MICHELLE Mariel Mariposa of University of the Philippines Diliman added another feather in her cap as she will be graduating summa cum laude for the second time on Sunday.

Mariposa, a BA Music major, leads UPD’s Class of 2021 with the highest weighted average grade of 1.072.

In 2016, she was also among 30 summa cum laude graduates of the school, finishing her first undergraduate degree in psychology.

While her family was supportive of her decision to pursue a second degree, Mariposa opted to work and help support her studies.

“When I was in Psychology, I was an insurance agent under my mom in Sunlife. In Music, I worked under Chancellor Tan as a research associate, taught private voice lessons, and took on different gigs as a singer,” she said.

The summa cum laude student said her journey in UP was not easy as she needs to balance her academics and other responsibilities.

“On busy days, I schedule my day in 30-minute increments. I base my scheduled tasks on my own energy levels. For example, I’m not a morning person, so I schedule easier tasks in the morning which allow me more breaks,” she shared.

“The more time and energy-consuming tasks such as studying new pieces and teaching, I schedule in the late afternoon, since that’s when I feel the most energetic. So for me, it’s about balancing and matching my energy levels with the difficulty of the task,” she said.

Instead of focusing to achieve a perfect grade, Mariposa stressed that pursuing her passions was the key to her accomplishments.

“It wasn’t really my goal to graduate summa cum laude even when I was in Psych. It  just so happened that I really enjoyed what I studied, for both my Psych and Music degrees. I think that’s why whatever obstacles present were bearable, because I enjoyed what I was doing, and I had a good reason to pursue those two fields,” she said.

Next month, Mariposa will go to the US and pursue graduate studies at the Northwestern University Bienen School of Music.