Robyn Dy

BY JYRA ZOE T. ANG

ENTERING LIFE after Ateneo, students often aspire to unite passion and career. Yet in most cases, discovering what these passions are and finding avenues for these to flourish often proves to be a difficult, or even unexpected, hurdle. Graduating summa cum laude, Political Science Program Awardee Robyn Dy (AB POS, Minor in Korean Studies) shows that finding direction can start with answering the question: What makes you curious about the world?

Finding a place on the map

“When I was younger, my dad would watch the evening news every night without fail. I remember sitting with him and slowly realizing that there was a much bigger world out there that changes every day,” shares Robyn. Fast forward to the end of college—she has set herself up for a career dedicated to understanding and improving the same world that lit her up with questions.

However, that transition was far from smooth sailing; rather, it was the product of a brave decision and a lot of openness. Coming from a Filipino-Chinese family, Robyn faced certain expectations of what her college experience should be. Despite the pressure to go into a business course, she has always believed in pursuing what she enjoys learning. After years of Araling Panlipunan (Social Studies) classes, burying herself in countless issues of Time Magazine, and all those nights watching the evening news with her father, her heart was set on pursuing a career in political science despite it not fitting the mold prescribed to her.

28 This only intensified as she was exposed to new perspectives in Ateneo, but it was the special emphasis her course placed on real-life application that convinced her she was in the right place.“That’s something I really enjoyed because they synthesize everything and make it relevant to today’s context,” she says. Since then, Robyn has taken every opportunity to actualize her learnings. In her junior year, she was a policy and legislation intern in the Office of Senator Paolo Benigno “Bam” Aquino IV (OSBA), where she saw the theories in her classes come to life. “I attended a lot of Senate hearings on behalf of OSBA...interviewing resource persons on various issues like the legalization of medical marijuana and the lowering of the minimum age of criminal responsibility,” she says. Now, she is interested in involving government work in her future career: “I feel really lucky to have had that opportunity to witness Senator Bam’s inspiring brand of servant leadership...It pushed me to consider pursuing a career in government and continue the important work they’ve started.”

Going global

Despite being immersed in the local context, Robyn wanted to push the boundaries of her knowledge and do something on a global level, like international studies. Just as she took a leap in choosing to study political science, she made the bold decision to take her junior term abroad alone in South Korea. Her school, Seoul National University (SNU), did not offer any undergraduate political science classes in English. Instead, she took her electives at the Graduate School of Public Administration. Although she found it intimidating at first, Robyn grew to relish the experience and ended up thriving in this diverse environment. As a result, she added a global perspective to her local expertise. Her experience in Korea was elevated by the opportunity to learn the language through SNU’s Language Program. “It was collectively 200 hours [of Korean]. I didn’t realize it was that intense until I started it,” she says. However, Robyn was determined to do her best while she still could. After her term abroad, she finished her minor in Korean Studies in Ateneo as part of her vision of doing work on a global level. Despite building such a diverse skill set, Robyn stays rooted in the discipline of her course and her curiosity for the world. “After four years as a political science major...my interest has only grown and intensified,” she says. “I always struggle to explain exactly why current events interest me, but it just energizes me to know that there’s a story behind everything that’s going on in the world right now, and it’s out there for me to figure out.” In the years to come, Robyn has her sights set on a career in international relations, driven by the same sense of wonder she has always had. By staying faithful to what she loves and taking opportunities to let it flourish, Robyn exemplifies that passion can push you out of your comfort zone and lead you to be part of something bigger than yourself. Robyn