Written by Kirstein Velasquez & Gianine Pantig

To be able to perform with grace under pressure—similar to a ballerina countering the pull of gravity upon her heels as she prances on stage on tippy toes, then lifting her chin up as she twirls and lightly floats in midair—is such an unparalleled feat in itself. This is proven by the first speaker, Ms. Jeannie Tangente, as she started off the Eto Kami Ngayon event with her own story to tell as an Organizational Communication (OrCom) graduate of UP Manila.

Communication, business, and medicine are literally fields and experiences apart if we talk about career paths and academic routes. Knowing that, Ms. Tangente indeed became the embodiment of unpredictability and potential opportunities under the gaze of hopeful OrCom students, especially the ones who have not yet made up their minds completely about how to mold their future and what to make of it. Despite successfully seizing that sablay and diploma and turning that graduation cap tassel to the left, people who have only met the speaker for the first time would probably not have the slightest idea about the personal crises she had to go through to find her own, passion-encompassing path. 

Ms. Tangente finished her BA OrCom degree as a cum laude in 2018 after all, and she did not stop the academic grind there as she now expands her capabilities as a third-year medical student at the University of the East Ramon Magsaysay Memorial Medical Center, Inc. (UERMMMCI). Despite this, there will always be a lot more to people than just surface-level. Thus, even to her who views herself as a nerd, with studying serving as her second nature, the college journey actually did not come as easy; as stellar of a student as she was, what she had in mind was not what she instantly attained.

What’s more pressuring than knowing that you had a goal in mind but having to stray off of the perceived and into the uncertain? Our speaker was caught in that exact dilemma of suddenly having to choose a course that was initially not what she had planned or dreamed of. Frankly, it might have been a means to an end; she picked her second choice in order to pursue medicine, with the plans to shift out by her second year because she heard back then that UP requires both a BS and BA degree. She did not hide the fact that she got caught in the high tides of life and was washed ashore onto foreign sands, perhaps like some of us right now.

Still, she ultimately remains grateful that she took the courage to be an OrCom student and finished her newfound endeavors within the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) before challenging herself once more in the medical field. In her words, the edge she got from her time at CAS was her greatest weapon upon facing the perplexities of being a Doctor of Medicine student.

It seems that inviting Ms. Tangente was a gift, carefully wrapped in motivational quotes and a well-realized purpose, for the once STEM students who somehow found their way in OrCom (just like us, your authors). There’s an unquestionable relief in seeing an exemplary figure living your dreams. She emphasized that no matter how derailed we perceive ourselves from our initial path in life, by making that dream our proverbial north star, we will not be lost. 

But, a proverbial north star notwithstanding, a lone traveler is as good as dead anyway. But here she is, thriving and striving with the neverending support of her friends and family—like a sunflower blooming and growing towards the sun. In a good portion of her talk, Ms. Tangente highlighted the indisputable role of a support system that walked, toiled, and carried her when her feet could walk no longer and when the letters in her book started to stop making sense. Medical school is a cutthroat environment where being alone is unsustainable, and with her communication skills practiced to a T, her social circles are well-founded and maintained.

From embodying a graceful ballerina to living the life of a traveler heading towards her one true north, Ms. Tangente is many things but a quitter. This was her story, and hopefully to all OrCom students by day and medical school aspirants by night, this can be your story too.