“YOU DON’T have to limit yourself.”
This is what Joanna Estorque, a proud student assistant at UST, firmly believes as she strives to do more things beneficial not only to her, but to other people.
Despite the demanding subjects and deadlines in her hectic life as a Journalism student in the Faculty of Arts and Letters, Joanna decided to apply for a scholarship program—the San Lorenzo Ruiz scholarship, a student assistance scholarship granted to students who need financial support and are willing to spend 20 to 30 assistantship hours per week in the University.
Although it took a year for her scholarship application to be processed, it was all worthwhile for Estorque when she finally got accepted as a student assistant at the UST Museum.
“Ang pinaka gusto ko is every time na may mga events [‘yung UST Museum] kasi nakakapag participate kami and […] ang sarap sa feeling every time [n]agiging successful ‘yung event kasi alam namin na we did our part to make it successful,” she shares.
Her work allows her to meet and interact with many people, particularly students from UST and other universities, as well as foreign visitors and officials.
Made of boundless capabilities
Even before assisting to the needs of the UST Museum, Joanna already gained few working experiences online as a freelance writer and an English language teacher. There, she writes essays and teaches basic English to foreign students, respectively.
Most, if not all, of her earnings from these jobs were previously used for school expenses.
“[K]ailangan maging passionate ka sa work mo,” she says. “Kapag ginagawa ko ‘yun (mga trabaho), parang hindi ko ramdam na nagtatrabaho ako. Hindi ko ramdam na tumatakbo ‘yung oras. Basta ginagawa ko lang siya at ine-enjoy ko.”
Joanna deems her jobs helpful in enhancing the skills she needs as a Journalism major.
“Tingin ko naging […] training ground [siya] (being a student assistant). Na-eenhance [kasi] ‘yung communication skills [mo] since ang ginagawa mo ay makipag-usap sa ibang tao,” she believes.
Time management is perhaps one of the common problems every college student experiences. Keeping in touch with your family and friends while making sure you’re doing all your tasks as a student can be wearisome and some may find it difficult to have free time.
However, Joanna Estorque proved that these are possible to accomplish by not limiting yourself to the things you can do.
Unbounded is defined as having or appearing to have no limits. Making yourself unbounded can surely be doubtful at times.
When in doubt, Estorque simply says, “If you think na kaya mo and madami ka pang mabibigay for yourself and for other people na nasa paligid mo, bakit hindi? Yung mga ginagawa ko kasi is not just helping myself but it’s also helping people na nasa paligid ko.” F
Hi may I ask who are the parents of Joanna Estorque?
I’m also Estorque but my father left us maybe this could lead where he was.