By Ronan S. Punzalan, Intern

Having closely interacted with people as a sociology student, the top graduate of the Mariano Marcos State University’s Class of 2022 dreams of being in the court, fighting for the oppressed and marginalized. She intends to enroll at the law school here a month after her graduation ceremony on July 15 at the Sunken Garden. 

Maxime Gaile T. Pomoy took up Bachelor of Arts in Sociology in 2018 with the goal of becoming a lawyer someday. “Studying human relationships and people’s sources of joy, daily battles and desires, I hope to help them be liberated from social problems and inequality in the future,” she said. 

After four years of toil on social soil, she would be graduating not only as a degree holder, but with the singular honor as valedictorian of MMSU Class of 2022. 

Being the top magna cum laude graduate with a general weighted average of 1.2143, Maxime leads the 2,424 graduating students in MMSU’s 44th Commencement Exercises. 

Born and raised in Brgy. Dibua South in Laoag City, Maxime is the eldest child of Arnel and Brendalyn Pomoy. Her father manages a water station while her mother works as a clerk of court at the Regional Trial Court in the same city. Her younger sister, Rana Danielle, is an incoming first year nursing student. 

This 21-year-old achiever is no stranger to academic excellence. She graduated valedictorian in senior high school at the Data Center College of the Philippines - Laoag in 2018. In college, she was consistently on top of the lone sociology section. 

Pomoy was also active in various extra-curricular activities. Her most notable involvement was in the international project-based learning titled “Gender Equality: Strengthening the Support System for Migrant Worker’s Families in Indonesia” in 2019. She was one of the students sent by MMSU to Malang and Surabaya, Indonesia to participate in a 10-day project-based learning program.

Although all degree programs are equally challenging, Maxime believes that sociology is one of the most arduous fields. “Having a professional understanding about the social world, we are enabled to help others be liberated from social ills,” she pointed out. 

In senior year, her research, “Unveiling the Motivations to Volunteer In-Person: The Case of Philippines Red Cross Non-Healthcare Volunteers in the Time of COVID-19 Pandemic,” was awarded as Best Undergraduate Thesis under the Arts, Education, and Social Science Research Category.

According to Maxime, she and her classmates had to deal with some misconceptions about the sociology course, one of only three Bachelor of Arts programs in the university. In particular, she laments many people confuse sociology with other courses, such as psychology, social work or zoology; and in some instances, she and her coursemates would be underrated because they were taking a BA course, and not Bachelor of Science.

“Not because some will graduate with liberal arts or a social science degree and some will graduate with and without Latin or English honors, does not mean that some are less and that others are more,” she said.

Maxime admitted there were times she wanted to give up on her dream because of life’s uncertainties and the debilitating effects of the COVID-19 crisis, but she remained steadfast, hurdling all the challenges along the way – making her earn the degree and excel - leading all the torchbearers of academic excellence in the new normal for school year 2021-2022.

With her umbrella ready to shield her from a possible rain during the graduation ceremony, she hopes to also protect others from any storm of inequity and injustice – soon in court. (HLY/JVBT/DPTJ, StratCom)