The tragic events of Supertyphoon “Yolanda” (international name: Haiyan) certainly did not stop survivor Hillary Diane Andales from pursuing what she always wanted in life. Fueled by grit and inspired by her parents, she overcame many challenges to get to where she is today: a student at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) studying Physics, Astronomy and STS (Science, Technology and Society).

Growing up in the small town of Abuyog in Leyte province, Andales was inspired by the stories that her parents told her. She recalls family dinners where, instead of fairy tales, she listened to stories about great scientists like Marie Curie and Albert Einstein. She started dreaming about the world outside the bounds of her small town. These stories also inspired her to become a scientist.

“I have always loved math and science,” she says, recalling her first encounters with astronomy. Every night on the Abuyog beach, she would sit on the sand fascinated by the stars that shone brightly in the night sky. She was also awestruck by the scale of the universe—that a million Earths could fit inside the sun or that there were a hundred billion stars in our own Milky Way galaxy.

As a student at Philippine Science High School-Eastern Visayas Campus, she pursued a Physics-focused track and finished with highest honors in her graduating class. She also garnered academic achievement, entering numerous competitions in Math and Science. One of these competitions would later change her life.

Breakthrough Junior Challenge

“My mom discovered the competition on Facebook,” says Andales, describing her experience entering the Breakthrough Junior Challenge.

A prestigious global competition for high school students, it draws thousands of entries worldwide every year. To enter, students create engaging three-minute videos on a complex topic on the life sciences, Physics, or Math.

The grand winner receives a hefty set of prizes: a $250,000 college scholarship, a science lab worth $100,000 for their school and $50,000 for their teacher.

Going into the competition for the first time in 2016, Andales’ video on Feynman’s path integrals garnered her a finalist position, ultimately placing third out of that year’s 6,000 entries. To her surprise, the organizers awarded her school with a state-of-the-art DNA science lab worth $100,000.

“The organizers liked my entry so much that they created a special prize for me, and [built] a science lab for the school,” she says.

Andales realized the wonders that could happen if she participated again the following year.

“I realized that I could do even better with my experience and learnings from the previous year,” she says. Her entry on reference frames performed better than her previous video. That year, she won first place out of more than 11,000 entries, earning her $400,000 in prizes.

Life-changing opportunities

This newfound success and achievement opened up so many doors for Andales. Apart from receiving scholarship offers from prestigious American universities such as MIT, Stanford, Princeton and Cornell, she also was given an opportunity to speak at the United Nations in Vienna, Austria, as well as visit the European Organization for Nuclear Research, or CERN, in Geneva, Switzerland.

“My life truly changed after that competition. Technically, my only prize was the scholarship but I received many more incredible opportunities beyond it. I feel grateful,” she adds.

News of her win went viral in the Philippines. As a result, she was invited as speaker and workshop instructor at numerous science events. After spending her gap year speaking at such events, she realized that she also had a passion for science communication.

This passion of hers certainly carried over to MIT, where she continues to speak remotely at many science events based in the Philippines and the United States.

“It is certainly challenging to be a Physics student here but what keeps me going are the kind messages that I receive from students who hear my talks. They help me remember why I study the universe in the first place,” she says.

Now a third year student, she remains committed to learning more about the universe. She works as an astrophysics researcher at Kavli Institute of Astrophysics and Space Research. She uses computer simulations to help answer the big question of “How did our Milky Way galaxy form?”

Besides research, she leads multiple student organizations in the university’s Physics department. “I am only here thanks to my parents, my mentors and those who support me back home,” she says.

After she receives her undergraduate degree from MIT, Andales wants to pursue a doctorate in astrophysics. She wants to create a lasting impact in the Philippines as a science educator and science communicator.

“I want to bring whatever I learn here back home,” she says. —CONTRIBUTED