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Althea May Benjamin: A Journey from LCC Bacolod to Licensure Exam Success

Althea May Benjamin, who recently ranked 7th in the 2024 Chemical Engineers Licensure Exam, attributes much of her success to her foundational years at La Consolacion College Bacolod. Here’s a glimpse into her inspiring journey and the pivotal role her early education played in her achievements.

๐™ƒ๐™ค๐™ฌ ๐™™๐™ž๐™™ ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช๐™ง ๐™š๐™–๐™ง๐™ก๐™ฎ ๐™š๐™™๐™ช๐™˜๐™–๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ค๐™ฃ

๐™–๐™ฉ ๐™‡๐™– ๐˜พ๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™จ๐™ค๐™ก๐™–๐™˜๐™ž๐™ค๐™ฃ ๐˜พ๐™ค๐™ก๐™ก๐™š๐™œ๐™š ๐˜ฝ๐™–๐™˜๐™ค๐™ก๐™ค๐™™ ๐™จ๐™๐™–๐™ฅ๐™š ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช๐™ง ๐™Ÿ๐™ค๐™ช๐™ง๐™ฃ๐™š๐™ฎ ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™ฅ๐™ง๐™š๐™ฅ๐™–๐™ง๐™š ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช ๐™›๐™ค๐™ง ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช๐™ง ๐™จ๐™ช๐™˜๐™˜๐™š๐™จ๐™จ ๐™ž๐™ฃ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐˜พ๐™๐™š๐™ข๐™ž๐™˜๐™–๐™ก ๐™€๐™ฃ๐™œ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™š๐™š๐™ง๐™จ ๐™‡๐™ž๐™˜๐™š๐™ฃ๐™จ๐™ช๐™ง๐™š ๐™€๐™ญ๐™–๐™ข?

“For 12 years, La Consolacion College Bacolod has been my home,” Althea begins. “An institution that follows St. Augustineโ€™s values and virtues. Two of the core values of St. Augustine that I always adhere to are Humility and Excellence. When I started my engineering journey in the halls of Colegio San Agustin Bacolod, I would always aim high regardless of how difficult or how seemingly impossible it was to pass my subjects, especially the professional ones. With the achievements Iโ€™ve attained and the awards Iโ€™ve garnered, keeping myself grounded and humble was a must. Additionally, during my time at LCCB, Iโ€™ve attained several skills that have been a big help in my engineering journey, especially when speaking in front of a large audience, creating essays and doing

research, dealing with difficult decisions as a leader, and in-depth comprehension of certain technical problems. My Alma Mater has strengthened my foundation in those specific areas and their teachings have remained with me up to my board examination journey. For that, Iโ€™m always grateful.”

๐˜พ๐™–๐™ฃ ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช ๐™จ๐™๐™–๐™ง๐™š ๐™– ๐™ข๐™š๐™ข๐™ค๐™ง๐™–๐™—๐™ก๐™š ๐™š๐™ญ๐™ฅ๐™š๐™ง๐™ž๐™š๐™ฃ๐™˜๐™š ๐™ค๐™ง ๐™– ๐™ฅ๐™–๐™ง๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™˜๐™ช๐™ก๐™–๐™ง ๐™ฉ๐™š๐™–๐™˜๐™๐™š๐™ง ๐™›๐™ง๐™ค๐™ข ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช๐™ง ๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ข๐™š ๐™–๐™ฉ ๐™‡๐˜พ๐˜พ ๐˜ฝ๐™–๐™˜๐™ค๐™ก๐™ค๐™™ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™–๐™ฉ ๐™จ๐™ž๐™œ๐™ฃ๐™ž๐™›๐™ž๐™˜๐™–๐™ฃ๐™ฉ๐™ก๐™ฎ ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™›๐™ก๐™ช๐™š๐™ฃ๐™˜๐™š๐™™ ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช๐™ง ๐™–๐™˜๐™–๐™™๐™š๐™ข๐™ž๐™˜ ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™ฅ๐™š๐™ง๐™จ๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™–๐™ก ๐™œ๐™ง๐™ค๐™ฌ๐™ฉ๐™?

“I remember during my 5th grade classes with Miss Del Rosario, who was my favorite teacher, learning about science and how it applies to the real world, I was hooked,” Althea recalls. “At that time, I knew I would always pursue a degree in science and/or engineering. My love for the field only grew as I entered Junior High with Miss Tingson and Miss Cabreros. I took STEM in Senior High School and had Chemistry

classes with Sir Cornel and Sir Rewey as well as Physics classes with Sir Jomil. The teachings I received from them influenced my decision to take up Chemical Engineering.”

