Phillip is a Filipino-American, first-generation college student soon to start his fourth year here at UC Merced. He is an English major with a minor in Natural Sciences Education. Phillip has a cumulative 3.86 GPA and have been placed in the Deans and Chancellor’s honors list for the past three years. In his fall semester 2023, he had the chance to study abroad at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland through UCEAP. During that time, he was able to experience a different culture and make new friends whilst learning about Scottish literature and history through the courses he took there. This experience led Phillip to partake in the English Honors program to write an honors thesis with Professor Humberto Garcia on Native American representation within British and American Romanticism in relation to Scottish Highlanders. He has also had experience in fieldwork as a student teacher within an elementary and high school classroom through his courses at UC Merced. Phillip has also done an internship through CalTeach that involves developing and teaching lessons at the KIDS Discovery Station at Merced. From all these experiences, he hopes that he may eventually enroll in a teacher’s credential program to become an English teacher after graduation.
