MANILA, Philippines—Nineteen students of the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City, will receive the highest academic honor of summa cum laude in Sunday’s 101st general commencement exercises to be held at 3 p.m. at the UP Amphitheater.
Julianne Keane Pascual, a Psychology student, scored the highest weighted average grade (WAG) of 1.053, according to the UP Diliman website.
The summa cum laude distinction is awarded to students who earn a WAG of 1.20 or higher. The perfect grade is 1.
According to the university information office, 222 graduates will be conferred magna cum laude honors, while 862 will be named cum laudes.
Students who garner a WAG of from 1.201 to 1.45 earn magna cum laude honors while those with a WAG of from 1.451 to 1.75 are conferred the cum laude distinction.
Of the 3,998 candidates for graduation, 3,281 will receive their undergraduate degrees, 656 their master’s degrees and 61 their doctoral degrees.
Oscar Lopez, chair emeritus of Lopez Holdings Corp. and First Philippine Holdings Corp., will address the graduating class.
Lopez will be conferred an honorary Doctor of Laws degree for his “distinguished service to learning and to humankind through his lifelong passion for biodiversity,” the UP website said.
Charlton Sean Gaerlan, a summa cum laude from the College of Business Administration and Accountancy, will deliver the valedictory speech on behalf of the graduating students.