A SECOND year student of the Leyte Normal University won the Best Essay Award in the competition organized by the Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia.

Leslie Agatha Egonio bagged the award in Eat, Love, and Pray: Living Diversity in Indonesia, a short-course program organized by UPI last January 16 to 28.

Egonio bested 22 students from Korea, Japan, Pakistan, Vietnam, Thailand, India, Malaysia, and the Philippines.

“The program allowed the student-participants to think more critically and observe their environment. As 21st-century learners, this skill of easily finding similarities despite a wide array of cultural differences will come in handy as we are now in a global village—interconnectedness is in our middle name,” Egonio said.

The program was established for developing global citizens who are conscious of and respectful of cultural diversity and history.