\"It has not sunk in yet, I am not sure if it ever will,\" confesses Jerome Y. Agpaoa whose name is on bold print in a banner that proudly hangs at the FEM Hall facade.

Agpaoa, a third year BS Computer Science student of CAS, was selected as 2009-2010 Global Undergraduate Exchange Program (Global UGrad) grantee for one academic year, beginning this Fall, around November 2009. The news was relayed to MMSU by Dr. Esmeralda S. Cunanan, executive director of the Philippine-American Educational Foundation, which administers the grant.

A program of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the United States Department of State, Global UGrad provides scholarships to outstanding college students from non-elite, underrepresented sectors in society.

It aims to provide a large and diverse group of student leaders with in-depth exposure to US society, culture, and academic institutions by engaging in substantive academic exchanges at colleges and universities in the US.

Scholars will be enrolled full-time in undergraduate course work chosen from the US host institution’s existing curriculum to allow for ample opportunity for on-going interaction with US faculty and student peers, and for exposure to US academic and classroom culture.

World Learning, the organization contracted by the United States State Department to administer the program in the US, is now processing the placement of Agpaoa in US universities.

Agpaoa, a native of Claveria, Cagayan, finished high school at first honorable mention at the Cagayan State Universiy. He lists as his hobbies, \"biking, reading, reading, and reading\".

Gerry L. Contillo, chair of the CAS Department of Computer Science, describes Agpaoa, a DOST scholar and a consistent university scholar since first year, as \"very intelligent but humble\".

Dr. Joselito L. Lolinco, CAS dean, was elated over Agpaoa’s selection, saying that it is another proof that MMSU students are properly trained not only to survive in the national arena, but also to excel in the global village.

As Agpaoa’s studies in the US cannot be credited for his BS course here in MMSU, he will come back next year and enroll as a fourth-year student, which means finishing college one year longer than usual. But this is not an issue for the 19-year-old lad, who is aware of the vast opportunities Global UGrad can open for him.

He is in Manila, May 14-15, for the pre-departure orientation of all US-bound scholars for 2009-2010.