so that I can continue to declare, with my head held high, that by God’s grace, I made it here —  I am here. (Brienz Athena Suaberon)