BACK IN freshman year, when Gelo Apostol was assigned to create an e-group for one of his classes, he was confused. “What [are] Yahoo! Groups?”

Three years and several e-groups later, this small-town boy now stands as the valedictorian of the Loyola Schools (LS) Class of 2011.

Also graduating as the Health Sciences program awardee, with magna cum laude honors, Geminn Louis Apostol is an Ateneo scholar and former president of the Ateneo Health Sciences Society (HSS). Beyond academics and extracurricular activities, he has also involved himself in Gawad Kalinga – Ateneo (GK-Ateneo) and Lingap Pangkabataan, Inc. (Lingap), a non-government organization for children with psychosocial challenges.

True blue probinsyano

Apostol hails from San Luis, Pampanga, a small town a good distance away from the provincial capital, San Fernando.  Where he came from, there were no huge malls, no fast-food outlets—not even internet.

“Lumaki ako sa bukirin, sa fish pond, at sa simbahan. Laking promdi talaga ako (I grew up near the farms, the fish ponds, and the church. I really grew up in the province),” he says.

The move from a faraway town to the big city wasn’t all that difficult though, he says. What helped him adjust to life in the Ateneo was support from the dorm community and his course mates in the Health Sciences program.

New HSS President Maria Elizabeth Angeline Puyat describes Apostol as ‘humble.’

“He has achieved so much and done so much, but he’ll never boast about it or even acknowledge any of it. He has his feet planted firmly on the ground,” she says.

Puyat adds that Apostol is the type of person who makes an effort to get to know other people. “When he talks to you, you know that he cares and [that he] is interested in what you have to say. He enjoys making people happy and showing them how much he loves them.”

Service-learning

If there is one thing to describe Apostol’s Ateneo experience, it is service-learning. It started with his involvement in Lingap through his experience in the Office of Social Concern and Involvement’s Junior Engagement Program.

“Lingap was the starting point of my overall involvement in social work. It was also the starting point of [my work] in GK,” he says.

Apostol also integrated service-learning in his work for HSS. Three times a week, he and his org mates would provide health service assistance to Barangay Bagong Silang in Caloocan City, the largest barangay in the country.

Apostol draws inspiration from the former University President Fr. Bienvenido Nebres, SJ, who, he says, “embodies the spirit of volunteerism.”

“[He] is real proof that no one is too young or too old to make a difference,” Apostol says.

But he acknowledges that volunteerism is a tiring cause. Service on its own, without motivation or a driving force, can quickly burn one out. He quotes his theology professor, the famed Bobby Guevarra, about embodying the spirit of ad majorem Dei gloriam. “Lahat ng gawin mo ay alang-alang sa Kanya (Everything you do is for God),” he says of this drive. “[God] drives you [and] energizes you.”

Public health service

To be an LS valedictorian, candidates must show outstanding academic achievements, leadership in extra and co-curricular activities, and exceptional personal quality.

After a batch vote, the candidates’ submission of their grades, curricula vitae and individual essays, and individual panel interviews, Apostol was declared valedictorian of the Class of 2011.

Puyat said the announcement didn’t come as a surprise to her.  “He had all the makings [of a valedictorian]. Magaling talaga siya eh! (He’s really good!)”

Apostol was elated with being declared valedictorian, but says the distinction also energized him “to do more, to serve more, to love more.”

As he looks forward to trailblazing a new path in the Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health, he hopes to continue the drive for service-learning he started in college. Among other things, he plans to be a public health doctor, to work for GK communities, and to provide medical services in his hometown, San Luis.

“Wala akong balak magpayaman. Sapat na kung ano ang sapat (I don’t plan on getting rich. Just enough is good enough.)”

As for Puyat, she expects Apostol to do “great things” after graduation. “College was just his stepping stone,” she says.