SHE dreamt to become a chess master. But what she learned from the 64-square-board game had led her instead to be a successful student-athlete with flying colors ― academically.
Tangub City pride Dominique Rae ‘Nikki’ Urbiztondo, who started playing chess at the tender age of three, has recently graduated Summa Cum Laude after completing her Bachelor of Science in Basic Human Studies ― a preparatory medicine course ― at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila.
“She dreamed and aspired to become a chess master pero nihit kaayo ang torneyo in Misamis Occidental. Her time in playing and studying chess na divert sab when she became a valedictorian in elementary. Since then, medyo didto na siya na focus sa eskwela,” said Nikki’s father Rey Urbiztondo, who is an Arena Chess Grandmaster himself.
As a supportive parent, the elder Urbiztondo hired an Olympiad veteran Woman National Master Cecile Cuizon from Cagayan de Oro to hone Nikki’s talent and skills in chess.
Every year she represented Tangub in the regional meet and tied for second to third place during the National Age-Group tourney in Aklan to qualify for the Philippine team bound for the South East Asian chess fest in Vietnam.
But fearing the outbreak then of SARS airborne disease in South East Asia, the Urbiztondos have decided to forgo the Vietnam competition with a heavy heart.
Availing of a DOST scholarship with the Philippine Science High School Southern Mindanao Campus (PSHS-SMC) otherwise known as Pisay, Nikki became chess champion in the Mintal, Davao City-based institution for five consecutive years.
She also represented Pisay in the annual Davao Chess Amateur Athletic Association or Davao City’s selection for the regional meet and took part in at least three events of the now-extinct Shell Active Chess.
But if as fate intercedes, the UST’s newly-introduced six-year Learning-Enhanced Accelerated Program for Medicine took luster of Nikki’s promising chess career.
“Papa still wishes she would come back to chess after studies and be a representative again of the Philippines, hopefully in the World Chess Olympiad,” her father said.
According to the UST Office for Admissions website, BS Basic Human Studies is an innovative bachelor’s degree that serves as a preparatory program for the degree of Doctor of Medicine at the UST Faculty of Medicine and Surgery.
At least six more Pisay alumni have graduated from the UST’s Basic Human Studies with Latin honors namely Julienne Isabel Luz Q. Bonleon, Louise Marie Therese B. Padillo, and Erica Nicole S. Saljay who finished the pre-med course as magna cum laude. While Alianna Monine A. Gaboya, Patricia Nicole B. Aquino, and Kert Matheu E. Camino have completed the program as cum laude.
