Vanier valedictorian uses experience to inspire fellow students

When 17-year-old Kreztorv Patricio Fugaban and his family arrived in Montreal from the Philippines in late January of 2013, it was as frigid out as it had been hot in his hometown of Calaban. With only a thin jacket, he recalled, “It was so cold; I had no idea.”

They had only their clothes “and some money in our pockets.” He couldn’t speak English well, and he knew no French. For the first few months he, his parents and his two brothers bunked in with an uncle who shared a 2½-room apartment with his daughter.

The local Filipino community was “very welcoming ” and helped with free services and warm clothes, but it was tough going at first. Fugaban’s mother, who has an accounting degree, took a housekeeping job, and his older brother set aside his studies temporarily to work at a Tim Hortons to help the family. They settled in with the three boys in the living room. It was six months before Fugaban’s father, an electrical engineer by profession, found work (a technical job in a factory); his mother worked as a cashier.

But they were together. In the Philippines, his father would see the family only once a year when he returned home from Dubai, where he worked, for a month’s holiday.

“My parents said they immigrated for us, so that the family would be reunited,” said Fugaban.

Krez, as his friends call him, and his younger brother attended classes d’accueil to learn French; from there, he enrolled in an adult education centre to earn the credits he needed for a high school leaving certificate and, in the fall of 2015, he entered Vanier College.

There he was faced with a choice: to study pure and applied science, an academic program leading to university, or industrial electronics, a three-year technical program that meant a job right out of school. He chose industrial electronics, “but in my heart, I wanted to go to university.”

On Wednesday, Krez, now 22, takes his place on stage at Place des Arts to address fellow Vanier graduating students as their valedictorian.

Come fall, he’ll be studying electrical engineering at Concordia University. He’ll be working this summer at CAE Inc., where he has had a part-time job since December. When he arrived in Montreal, it pained him that he couldn’t find part-time work to help the family, but “I found a way to divert this feeling. I redirected it and used it to motivate myself to excel in my studies.”

His name was on the dean’s honour roll every semester, which means he maintained an average of 90 per cent or higher, and he immersed himself in helping his school community. He became a peer tutor in English, then in industrial electronics and in advanced math. His intention, he said, was “to help students who are struggling in their studies.

“I experienced it. I didn’t know English well or French and I was bad at math,” he recalled. “I found that the secret lies in practice, passion and determination. I find that still works for me.”

Louise Robinson, a teacher in the industrial electronics program and its co-ordinator for five years until 2017, extolled Fugaban’s work ethic and his community spirit and lauded him for his academic achievements, his “generosity of spirit” and his “caring attitude to the people in the community around him.”

Fugaban was a communications co-ordinator with the Vanier College Students’ Association and, as a student reporter at the school’s television station, one of his accomplishments was helping to launch a cooking show.

Outside school, Krez is a volunteer reporter for a public service broadcasting company based in the Philippines, to which he contributes regular reports about Montreal in English and Tagalog. He also volunteers with his church, Members Church of God International, where he is part of a theatrical dance program.

What drives him?

“We were taught by our parents to always do good, and by our church to always be zealous in doing good work,” he replied. “I do what I can to give back my skills and knowledge to the community.

“My goal is always to help people.”

We were taught by our parents to always do good, and by our church to always be zealous in doing good work. KREZTORV PATRICIO FUGABAN