With summa cum laude being the highest honor that anyone graduating from college could ever receive, everyone is surely impressed with anyone who receives that distinction. But one young lady topped everyone else when she graduated from college as summa cum laude at age 16!

In the Philippines where schools often refuse to accept you to a grade or year level if you don’t meet the age requirements, it is surprising that child prodigy Mikaela Irene Fudolig was allowed to enroll in college and finish her degree at such a young age.

Photo credit: Gineers Now

Allowed to enroll in BS Physics at the University of the Philippines – Diliman under an experimental program for gifted children called the Early College Placement Program (ECPP), Mikaela was actually just 11 years old when she started joining classes at the university. But it was only a year later that she was officially enrolled.

Juggling her high school lessons at the Philippine Science High School with her college lessons at UP Diliman, Mikaela was a well-known but puzzling figure in campus. Many thought at first that she was a teacher’s daughter visiting the school, what with her girlish clothes and doll shoes, but it was soon clear to everyone that this small girl meant business.

Thankfully, the ECPP had an agreement with the university to keep the girl out of the media’s prying eyes to allow her to enjoy her college life like any other ordinary student. She isn’t an ordinary student, of course, and this has led to bullying from many older students who couldn’t handle being upstaged by a girl several years their junior.

Photo credit: Gineers Now

Feeling intimidated on her first day of class, she failed in her first test. The young girl was shocked to receive a grade of 72 on her first test. But this challenged her to try harder – and by the time they got to the second test, she was acing the exams and getting the highest scores in class!

As an official BS Physics student at the UP National Institute of Physics, Mikaela graduated at the top of her class, completing the degree as summa cum laude. She also received the Best BS Physics Student award and the Dean’s Medallion for Excellence in Undergraduate Studies at the UP College of Science.

At just 16 years old, the age that kids graduate from junior high school, this was certainly a huge achievement in the academic community.

Photo credit: Gineers Now

But her education didn’t stop there. Mikaela would soon complete her master’s degree and Ph.D. shortly afterwards as she became a Fulbright scholar in Economics at the University of California-Irvine.

The young woman would also become a full-time faculty at the University of the Philippines Institute of Physics, a job that might be daunting considering she’s teaching students older than herself but Mikaela readily faced those challenges with ease.

“Many people think that a child, even if equipped with the mental abilities, is not emotionally prepared to enter college. I am glad to have proven them wrong,” Mikaela said.

A conductor recently went viral for helping an old man who didn’t have money for fare.

In a post on Hanep TV, a netizen shared that when the old man rode the bus, the conductor did not just let him ride, he also let him do it for free after learning that he didn’t have money enough to pay the entire fare.

According to the uploader, the old man rode the bus from Marbel to Tacurong in Sultan Kudarat, southern Philippines. When the conductor from the Yellow Bus line learned that the passenger did not have enough money, he decided to just give him the ride for free.

Photo credit: Hanep TV / Reme

“Tay, bibigyan po kita ng ticket pero wag mo na po bayaran,” the unnamed bus conductor told the old man.

Since the old man was hard on hearing, the bus conductor had to repeat this many times before he finally understood what the younger man was trying to tell him.

According to the photo uploader, the old man really felt happy when he realized what the bus conductor told him. The old man even looked like he was about to cry as he told them that he had actually to ride on several buses already but was told to get down after the conductors on those buses learned that he did not have enough money for fare.

Photo credit: Hanep TV / Reme

The bus conductor went viral, with many netizens praising him for the kind deed. Of course, it was obvious that this conductor did not actually just give him a free ride but would actually be the one to pay for that ticket himself! This made the kind deed even more heartwarming.

Many netizens wished the bus conductor lots of blessings for he did to the old man, despite knowing the old man could not give him anything back in return.

What is a Bus Conductor?

A bus conductor is a person whose job is to issue tickets and collect fares from the passengers. In many bus lines, there are also inspectors who make sure that the bus conductors do their job properly and not put the money for the fares in their own pockets.

There are a lot of news involving various people working at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) who either took money and valuables from the passengers or found something but kept it to themselves.

Recently, though, one janitor went viral for returning a bag filled with foreign currencies that amounted to nearly Php425k.

Sixto O. Brillantes, Jr. was on duty at the male comfort room at the NAIA terminal near the Immigration Area when a passenger called him to turn over a black sling bag left by someone inside the toilet.

Photo credit: Expat Readers

Brillantes knew exactly what to do with the sling bag. It was not his to keep; thus, he called the janitor at the female comfort room to accompany him in bringing the sling bag to the airport’s PA system so that the lost bag can be announced. They were hoping that whoever left the bag was still at the airport and could hear the announcement.

Afterwards, Brillantes and the other janitor went to the Lost and Found Section of the Intelligence and Investigation Division of the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) to turn over the sling bag.

Photo credit: Expat Readers

With Brillantes as witness, airport security opened the bag and checked the contents. Aside from a wallet and iPad, the bag also had two white envelopes containing a total of EUR7,300 (around Php425k).

“Mr. Brillantes could have easily kept the bag and favorably benefited from what’s inside it, but he chose to surrender it. I admire him for his integrity. Hearing stories like this make us Filipinos proud,” MIAA General Manager Ed Monreal praised the janitor.

But for Brillantes, it was not a heroic deed; he was only doing what was right.

“Doing good should never be an option. It must be a way of life for all of us,” he encouraged.

As for the sling bag, it was returned to the rightful owner who arrived at the Lost and Found Section about an hour and a half later. The Turkish national was able to prove ownership of the bag, especially because there were IDs in the wallet.

Photo credit: Expat Readers

What is a PA System?

A public address system is an electronic system that makes use of microphones, amplifiers, loudspeakers, and related equipment to make a human voice, recording, or music louder.