Beauty, Talent, Intelligence: All in One!

by Darilyn Dogayo

Low tuition fee and the quality of education it has to offer. These are the two main reasons of those students who chose to study in The Polytechnic University of the Philippines, and one of these students is Carla Shane Cruz Andaya. She is famously known as “Cai” in the College of Communication. Living in Valenzuela with her parents and brother older than her and a sister younger than her, Cai has been trying her best to finish her degree in Broadcast Communication though it is taking her two hours before she get in the university for her daily classes. She has been dreaming to take this degree ever since she is a child.

She is no ordinary student. She study hard not because she wants to be a cum laude when she graduates. She is a scholar by heart. Unknowingly to everyone who knows her, she is doing her best just to maintain her scholarship. Having this scholarship is her own little way in helping her parents as well as her self to pursue her dream. She even had an experience working in a call center company just to earn money for her studies but end up paying the hospital bills of her sister who got sick.

You might imagine her as girl who is nerd with thick eyeglasses on her eyes. But I must say that boys should take this big “Beware” for she is a head turner type of a girl. She is a beauty with talents as well as wits making her as a total package. Guys will definitely say “wow!” when they see her. She’s even one of the candidates of the Mr. and Ms, College of Communication 2007.

People also love her because she has the talent that not everyone has. One way of proving that she has the talent, she’s been chosen to take a major role in their class presentation way back when she was still a second year student.

When she entered her junior year in the university she decided to join a certain organization. It's another burden for some students. Thinking that she is a scholar and should focus her time doing all the requirements regarding her academic activities, she considered this one as another challenge for her. According to Cai, now that she is a member of an organization, she can now feel the real meaning of what a college student. She said that it's tiring, but it's worth it.

Carla is really an interesting girl. She got almost everything but she is afraid of one thing that also served as one of the reason why she chose to study in PUP. Like any other student, she also tried to study in the University of the Philippines, unfortunately, she failed the entrance examination. A blessing in disguise that she can consider, if not for that she might not be here. I asked her why she didn’t take the risk to study in a private school. Her answer really amazed me in a way. She is afraid to mingle with rich people, which is not very usual to hear from a girl with her age.

She will be in Canada after she graduate. She doesn’t want to stay in the Philippines and she didn’t elaborate why.

She is really a girl of wits, of talent, and of beauty. A thing that she should be proud of for not every girl has the quality that she has.