Written by: Clairizza V. Arcillas
Scholar batch 2021-2022
School: Ateneo de Zamboanga University
Do you believe in the phrase “everything happens for a reason”? Have you ever got yourself in on something you don’t know? Yep! That sums up my whole tech story. But wait hang in there, the tech story of an unpremeditated and unpredictable IT girl will about to start.
Ever since I was a child, I was keen on computers. I was amazed by the existence of computers. I always thought of the people behind this incredible invention, I always believe that they are very genius because they were able to produce this kind of useful invention and I wanted to be like them. Growing up, I realized I was never serious about my interests in technology perhaps I was just loving the idea of it.
I have never thought that I’ll be dealing with computers again throughout my junior high school years. Unknowingly, I was selected to be one of the students who will be under Technical Vocational Education. We had a specialization in computers and technology. So, I was left with no choice but to settle with it. When I graduated from junior high school, I had to determine which strand will I going to enroll for senior high school. Believe it or not, I don’t have any idea what I want to do with my life. Out of the blue, my mom enrolled me under the strand of Technical Vocational Livelihood (TVL) – Computer Programming. That surprised my inner saboteur. That time these words popped into my head “OMG, I’m going to deal with computers and technology again”. I don’t know what happened, I don’t know why I got myself in that situation but the feeling is crystal, I don’t want to be there.
In the long run, unexpectedly, I learned to love programming and teaching my classmates how to program. I always find myself debugging my classmates’ code while sipping my coffee. It became a routine. Not to brag, I even finished senior high school as class valedictorian. That was an unforeseen path.
College on the other hand brought out the unknown finest side of myself. I enrolled in Bachelor of Science in Information Technology because as for me that’s the only thing I know and am sort of confident. While everything is unclear to me, the path to technology keeps on giving me serendipity. Our department chair asked me to lead the application in Google Developer Student Clubs (GDSC). GDSC is where can students grow their knowledge in a peer-to-peer learning environment and build solutions for local businesses and their communities. Over thousands of applicants across Southeast Asia, I was selected to become one of the GDSC Leads. I went to Malaysia for a 3-day summit and there, I realized things happened before because it has its corresponding reasons. Maybe, I do know what I want to do with my life but I did not just recognize it sooner. Maybe the child in me was right — I have great interests in technology.
Everything was a shot in the dark, unforeseeable circumstances. However, joining ULAP is quite different. Whether it is serendipity or not, most importantly, I’m sure this is one of the many things I want to do with my life. Learning and upskilling, that’s a lot of self-growth in there! Could be serendipity? Who knows.
