OXFORD, United Kingdom — For Anna Mae Yu Lamentillo, the moment she stood at Oxford was about more than academic achievement. It was also about identity, language, and the journey of a Bisaya woman finding her place in one of the world’s most storied institutions.
At the final ceremony for the MSc in Major Programme Management at Saïd Business School, held at the Holywell Music Room, Lamentillo spoke with the clarity of someone who understood the weight of the occasion. Her presence there carried a meaning shaped not only by years of study, but by where she came from.
“For me, this moment is deeply personal,” she said. “English is not my first language. I am from the Karay-a ethnolinguistic tribe. I grew up with a speech defect. And the first book I ever had in English was an Oxford dictionary.”
Her story is rooted in her identity as Bisaya, shaped by a culture where language, community, and resilience are deeply intertwined. Long before Oxford became a place she could stand in, it was something distant—an idea far removed from the realities of growing up in the Philippines, where English was not the language of home and where every word had to be learned with effort.
“So to be here now, at Oxford, speaking on this ceremony today, is something I could never have imagined when I first struggled through English words,” she said. “It is a full-circle moment that humbles me deeply. A child who first encountered English through an Oxford dictionary is now graduating from Oxford.”
For Lamentillo, being Bisaya is not incidental to her story. It is central to it. It speaks to a background shaped by regional language, distinct cultural identity, and a worldview often underrepresented in elite global spaces. In Oxford, she did not leave that identity behind. She carried it with her.
That is part of what made the moment so powerful. In a place defined by history, prestige, and tradition, Lamentillo’s voice reflected a different kind of story—one grounded in the lived experience of a Bisaya woman who had to work through language barriers and personal difficulty to be heard.
“There is an extraordinary weight to graduating from Oxford,” she said. “Oxford is not just a university. It is a name that carries history, excellence, and expectation. For many of us, it was something distant, almost untouchable — something we admired from afar before we ever imagined we might belong to it. And yet, here we are.”
That sense of belonging, however, did not come easily.
“Not because the road was easy, but because we kept walking it.”
Throughout her address, Lamentillo returned to the idea of courage. She looked beyond certificates and accolades, choosing instead to recognise the endurance behind them.
“Because when I look at us, I do not just see achievement. I see bravery. Real bravery.”
It is a message that resonates with the deeper emotional core of her own story. To be Bisaya, in this telling, is not only to belong to a linguistic and cultural community. It is also to understand perseverance, family, and the quiet strength that carries people through hardship.
She honoured classmates who studied while navigating war, grief, caregiving, work, and uncertainty. For many, she said, the concepts discussed in the classroom were not theoretical.
“Because for most of the people in this class, crisis is not a case study,” she said. “It is not an abstract concept. It is not a classroom exercise. It is not a framework on a reading list. It is something lived.”
Her words also reflected a sensibility familiar to many Bisaya families and communities: that achievement is never entirely individual, and that every milestone is shared with the people who made it possible.
“This win is not just ours,” she said. “It belongs, too, to the people you are here with. To the families who waited. To the loved ones who encouraged. To the children who shared time. To the parents who sacrificed. To the friends who listened. To the communities that carried us when we were tired.”
In that way, Lamentillo’s story is not just about personal accomplishment at Oxford. It is also about what it means for a Bisaya woman to stand in a global institution without losing the truths that shaped her—her language, her background, her community, and the humility that comes from knowing how much it took to get there.
Her closing words captured that spirit most clearly.
“We are proof that belonging is not reserved for those with easy journeys. We are proof that language barriers do not define the limits of a voice. We are proof that struggle does not cancel brilliance. We are proof that courage is not the absence of fear, but the decision to continue in spite of it.”
For Anna Mae Yu Lamentillo, the final ceremony at Oxford was more than a formal ending. It was a full-circle moment for a Bisaya woman whose voice, once shaped far from Oxford, was heard there with strength, grace, and purpose.
Lamentillo received the Programme Director’s Prize at Oxford University during the final ceremony held at Holywell Music Room for the MSc in Major Programme Management cohort at Said Business School. CONTRIBUTED