Witnessing the poor state of his family and seeing most of his relatives ending their education in High School, Lyruss thought he couldn’t pursue his studies up to college level. He thought that his parents couldn’t afford sending him to college as his father’s salary was already insufficient for their daily needs, with his mother as a housewife and his sister working as a helper on their neighbor to support her own studies.
However, the Lord has better plans for his life as he was blessed to be part of Payatas Orione Foundation, Inc. (PAOFI) and CFC ANCOP Educational Sponsorship Program (ESP), supporting his dream to pursue college. He discovered this scholarship grant after he and his mother attended a mass in St. Raphael the Archangel Parish Church in Lucena City. Now, he is even more blessed as he recently graduated with an Academic Distinction and Service Award at Maryhill College with a Bachelor of Science degree in Secondary Education, and now, fulfilling his dreams even more as he become an educator himself.
Looking back at the challenges he went through just to reach his dreams, he described it to be like “Survival of the Fittest”. He recalled his struggles with his finances where he only have 70 pesos allowance per day to fit his daily needs and school expenses. He also experienced borrowing and photocopying old books from his classmates just because he can’t afford to buy a new one for himself. He also finished their thesis without his own laptop and by earnestly doing it at their school’s ICT Laboratory as well as renting a computer in a “Pisonet” (computer shops offering computer usage rental for Php1.00 for 5 minutes). It was even harder when he started doing his practice teaching, where he would use recycled materials to make his visual aids and would walk to and from school just to save enough money. Apart from all of these problems, there are also people around him who told him he wouldn’t make it because of their poor state in life.
However, these things he went through didn’t falter his determination to finish his studies, especially that he is a scholar. The moment he was granted to be a PAOFI-CFC ANCOP scholar, he promised to himself that he would not waste any single peso and would always do his best just to be worthy of this opportunity. Now that he graduated, he expressed his gratefulness to his family who didn’t falter as well to support him despite their poor state in life and served as his main inspiration in pursuing all his dreams. He is thankful as well for the people who gave him the drive to finish all of these; Father Martin Mroz who have a huge heart to help poor children like him, as well as his co-scholars who already became a family to him, and to CFC-ANCOP USA that made all of his dreams possible. Above all, he was most grateful to God, who gave him the courage and strength to make it to where he is now.
“If you are not willing to take the risk, you will have to settle for the ordinary. All our dreams can come true if we are courageous enough to pursue it.” – Lyruss Lat
From a barber’s son who once dreamed big to an educator who now helps children to dream big as well, Lyruss will always carry a grateful heart. All of these were because of God’s graces, and he believes that the key to open ourselves to such graces is to pray and thank Him no matter what happens; that through our ups and downs, it is Him whom we will give glory to. (ANCOP Communications/PMB)
