13/07/2026
๐๐จ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐ซ๐๐จ๐ญ๐ฒ๐ฉ๐ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐จ๐ง๐ ๐๐ซ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ง ๐ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ฆ๐๐ง ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐ ๐๐ซ๐๐๐ฆ.
Your story is proof that strength isn't measured by gender but by the courage to pursue your dreams despite the odds. We are incredibly proud of our former Women's Team Captain, ๐๐ข๐๐ง๐ง๐ ๐๐๐๐ง ๐๐๐งฬ๐จ๐ฌ๐, for inspiring the next generation to dream bigger and believe in themselves.
Congratulations, Captain! Your EAC Lawn Tennis family will always be cheering you on. โค๏ธ
๐๐ซ๐๐๐ค๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐จ๐ฅ๐, ๐๐ฎ๐ข๐ฅ๐๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐
๐ฎ๐ญ๐ฎ๐ซ๐
A little girl peers over her older brotherโs desk, watching him as he carefully tinkered with a circuit board. Every wire, every component, and every movement fascinated her. Curious, she bombarded him with questions.
โAno โyan?โ
โPara saan โto?โ
Patiently, he answered each one. What seemed like an ordinary afternoon became the beginning of something much greater. Through that small conversation bloomed into curiosity and passion as she was introduced to a world of programming languages, computer systems, and endless possibilities.
Dianne Jaen Saรฑosa grew up the same. Surrounded by close relatives who worked in the field, she became entranced by the codes and the software. For her, choosing engineering was never simply about earning her degree. It was about proving that passion and determination are not defined by gender.
Engineering has long been regarded as a field dominated by men. Walk into most engineering classrooms or workplaces, and men still make up the majority. Women were always associated with fields centered around care, education and administration. Society often expects women to follow their so-called โfeminine instinctsโ by pursuing care-related professionsโroles deeply rooted in the belief that women are naturally nurturing and compassionate. Meanwhile, men are more often encouraged to take on fields that involve solving complex problems, leading innovation, or tackling societyโs โhard-hittingโ challenges. Everything is all accounted for by the patriarchal society we still live in. While the landscape has gradually begun to change, women continue to face stereotypes questioning whether they truly belong in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields.
Saรฑosa has heard those assumptions before. โNaniniwala ako na kung ano ang kaya ng lalaki, kaya rin ng babae,โ she said.
To her, the belief that engineering is a โmanโs fieldโ only strengthened her resolve to succeed. โAng paniniwala kasi nila sa engineering, majority lalaki lang ang guma-graduate, so parang ayun ang naging motivation ko para ma-prove sa kanila na hindi lang lalaki ang may kaya ng course namin.โ
Instead of allowing the stereotypes to eat her up and discourage her, she chose to use them as motivation. A drive to let her keep going, a fuel to get her motor running. Every complicated project, every late night studying, and every challenge she overcame became another step toward proving that women are just as capable thriving in Engineering.
By choosing Engineering despite these perceptions, she joins countless women who are redefining the field of Engineering. Their success does more than challenge the narrative and stereotypesโit creates opportunities for future generations of young women to imagine themselves in spaces they may have once believed impossible.
Representation matters.
Somewhere, another little girl may be watching someone repair a computer, assemble a robot, or design a circuit board. She may be asking questions just as Saรฑosa once did, wondering if she too, belongs in that world.
Stories like Saรฑosaโs answer that question with a resounding yes.
As graduation slowly starts to dawn, she hopes more young women will have the confidence to pursue careers they are passionate about, regardless of societyโs expectations on them and their gender roles.
โItโs okay to be afraid, but try to be brave enough. If you want to achieve things, do it. Donโt doubt yourself or hold yourself back,โ Saรฑosa advised young girls who are afraid to pursue what they want.
For Dianne, becoming an engineer is more than a personal achievement. It is proof of her courage and the belief that talent has no gender.
โ๏ธ: Ma. Sophia Horca
