Mamasapano high school valedictorian to graduate cum laude in college

COTABATO CITY - Four years ago, Norombai Utto graduated from high school just days after a heavy military bombardment of Mamasapano in 2015, and her valedictory address moved the audience to tears at Hji. Salik National High School in Barangay Tukanalipao in Mamasapano.

On Tuesday, June 11, Norombai is graduating cum laude from her course of Bachelor of Secondary Education major in General Science at the Mindanao State University’s Maguindanao campus.

Norombai wants to be a teacher, saying she chose her course in order to “share what I’ve learned beyond the four corners of the classroom. Education is one of the things that strengthens peace.”

“I have received much inspiration from my family—Mother and Father, my siblings and the people who have helped and believed in me,” 21-year-old Norombai said. “I would like to see this wish fulfilled: I would like to help many people, God-willing.” She is the eldest of her family’s three offspring.

She finished her college course under the Academic Investment in Muslim Mindanao (AIMM) scholarship—and, in her, the investment promises a good return: “War is not the answer, nor is violence, to the question of how to create peace. Peace begins inside us. It is something we share with other people.”

The scholarship was provided by former Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Governor Mujiv Hataman as part of the ARMM government’s efforts to foster peace and development through government initiatives.

Norombai began her journey through the tertiary educational system dreaming of peace. She trained to be a teacher over four years and, now, she is ready to work on making her dream of peace come true. We are looking at a new generation of Moros, led by people like Norombai, who are capable of taking the dream of peace and the hope of our people in their hands and making of these things a solid and beautiful reality.