David Chua

BY TIFFANY BERNARDO

WITH A magna cum laude standing and several extracurricular accomplishments under his belt, David Chua (4 BS ITE) undoubtedly has a lot going for him. However, what most people don’t know is that he didn’t always have a perfect academic record.

Failure before success

In his senior year of high school, David applied to three universities—the University of the Philippines (UP), Ateneo de Manila University, and De La Salle University (DLSU). He believed that their top business programs suited his interests and capabilities. After all, as an honor student in high school, David was used to being the best, and naturally, he expected to perform well in his entrance exams. Little did he know that reality would be quite different from what he imagined.

“I felt so confident taking the Ateneo College Entrance [Test] that after I finished, I thought for sure I was going to be on the Director’s List,” he recalls. “Later on, I found out I ended up in a different list: The waitlist.” While he attained his top choice in DLSU, he was redirected to UP’s Manila campus, which didn’t offer the business courses he wanted. After appealing to Ateneo, he was accepted into the Bachelor of Science in Management program, and he pushed through with it because of the University’s unique culture, campus, and environment.

However, he struggled to adjust to his first semester in Ateneo. “I was placed in all basic classes at the start of the semester, and there were a few times I almost failed classes,” David says. He recalls his literature classes, where he was getting a handful of Fs on his papers. comforting to know others [in the class] were facing the same hardships I was, so it wasn’t as big of a deal as I made it out to be.” Ultimately, for David, it was the people around him—his classmates and newfound friends—that helped him move past failures, strive to do better, and still have fun at the end of the day.

Getting into the groove

During his junior year, David shifted to the Bachelor of Science in Information Technology Entrepreneurship (BS ITE) program after realizing that business management wasn’t something he loved. “It sounded pretty intimidating with the information technology and coding talk, but I figured it would help me start my own business,” he says. This course became something David genuinely enjoyed, as it went beyond business math, accounting, and general management and helped him develop creativity and out-of-the-box thinking: “I always pictured myself as a logical and pragmatic person, but after being exposed to wild ideas, inventions, and unique marketing strategies, I think I was able to pick up a few things and increase my own pool of ideas.” Despite shifting late, he is set to graduate on time and with honors, after two years of overloaded semesters in BS ITE. When asked how he managed to do this, David simply says, “I definitely kept academics as a priority.” He notes that it was helpful to aim for small goals every semester, which led him to the bigger goal of graduating magna cum laude. Besides this, he also attributes his success to the people he met along the way: “More than just finding the right groupmates, I got a lot of guidance from friends who I can rely on for help and moral support.”

Real-world impact

An equally major part of David’s college experience is his group’s start-up: LISA, an app that allows people to book cleaning services for their homes. With over 3,000 likes on its Facebook page, the brand is growing to cater to Filipinos all over Metro Manila: “It started out as a course requirement, but it brought [the group] closer together, taught us collaboration, and motivated us to put all our efforts into the business.” Although David can’t predict what the future holds for LISA, he knows that the time he spent working on it, the experience he gained, and the friendships he made along the way will definitely help him with whatever he wants to accomplish in the future. “I’ve always been a bit too laid back in the past, but because of Ateneo, I’ve developed my work ethic through the classes, deadlines, and late-night grinds,” he says. Aside from academics, he speaks highly of the University’s holistic formation: “Ateneo develops a whole array of different talents, and my university ties will go a long way in the future.” Evidently, life isn’t always smooth sailing, but the best you can do is to invest in and work on yourself. “Trust in yourself,” David stresses. “If all else fails, you’ll have no regrets because you’ve done everything you can, 100%.” David