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Wednesday, July 13, 2005
On top in Thailand
By Jenara Regis Newman
Gil Adrian “Ryan” Torres graduated valedictorian from International School Bangkok (ISB), the first Filipino to earn such a distinction.
With a grade of 4.52, he managed to get a scholarship from Stanford University, from the Stanford Fund, University General Scholarship, Federal Loan and Federal Work-Study Program which means he will have to work and study at the same time to pay for the loan.
Ryan, age 17, is Fil-American, as he was born in New York to Gil Torres of Aklan (he is country manager of United Laboratories Thailand) and Liza Estenzo Torres of Cebu (her father is the late Judge Numeriano Estenzo from Catmon, and her mother is 90-year- old Socorro Cortes Estenzo of Mandaue). He speaks Cebuano, Tagalog, English, Spanish and Thai (which he learned on his own).
Ryan’s early years were spent in Quezon city where he studied in Claret. When he was in grade five, the family moved to Bangkok and he was enrolled in ISB. For grade seven, he came back to the Philippines to study at the Philippine Science High School in Diliman, Quezon city. It was emotionally difficult for a 13-year-old to be away from the family. And so, after a year, he was back in ISB where he was accelerated, moving up to grade 10 for the full International Baccalaureate program of ISB, which meant he already earned 18 units for college.
Aside from topping his class, Ryan got several other awards: Student Council Leadership Award, Computer Science Award, Mathematics Award and High School Honor Roll. But what sets him apart from the other high-achieving students is his own person, proud of his Filipino roots (he wore the barong under his toga during graduation), helpful in his own environment (taking charge of household expenses when his parents are out of town, babysitting his brother Lyle, who is 12 years younger and committing himself to support Lyle in college, and sharing what he earns with the household help), active in the school’s extra and co-curricular activities.
As vice-president of the ISB Student Council, he was among the student leaders of the school who raised $800,000 for the reconstruction of a school in tsunami-devastated Phuket, a school he will visit this summer to teach English for a week. He was head organizer for the September 2004 Joint Interscholastic Association of Southeast Asian Schools and ISCI Leadership Convention for which he had to contact the resource persons (including asking World Peace Summit Coordinator Tom Henley to head a workshop). It is for this work, with 106 student leaders and 20 chaperones/teachers in attendance, that he got his Leadership Award.
His community outreach, which had made him appreciate all the more what he is and has, is his volunteer work with children from the Baan Rachawadee Home for the Physically and Mentally Disabled. Every Wednesday, 12 children from this facility go to ISB and student volunteers would play with them, feed them, tour them, and occasionally treat them to school plays and musicals.
This summer break, Ryan is not resting on his laurels. He has a summer job in the ISB Database Administration doing the school’s system for enrolment where he has introduced a new and better system, Net Access. This is his third summer job in ISB, the first two as student assistant at the same time that he taught, on volunteer basis, English to primary grade pupils in three Thai schools. He will also visit the Phuket School ISB helped to rebuild and definitely, he’s going to have a holiday in Korea with Korean friends. And who knows, he just might visit Cebu (which he does regularly, particularly during the Christmas season) before he flies to Stanford on September 16 where he will take up industrial engineering. After all his experience, his work/study program there should be a breeze for this rare breed of a teenager who’s proud to be Pinoy.
(July 13, 2005 issue)
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