๐™’๐™๐™–๐™ฉ ๐™˜๐™๐™–๐™ก๐™ก๐™š๐™ฃ๐™œ๐™š๐™จ ๐™™๐™ž๐™™ ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช ๐™›๐™–๐™˜๐™š ๐™ฌ๐™๐™ž๐™ก๐™š ๐™ฉ๐™ง๐™–๐™ฃ๐™จ๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™›๐™ง๐™ค๐™ข ๐™๐™ž๐™œ๐™ ๐™จ๐™˜๐™๐™ค๐™ค๐™ก ๐™–๐™ฉ ๐™‡๐˜พ๐˜พ ๐˜ฝ๐™–๐™˜๐™ค๐™ก๐™ค๐™™ ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™ช๐™™๐™ฎ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐˜พ๐™๐™š๐™ข๐™ž๐™˜๐™–๐™ก ๐™€๐™ฃ๐™œ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™š๐™š๐™ง๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™–๐™ฉ ๐˜พ๐™ค๐™ก๐™š๐™œ๐™ž๐™ค ๐™Ž๐™–๐™ฃ ๐˜ผ๐™œ๐™ช๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ฃ – ๐˜ฝ๐™–๐™˜๐™ค๐™ก๐™ค๐™™, ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™๐™ค๐™ฌ ๐™™๐™ž๐™™ ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช ๐™ค๐™ซ๐™š๐™ง๐™˜๐™ค๐™ข๐™š ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š๐™ข?

“Since Colegio San Agustin Bacolod was also an Augustinian school, I felt at ease knowing that I would be learning in a similar environment. I was grateful that I entered the institution with my friends who also took up engineering. The biggest challenge I faced was probably the different teaching styles, which was expected since college was very different from high school, and the unfamiliarity of the people and the place. However, I adapted quickly because I didnโ€™t worry about adjusting since CSA-B has approachable employees, especially

from the College of Engineering, and very nice and bright students, some of whom are now very close friends of mine.”

๐™ƒ๐™ค๐™ฌ ๐™™๐™ž๐™™ ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช ๐™ข๐™–๐™ฃ๐™–๐™œ๐™š ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช๐™ง ๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ข๐™š ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™—๐™–๐™ก๐™–๐™ฃ๐™˜๐™š ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช๐™ง ๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™ช๐™™๐™ž๐™š๐™จ ๐™ฌ๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™ ๐™ค๐™ฉ๐™๐™š๐™ง ๐™–๐™˜๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ซ๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™š๐™จ ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™ฉ๐™š๐™ง๐™š๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™จ ๐™™๐™ช๐™ง๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช๐™ง ๐™ฎ๐™š๐™–๐™ง๐™จ ๐™ž๐™ฃ ๐™˜๐™ค๐™ก๐™ก๐™š๐™œ๐™š?

“When handling several responsibilities such as being an officer of your organization or being a part of the student council, time management and discipline are a must,” Althea explains. “In engineering, we learn how to plan and organize our studies and activities, especially nearing the exam periods. In our last semester, we had our plant design course, which required us to form a team and create a project feasibility study, that took up the majority of our time. It was a heavy task to lead, calculate, create several technical papers, revise corrections, and study at the same time. But my team and I created a Gantt chart or a project

time schedule (which was insisted by our instructor) that would guide our activities indicating the start and end of a certain event which gave us several times to study as well as finish our feasibility study.”

๐™’๐™๐™–๐™ฉ ๐™–๐™™๐™ซ๐™ž๐™˜๐™š ๐™ฌ๐™ค๐™ช๐™ก๐™™ ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช ๐™œ๐™ž๐™ซ๐™š ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™˜๐™ช๐™ง๐™ง๐™š๐™ฃ๐™ฉ ๐™‡๐˜พ๐˜พ ๐˜ฝ๐™–๐™˜๐™ค๐™ก๐™ค๐™™ ๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™ช๐™™๐™š๐™ฃ๐™ฉ๐™จ ๐™ฌ๐™๐™ค ๐™–๐™จ๐™ฅ๐™ž๐™ง๐™š ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™ฅ๐™ช๐™ง๐™จ๐™ช๐™š ๐™– ๐™˜๐™–๐™ง๐™š๐™š๐™ง ๐™ž๐™ฃ ๐™š๐™ฃ๐™œ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™š๐™š๐™ง๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™ค๐™ง ๐™ค๐™ฉ๐™๐™š๐™ง ๐™™๐™š๐™ข๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™›๐™ž๐™š๐™ก๐™™๐™จ?

“Engineering is a very demanding and challenging course. It requires a lot of sacrifice, dedication, and hard work,” Althea advises. “Youโ€™ll experience a lot of overwhelming information being taught to you in a matter of 3 hours, your calculator will be your best friend, youโ€™ll be exhausted with the several math problems every single day, and youโ€™ll be frustrated with yourself. However, the journey is a fulfilling one. Youโ€™ll meet people who will be with you throughout your entire journey, your mentors that will teach you and mold you in becoming the best engineer that

you could be, youโ€™ll laugh and cry when you receive your grade of 10/100 because you and your classmates have the same scores, and youโ€™ll learn several things that you thought were so simple, yet in reality, is quite complex that requires critical and analytical thinking, which you’ll eventually develop. Engineering is a never-ending journey of learning. Itโ€™s a course that will make you love and hate it at the same time.”

Althea May Benjamin’s story is a testament to the power of a strong educational foundation and the enduring values of humility and excellence. Her journey from LCC Bacolod to achieving remarkable success in the Chemical Engineers Licensure Exam serves as an inspiration to all aspiring engineers and students