MANILA, Philippines—22-year-old Ilocana Kimberleene Ordono Bolos has done the country proud after she graduated Summa Cum Laude from MacMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada earning the degree Bachelor of Science in nursing.
Kimberleene, from San Fernando City, La Union, was raised by her grandfather and grandmother, who suffered a stroke recently, before she traveled to Canada for her studies. According to her aunt Cristy Zacarias, Kimberleene just initially wanted to graduate from the university and pass the board exams. They did not expect that she would graduate with the highest honors.
“Actually, we were kept from learning that she would graduate Summa Cum Laude by her mother for nine hours before graduation time,” Cristy was quoted by sanfernandosity.gov.ph.
In the meantime, Kimberleene is waiting for the result of her nursing board examination last July 23. On August 19, she will come home to a grand homecoming party.
Kimberleene is reported to have told her grandfather Ronaldo that she will have a half-month rest in the Philippines before committing to several job offers from big hospitals in Canada.
Kimberleene went to kindergarten school in Felkris School in Lingsat village and later at the Saint Louis College High School, from Grade 1 to 3rd Year High School, just a walking distance from their residence. She went on to continue her high school education in Notre Dame Catholic School in Canada, where her mother, Anita Bolos, works at a nursing home for the elders in Ottawa.
Ronaldo said that Kimberleene is the product of a broken home as a result of the pressure of a long distance marriage between her father and mother, which eventually strained their relationship.
Her father Paul is also an overseas contract worker turned business man in Saudi Arabia. Despite the distance, he communicates with Kimberleene regularly and supported her education financially, according to Ronaldo.
As a high school student, she became a consistent honor student and was granted scholarships.
“She’s a very obedient and understanding child, and went with a peer group that also belonged to the Top Ten (students) in class. I would regularly fetch her from school when she went to high school. She never said anything about being mocked by her classmates for having a grandfather awkwardly fetching a big girl at 17,” he recalled.
