Mailyn Esquelito Akoy, 22-year-old teacher in Sultan Kudarat, dared her students — if you make it to honors, you will receive a gift from me.
To her (pleasant) surprise, her students at Notre Dame of Tacurong College – Senior Highschool took up her challenge.
During graduation, 59 students were feted with honors.
Back in Akoy’s mind, she wanted to give her students with portrait sketches. And despite her hectic schedule, she drew each and every one of them.
She posted this feat in her Facebook account and has now become viral.
Teacher ‘Mai’ proudly said she finished 59 portraits — 50 are her from her school advisory class, with 7 of them with high honors. The nine other students come from other section and strand.
“Sa apat na buwan ko silang kapiling, natutuwa ako sa katotohan na naging parte ako ng buhay ng mga kabataang ito,” Teacher Mai said.
Akoy said though that being a teacher is not the profession that she’d like to pursue. But she is very grateful for the time that she had with her students, especially since they spent more time with her than with their parents while in school. She also thanked her colleagues for welcoming her in open arms despite being a Muslim.
Last year, Akoy graduated BA in Economics in Sultan Kudarat State University. Her post on Facebook also went viral as she related how she struggled to finish her studies, being a daughter of a “kargador” or a porter.
She narrated that she grew up seeing her father carrying 0 kilos of cement every day on her way to school just to make ends meet. Her father gets between P300-500 per day but there were times he couldn’t bring any single centavo home because there is no job being given to him.
