‘She’ Who Aims High, Soars High
by: Debra Jane Bozar
The power of her wit, talent, and enthusiasm enables her to take lead in the greatest race of all time—the road to success. This well-focused young woman definitely has the edge to be the “famous” journalist she wanted to be. Armed with a strategic game plan, a positive mindset and the right attitude towards her craft, she is unquestionably in control of the game.
COMPETITIVE—that is how Shelly Fauné C. Dimaculangan, 18, describes herself in one word. She considers education and knowledge both very essential in life, most especially in the pursuit of one’s desired career.
According to Shelly, “Okay lang na matalo na may ginawa ka kaysa naman manalo ka na wala kang ginawa. (It is better to lose trying than to win without doing anything at all.)”
Shelly or Shê, as her friends fondly call her, firmly believes that prior to any accomplishment, one should first endure long hours of labor and exert immense loads of effort. True enough, Shelly works hard to achieve her aspirations. Her competitiveness and industry, together with her effective time management made her break through the turfs of writing, web designing, and traveling. Alongside her competitiveness is the motivation she heaves from her deceased father.
“Maybe God gave me this height on purpose. He might really want me to be competitive,” she jokingly related her height with her attitude.
Writing as her first priority
“Definitely,” said Shelly after being asked if she really loves writing. “My passion for writing became apparent when I was in second grade. If I remember it right, Tell Me was the title of my first poem.”
This Manila-bred-Batangueña-at-heart youngster puts writing on top of her list. For that, she took journalism as her course in college. Ever since, writing has been her first love, her sole passion. Her talent in writing emerged at such an early age. And at this time, she has fruitfully honed her writing skills so as to inspire people.
Her consistent inclusion in the Dean’s Academic Honors proves her diligence and determination in her studies and in the written craft. Moreover, it underlines her fervent yearning to be a journalist in the future, more specifically, a famous sports journalist.
“I want to be known as a prolific sports writer someday. I want to be famous, in the sense that people will recognize me as the competent sports writer of the Philippine Daily Inquirer while strolling in the malls.” Shelly explained blithely.
In the mean time, Shelly continues to develop her talent in writing by participating in organizations such as the TomasinoWeb, the official online Thomasian community. Her articles published in the community’s Go USTE and Tomvela sections highlight her athletic and creative sides respectively. Shelly dedicatedly serves the organization as it fully serves and accommodates her talents as well.
Her world in the web
Shelly’s talent is not only limited to writing for she is also into web designing. Shelly has advanced web designing skills and HTML programming knowledge since she attended seminars and workshops given by the Youth Webmaster’s Society. From the simple knowledge she acquired through self-studying, she drastically improved her skills with the help of YWS.
She merges her talent in writing and her knowledge in web designing by publishing her journal entries as well as her personal insights on certain matters in her personal website. Her chronicles of everyday life, happiness, frustrations, defeats and ironies may be read in her online journal. Furthermore, her poems, essays and other written pieces are also linked in her Pucca-inspired website.
Aside from her online diary which is hosted by Yahoo’s Geocities, Shelly also maintains another website—the Shakey’s V-League fan site. She created this website for volleyball enthusiasts, predominantly, her fellow V-League fanatics. The many avid supporters of V-League, an inter-collegiate volleyball competition sponsored by Shakey’s, motivated Shelly to create a website wherein members could freely interact with each other and exchange thoughts through forums.
In this kind of “sideline”, Shelly finds leisure. She gets to write and at the same time, enjoy the company of people with the same interest as hers—sports.
Glimpse at her other likings
“I'm starting to get hyped with watching sports on TV and reading stuffs through the internet,” said Shelly in one of her journal entries.
To her block mates and friends, her love for sports is truly evident. In fact, people close to her regards her non-stop mentioning of Roxanne Pimentel, one of UST’s best players, as a default symptom of Shelly’s fascination. Furthermore, her hard-court crushes such as Christian Luanzon of UST and Badjie del Rosario of the Ateneo de Manila University reflect her enthrallment towards basketball. Shelly’s interest in sports further includes lawn tennis, badminton, and football.
Another fascination of our cheerful lass is Pucca, a character from an online computer-generated imagery cartoon series created by the South Korean company, Vooz. Shelly is so captivated with the cartoon character that she even jovially claims that Pucca resembles her Ate Rox.
Shelly is also fond of traveling. For her 18th birthday last November, her loving mother made a tour to China and a visit to Hong Kong Disneyland possible.
“Thank God for the China-Hong Kong trip because I had the best time of my life. Since then, I keep on saying that I'm a travel-enthusiast and this trip had sustained the best gift ever,” said Shelly in her travelogue.
In addition to her Hong Kong Disneyland escapade, she had a trip to Cebu just this summer. As an assessment of the trip, she said, “Through my recent trip in Cebu, I realized how beautiful this Visayan island is. It's one reachable seat for a paradise. It is in deed a rapture for all travelers.”
“Traveling is such a treasure for me because I learn many things which neither a book nor a four-walled classroom can do,” she narrated.
Role conflict
Due to the various functions Shelly plays in her game of life, she admits that she sometimes experiences role conflict. Nevertheless, she manages to overcome these circumstances with the help of her positive approach towards conflicts.
At this point, she considers her education and her passion superior over her other inclinations. Journalism is concerned with writing, and so, she thinks she should give more priority to it.
“My other inclinations are somewhat indispensable and related to my chosen career. People travel so that they learn. People play sports to add more action into their lives. And most importantly, people write in order to express their insights and feelings.”
If God permits, Shelly said she might pursue his father’s dream for her—to be the first lawyer in the family. But for now, her final decision is to go for her own dream—to be a distinguished journalist.