BAGUIO CITY – Her childhood dream of becoming a teacher was achieved not in a silver platter but after being able to hurdle stumbling blocks through her painstaking efforts and with the guidance of the Lord through prayers.
Reina Angeli C. Tamayo, 24, is the daughter of Rolando, an auto-electrician from Lingayen, Pangasinan and housewife Lilibeth, from Iloilo province. She is the third of four siblings, Reina Joe, a massage therapist of a Session Road-based spa; Reichelle Ann, a medical technologist now working in Bulacan and Andrew Tom, a local dance instructor.
Reina Angeli, an education graduate of the Bautista-owned University of Baguio (UB) was this year’s third placer in the Licensure Examination for Teachers (LET) given by the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) and the Board of Professional Teachers (BPT) on March 29, 2015 in Singapore and 17 testing centers nationwide after being able to garner a rating of 87.8 percent.
“It came as a surprise. I was nervous during the first day of examination because most of those who took the examination were second or third takers that is why I kept asking them on how difficult was the exam,” Reina Angeli told the Herald Express.
After graduating as a member of the Top Ten honoroll of her class at the Baguio City National High School (BCNHS) Roxas Annex in 2008, she decided to work as a photo copying machine operator in one of the photo copy centers along Bonifacio St. through the help of her uncle and had to patiently do her job for two years.
Upon seeing the opportunity to apply for a scholarship with the FRB Foundation of UB, Reina Angeli grabbed the chance and was lucky to be chosen as one of those who will avail of the full scholarship granted to deserving students by the foundation.
During her childhood days, she was already exposed to informal teaching as she gathered her playmates and started posing as their teacher among others. When her mother worked in a day care center near their residence in Crystal Cave, she happened to go with her and was able to see the noble profession of teaching that she desired to become in the future.
After her graduation from her course Bachelor of elementary Education in UB sometime in December 2014, she immediately took the LET review but she had to continue her tutorial job in order to have a feel of the teaching job and could be used as an advantage when taking the examination because of practical questions that might crop up.
According to her, she was also nervous during the examination because there were questions that came out which were not taken in the review and required practical answers, thus, she used her common sense to decide on what would be the best answer to the general education questions.
Reina Angeli admitted she already received two offers for teaching, one is from her current employer of tutorial while the other is from UB, thus, she plans to bring back the compliment to her Alma Mater by accepting the teaching job offered to her so that she will also be able to reciprocate for the full scholarship given to her when she needed it to pursue a higher degree of education.
For those who will be taking the LET in the future, Reina Angeli reminded them not to be over confident but instead patiently understand the questions and use their common sense in answering tricky questions that would arise as well as make sure that they are prepared to take the examination.
Reina Angeli dedicated her success to her family, relatives, friends, classmates and teachers in UB, the UB management and most especially to the Lord, who guided her in her painstaking battle in achieving success in her chosen profession.
She disclosed both her parents had been prodding her to become a lawyer, thus, she appreciated the support given to her by her parents even as she did not obey what they wanted and chose to follow what she felt is best for her career.
However, she admitted her plan of pursuing her law studies if her finances would be enough and there will be an opportunity for her to do so in the future.
Reinal Angeli also plans to earn in order to fulfill her father’s request from her for their family to have their own auto-electrical shop that he would manage in order to improve their living condition.
By Dexter A. See
