But if adjusting socially was an obvious problem, the academic challenges were even more stressful. I was worried I would not come out of UP alive.

Trisha reached for her dream and achieved it.

As a young girl, Patricia Mari “Trisha” Mangcucang Eugenio had always wanted to become a physician. She was fascinated by a US-based doctor aunt who would stay with them whenever she came home for balikbayan visits.

It was a dream that her parents, Renato and Maritoni Eugenio, would help her nurture by giving her first-class education all the way from elementary to college.

“First, I attended OB Montessori in Makati up to grade 2,” shares Trisha, whom the Daily Tribune recently interviewed. “But from Grade 3 up to high school, I went to Assumption.”

School life at Assumption, expectedly, exposed her to the “exclusive girls’ school” kind of life which somehow shielded her from the so-called harsh realities of existence, although she did not lose touch of the fact that she came from a family of average means, her parents working hard to give her and her brother, Nicolo, a good education and comfortable life.

While maintaining grades that were “very much average,” Trisha developed her social conscience by joining organizations “like Earth Watch where we were involved in environmental protection and conservation. We planted trees. Along with other schoolmates, I also helped raise funds for our sister schools,” says Trisha, referring to the charity schools run by the Assumption nuns in depressed areas.

After high school she entered the University of the Philippines (UP) to pursue BS Biology.

It was not an easy time for Trisha, whom her classmates called the “Shala Kid” (implying she had a penchant for using expensive and luxurious goods, having been raised in a well-to-do family), a label which, she points out, was not true “since mine were simple brands of middle-range prices but for my classmates, they were already very expensive.”

“Although I felt awkward socially, I decided I would just go with the flow,” she admits. “I did my best to adjust socially. I dressed down and I bought much cheaper bags although the ones that I had originally owned were not really that expensive.”

But if adjusting socially was an obvious problem, the academic challenges were even more stressful. “I was worried I would not come out of UP alive,” she recalls.

During one midterm during her initial years at the State University, she found out she was failing in Math, “so I asked my dad, an engineer, to tutor me. When the subject became even more difficult, he asked his former teacher, then already a dean in a university, to take over and tutor me. As a result, I passed the subject,” narrates Trisha.

Her parents were elated when she passed the licensure exam.

The biggest challenge came when she was enrolling for the final semester prior to her expected graduation. Trisha found out she failed in Microbiology, a difficult subject made even more problematic by a professor, a nationally-recognized expert in the field, who was notorious for failing students.

The failure set Trisha back for a year. “It was difficult for me to tell my parents, but I talked with my Dad first, who understood. Telling my mom was something else. An accountant, she herself had been a scholar throughout her college life. And here I was not living up to her expectations,” she says.

Her mom’s disappointment would soon vanish, although her parents never lost their hope and dream for her to become a physician. After her premed graduation, Trisha chose to work instead of going straight to medical school. She had not even applied to any college of medicine. “My delay in UP was a big letdown for me,” she explains.

Trisha worked at the Makati Medical Center as a patient service representative. But after six months, her childhood dream came back. She had finally recovered from the disappointment brought about by her failure in her undergrad years and finally, she was raring to achieve her big dream.

She had doubts about being accepted to medicine proper, of course. Her credentials were not exactly perfect with that back subject she had to take. But she had a high score in her National Medical Admissions Test.

She was accepted in three colleges of medicine out of five she applied to. Her final choice was De La Salle University (DLSU) College of Medicine in Dasmariñas, Cavite. “As soon as the school year started, I made sure to study well because I did not want to repeat what happened to me in college. I did better in my academics because I had more drive. I was telling myself I need to finish this; I need to acquire my diploma. Besides, I liked what I was doing.”

To ensure that she would keep stock knowledge in her brains, “I read my notes at the end of the day, reviewing what I learned in the classroom. I decided it was the only way for me to remember them and I was proven right,” she shares as her way of giving a significant tip to would-be medical students.

It wasn’t long before she graduated with her medical course. This was in 2018. A year after, she completed her residency, also at the DLSU-Dasmariñas. Throughout their senior year, she and her classmates “were pulled out starting Thursday evening for lectures. This would continue the next day when we would have a mini-test. Even then we were already reviewing for the licensure exam.”

Later, as an intern, she would review in the Starbucks branch near De La Salle Dasmariñas. “Sometimes, I would sit there the whole day just reading, and the Starbucks staff allowed me and my classmates. There were about 10 of us who regularly hung out at Starbucks. We were an informal study group, although we did our reviews individually. When someone needed to doze off, we would wake them up at the appointed time so they could resume reviewing,” Trisha relates.

A few weeks after her internship at the hospital of De La Salle University, she took the board exams. They were told that in a few weeks’ time, they would know the results.

It was the longest wait in Trisha’s life. There were false rumors about the results being released on a certain day, but that did not happen. Finally, one morning, while still in bed, she was awakened by a knock. It was her father, mother and brother telling her she had passed.

Trisha thanks her parents and her mentors. She says that without her family keeping by her side throughout the long, sometimes bumpy, journey, she would not have achieved the biggest dream of her life. Above all, she gives her thanks to God who has made all things possible for her, and who saw her through her challenges.

PS. Although she is now relaxing and waiting for her oath-taking when the family intends to celebrate with their loved ones, Trisha is looking forward to serving humanity by specializing in Otolaryngology (Ears, Nose, Throat).