Humility is hard to find among students in this generation. They embrace their campus figure status with much “attention-deficiency” projection. There is much “I” in their speeches. They always seem to forget they are representing and working with their fellow students.When flooded with much attention and opportunities to be on stage, all the more they become self-centered. They overindulge from the fruits of success in their campus leadership.
Humility could have halted their arrogance and self-indulging trap but most of them don’t have the true humble spirit.
Making a difference with his humble presence is this year’s Most Outstanding Student and the Outstanding Senior awardee at Silliman University, Keanu Paul Balasabas SyGaco
A BS Foreign Affairs student at the School of Public Administration & Governance, Keanu has a quality point average of 3.88/4, and was awarded University Honor during the 66th Honors Day on April 17.
“My drive for academic excellence is deeply rooted in the wisdom of Louis Pasteur when he said, ‘Fortune favors the prepared mind. Through the pursuit of competence, character, and faith, one will possess the navigator’s toolkit to traverse the uncertainties of this changing world, which will undoubtedly lead you to the success you desire,” he said.
For his consistent academic excellence, Keanu enjoyed two scholarship grants, the Borealis Social Scholarship, and the SU Academic Scholarship.
Academic performance is just one criterion in the selection of the Most Outstanding Student. The other criteria considered are leadership, service, and talent.
Keanu shone in all four considerations, and his gift of humility as a leader was evident in all of his undertakings. He knows how to share the credits earned with his fellow students, remaining focused on the student goals by silently working, and always inspiring others to continue with their own journeys.
Keanu made use of his inexperience as an asset in all of the opportunities to be of service. By accepting that he doesn’t have the monopoly of knowledge in doing things, his classmates and workmates have respected him for his open-mindedness, and for his welcoming heart to ideas of other creative minds.
As editor-in-chief of The Portal 2024, Keanu successfully encouraged his co-editors to ensure that their yearbook will become a useful reference for future researchers, by featuring historical accounts of every college. He was associate editor in 2022 and 2023, and was feature editor in 2020 and 2021.
Keanu is also a man of many talents. His poetry has reached the home of great haiku tradition through the Japan Society. At the 2024 Golden Haiku Competition in Washington D.C., his poem was shown in one of the 44 square blocks of the Golden Triangle Business Improvements Districts.
His haiku, “A dandelion/at the mercy of the winds/floating in delight” is among the distinguished works.
The selection process was highly competitive with only 142 poems chosen from 4,000 submissions from 88 countries.
Keanu also plays the piano, performing during the Harvard College Project for Asian & International Relations talent night in 2021. He also offered a piano rendition during the birthday of Foreign Affairs Sec. Enrique Manalo in Manila, where he did his internship.
Keanu had his pre-internship as part of EURAXESS ASEAN technical team in 2022, and again last year.
Keanu is an island boy’s name of Hawaiian origin, which means “cool breeze over the mountains.” There is much hope that our Keanu will indeed become the cool breeze we all need at present.
Now ready for the real world, our honoree is encouraging his fellow students to “dream big. The world was a creation of dreams. Hence, a dream’s touch transforms the world.”
Our world is indeed fortunate to have young minds like Keanu. We hope and pray that doors will open for him to become the needed force for the zeitgeist to be responded well. And for the needed transformation to be undertaken without the stain of the culturally-rooted corruption in today’s global governance.
_______________________________
Author’s email: [email protected]
