I know I’m cheating here by including a lot of people in one rank, but I suppose I can’t help but not ignore these people. Each and every one of these people in my top five have shaped my year to be the year that it was, and let’s just say that these people were simply indispensable in that respect.

So without further ado, just like last year, here are The Top Five People Marcelle Is Most Grateful For This Year.

5. Dr. Barbazza, Jim Paredes, Ma’am Sining, and Mr. Bulaong: All four professors had a rather significant impact on my life, truth be told.

Mr. Bulaong was the person who really opened my mind to the possibilities I might have in Philosophy. While he does have a friendliness about him, I don’t think that overrides the fact that he’s still my professor, and one of my personal favorites, for that matter.

Jim Paredes is simply the one person who managed to make me be a lot more confident about myself without being too brazen. With all the creative things we were subjected to, and though these things were about a year or so ago, they only really started to manifest in me this year. You might say that he managed to spark a bit of a paradigm shift from me, in that I was more and more surefooted with the things I did.

Ma’am Sining may have likewise been my teacher way back in second year, but I was always sure that if there was anything I wasn’t sure I was able to handle, she was someone I could turn to. Since I finished my class with her, she was, without a doubt, a very good friend, and one of the people I am so grateful for in their faith in my capabilities when I myself begin to doubt them.

Dr. Barbazza, finally, is simply an eminent figure who will always command respect. A brilliant man who forced me to handle Philosophy in the vernacular after a year of otherwise, Dr. Barbazza was certainly someone who seemed larger than life to me, in spite of his approachability and his mild-mannered demeanor. He elicits a kind of esteem that many people just wish they had but couldn’t, and it’s something I can’t help but hope to emulate.

I am exceedingly grateful to these professors I have had this year that simply played a crucial role in changing my paradigm and making me a bit better as a human being. I've a long way to go, but these people sure pushed me in the right direction.

Honorable Mention in this category: Among all my professors in college, these four were the most influential to me. While I can add a certain name to that list, particularly my Theology professor last semester, I think she couldn’t have influenced me as much without help from someone else who is also in this list. Still, ma’am Elsa Magtibay was genuinely a great person.