29/07/2026
๐ ๐ฃ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ด๐ฟ๐ฎ๐บ ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ถ๐ฑ๐ปโ๐ ๐ฃ๐น๐ฎ๐ป, ๐๐๐๐ฆโ ๐๐ถ๐ฟ๐๐ ๐ฆ๐๐บ๐บ๐ฎ ๐๐๐บ ๐๐ฎ๐๐ฑ๐ฒ
Not every student enters college with a clear picture of who they are going to become.
For one BS Information Technology Major in Networking Systems student, college began with something much simpler: a second choice and a desire to finish on time.
โBS Information Technology was only my second choice, and I had no prior background in the field. My initial goal was simply to complete the program on time,โ he recalls.
At the time, becoming the first Summa Cum Laude of CICS was not even part of the picture. There was no certainty that he would excel in a field he had not initially chosen, much less reach an academic achievement that no student before him had attained.
When he learned that CICS had never produced a Summa Cum Laude, the possibility began to take shape. It became an opportunity to prove that perhaps the milestone was reachable.
โI began to consider the possibility of making history, especially since I consistently ranked first in the college every semester,โ he says.
The encouragement and support of his classmates and professors also motivated him to pursue that goal. What started as a thought gradually became a goal, one built on years of consistency.
Reaching the top was difficult; staying there proved even harder.
Being at the top came with expectations that followed him from one semester to the next. The higher he performed, the more there seemed to be at stake. There was always the possibility of slipping, of losing the standing he had worked for, or of disappointing the people who had come to believe in him.
โOne of my biggest challenges was dealing with the pressure and expectations that came with consistently performing well. I was often afraid that my academic standing might decline and that I might disappoint the people who believed in me,โ he shares.
For many students, pressure can become heavy enough to slow them down. But instead of allowing it to consume him, he learned to turn it into something productive.
โI used it as motivation. I learned that I tend to perform better under pressure. Apparently, deadlines and expectations are part of my academic fuel.โ
Still, his journey was not a straight line toward a title.
Outside of the grades and recognition, college taught him something more personal: that a person does not need to have everything figured out before beginning.
โCollege taught me that I can adapt, learn, and become interested in something even if it was not originally my first choice. It also taught me that success is not always about having everything figured out from the beginning. Sometimes, it starts with simply trying to survive, and somehow doing very well along the way,โ he shared.
When he finally learned that he had become the first Summa Cum Laude in the history of CICS, surprise came before anything else.
โAt first, I was surprised because I only aimed to graduate on time,โ he says.
โI felt grateful and proud, especially knowing that the achievement was not only personal but also a milestone for CICS,โ he says.
For him, becoming the college's first Summa Cum Laude is about showing that the milestone was always possible.
โTo my fellow CICS students, I hope this achievement becomes the beginning of many more. I may be the first to reach this milestone, but I hope many others will follow, carry with pride, and prove what CICS students are capable of.โ
History often remembers the first. But the greater measure of his achievement may be the number of students who, because someone finally did, begin believing that they can too.
Article by Amer Hussein Mangray
Layout by Fatma Sharika Dimalomping
