For Filipinos who work here in the UAE, they continue to strive for excellence in their jobs by taking additional steps to reinforce and further their career ladder. This was achieved by 23-year old Rigina Jeanne Young as she topped this year’s Special Professional Licensure Examination for Architects, together with 228 examinees who passed all over the Middle East.
Hailing from Caloocan in the Philippines, Young decided to go to the UAE in December 2016 to try her luck in creating her own career ladder here in the Middle East. As she begun working in Abu Dhabi, she strived to develop her knowledge and skills further by attempting to take the exam for Architects. Young shares that reviews took most of her time as she prepared for the exams: “We had these review sessions every Friday starting last January, and since that day I used all my free time studying our lessons.”
However – since she has a full time job in the UAE, she also struggled to maintain a delicate balance between work, family, friends, and her career. “The toughest challenge is really to review after a long stressing day from work. A lot of temptation to just take a rest but I needed to pull myself up from the bed and study,” shares Young.
With help from her colleagues at the United Architects of the Philippines – Abu Dhabi Chapter, she together with her fellow examinees at her batch ‘Akeem’ managed to do a comprehensive review of the topics for the exam. “Kumbaga sa war, iba yung marami tayong bala, basta basa lang ng basa at intindihin din. Kasi ‘di naman ‘yun paramihan ng nabasa, kung ‘di paramihan ng naiintindihan,” said Young.
Young now plans to delve into other fields to be in line with her long term goals: “I’m planning to study again and take courses for either environmental planning or urban design. It was actually my goal since I was in college.”
When asked for advice about taking the exam, Young suggests for exam takers to study constantly. “I want to tell them that they may feel that they will never be ready to take the board exam, but just take it and move forward. The important thing is that they do prepare themselves by studying constantly. The time and effort for the preparation is what makes it different.” shares Young.
She also wishes to extend her gratitude to everyone who supported her along her journey – as well as for her journey up ahead. “I want to thank all the people who made this success possible especially to my family and friends who never fails to believe to what I’m capable of,” said Young.
The UAP-Abu Dhabi chapter will be launching a series of review sessions for SPLE 2019. Interested exam takers can reach them via their email at [email protected]
