| | Obama
honors Boholano
grad; Kin tops US school Two
young Boholanos, who are cousins, graduated top in US schools, and one of them
was even conferred honor by Pres. Barrack Obama.
Kevin Climaco, 17, received
the President's Award for Educational Excellence under the President's Educational
Award Program for 2009 | | |
during
his graduation at the Queens High School for Sciences at York College in New York.The
first black American president and leader of the world's superpower and the US
Secretary of Education signed the award certificate.
Climaco has been granted
full scholarship for medical carrier at the Boston University in Massachusetts
for US school year 2009.
His cousin of same age, Matthew Norvick, received
the Noteworthy Achievement and Sustained Excellence Award for being in the top
20 of 600 graduates of the New York Dewitt Clinton High School.
| | | He
was given the Diploma of Merit for Roll of Honor, an achievement of a student
who has an overall average of 90% and above for four consecutive years.
Norvick
has enrolled and is now enjoying full scholarship for banking/business carrier
at the Fordham University, a Jesuit-run institution, in New York.
The cousins'
respective parents are Ismael and Cates Climaco and Andy and Judy Norvick, who
have since all settled in the US. The father Climaco is a Philippine Military
Academy alumnus while the father Norvick is an American Jew engineer. |
The mentally-gifted
boys are grandsons of Philippine Gift of Life President/Chief Executive Officer
Francisca Baluyot since their mothers, who are sisters and both nurses, are daughters
of Baluyot.
The young Climaco also received the City Council Citation/Speaker's
Achievement Award from New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn for being
"an outstanding student and citizen, and one who is worthy of the esteem
of the great City of New York."
His other honors include the Outstanding
Achievement in Mathematics Award from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics;
Certificate of Merits for Outstanding Achievement in Social Studies, Association
of Teachers of Social Studies of the United Federation of Teachers; Principal's
Honor List/Excellence in Scholarship, given to a student who has achieved an average
of 95% or higher and a graduating class honoree; and Excellence in Physical Education
Award from the Physical Education Department.
Climaco and Norvick are the
eldest and second eldest grandsons, respectively, of Baluyot. Their grandmother,
a multi-awarded humanitarian woman and former Red Cross administrator, is also
presently the health and social services consultant to the provincial government
of Bohol. (Ven rebo Arigo)
 |
