ERIKA JOILEE PATAYON, 2016 MQ CANDIDATE NUMBER 7

NEGROS OCCIDENTAL HIGH SCHOOL

If my life is a calligraphy artwork, then the masterpiece was dated November 18, 1999, wherein my first stroke of life as Erika Joille Rosales Patayon was drawn. This work of art is known to be “Kai-Kai” and is still a work in progress on my 16^th year. The calligraphy outlined the philosophy behind this masterwork and it states, “Go for it. Whether it ends good or bad, it was an experience.” These words were etched even more by an institution upholding the culture of excellence, Negros Occidental High School. NOHS became the gallery of my life since my seventh grade until today as a Grade 11 student of the Section-A of Science and Technology, Engineering and Mathematics of the pioneer batch of Senior High School.

Erika Joille Patayon bagged the 2016 Masskara Queen 3rd Runner-Up title, Best in Talent and Social Media Princess (www.mytraveltipsandtricks.com) awards.

This unsophisticated work of art did not remain to be monochromatic but determined to paint distinctions as colorful as a kaleidoscope. It’s not an irony rather, I was decorated by God’s unfathomable grace. I was awarded as the “Most Promising Feature Writer, News Writer, and Photojournalist in the Western Visayas Journalism Seminar,” a runner-up in the “E-Poster Making-School Division,” the “Miss Riverside Choice Awardee” in the “Lin-ay sang Probinsyal Hayskul” and finished Junior High School as a candidate for Honors of the Special Science Curriculum and currently, I was recognized as “With Honors” in the current school year. Nevertheless, these adornments are nothing without the abounding faithfulness of God and the supportive love of my family.

This year, it is with great hopes and prayers that I will be hailed as this year’s Masskara Queen. Everybody’s main aim in joining this glamorous pageant is to win yet, just like any artwork I started from a canvass and I know that my Painter has designed me for a unique and significant purpose; that is to be an embodiment of the different palette schemes of Character, Challenge, and Change. It is undeniable that each of the candidates has the charm to delight the crowd, however, the sovereignty of my Creator has been molding me to be a person of character. Though I am young, the sketch of perseverance, the splash of being responsible and the blend of discipline frame my life to be prepared to serve my fellow Bacolodnons. Nevertheless, having these qualities, I am more than willing to take the challenge to learn, unlearn and relearn and apply whatever I will discover from others and from this pageant. As what Frank Zappa said, “The mind is like a parachute, it works only when it is open.” With this, I can become a symbol of change the change for the best I wish to see and embrace in my beloved hometown, the place of beautiful smiles, Bacolod City.

Dara