Some of you may have read this already while others may not have seen it so let’s upload it here. Congratulations to our kailiyan from Kalinga.

GMA: A woman from Kalinga province graduated at the top of her class at the State University of New York Plattsburg Campus last week.

Phillyne Rhaiza Sugguiyao Shiu topped her hotel, restaurant and tourism management class, graduating magna cum laude with the highest general percentile average (GPA) of 3.7-3.89 during the College Spring Commencement Exercises.

Shiu was also conferred the Faculty Excellence Award by the department of hotel, restaurant and tourism management (HRTM) faculty and the Honor Society Graduating Seniors Award of the Eta Sigma Delta.

Shiu’s mother is Natividad Sugguiyao, who is the Kalinga provincial director of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples. Rhaiza and her siblings, however, have migrated to the US.

Even in the Philippines, Shiu was always at the top of her class. She was enrolled at the University of the Philippines in Diliman Quezon City and went to the US on a scholarship grant from the SUNY Plattsburg College of Business and Economics. She also became an exchange student to the University of Hilo in Hawaii.