A graduating student from Cebu City has inspired netizens with her hard work, discipline, intelligence, and determination.
Cherry Toledo, a student of the University of San Jose Recoletos, will finally earn her college degree with flying colors after several years of trials.
Life has not been easy for the 20-year-old student as she came from a broken family. Her father is a convicted man, while her mother works as a manicurist and has her own family already.
She and her younger brother were then left with their paternal grandmother and aunt who raised them.
“Our parents failed to support us because they have their own families. So it was our aunt who at first supported our daily needs, but eventually she stopped supporting us because she also has her children to send to school,” she said in an interview with Cebu Daily News.
In order for her to afford to go to college, she became an Aboitiz scholar and applied to work as a service crew of a fast food outlet.
Toledo said that her salary from her job at a fast food helped her pay for her boarding house rent, as well as for her daily expenses and other school projects.
What’s more impressive is that Toledo, despite having less time for herself because she works as a service crew by night, she finished all of her academic requirements and will be graduating magna cum laude on March 30.
Through a Facebook post, Toledo proudly shared the significance of her fast food uniform and her work there.
“Uniforms signify the different roles we play in our community. Sometimes, we wear our school uniforms, occasionally, our intern attires, and in the future, our professional suits. Apparently, in this post, I am wearing my service crew uniform. This is the role I want to show. It’s what I am proud of. This brought more meaning to what I am now and what I have achieved,” she said in her post.
After graduating with a degree in Bachelor of Science in Psychology, Toledo said that she will first take the bard exam before practicing her profession.
She also plans on studying again for her masteral degree.
