You most probably have run into her on the Visayas State University Facebook page as the sole woman in a group of three who championed the recently concluded 1st Regional Chemistry Olympiad 2023.
As a young teenager, it was once her dream, her ambition, and her vision to get involved in science.
Marigold G. Lao, a 22-year-old senior BS Chemistry student, is a scholar, an achiever, a leader, an entrepreneur, and an advocate for science. She is a woman with a big heart who aspires to help her family gain a bright future.
At the age of 13, she enjoyed going to the VSU library to borrow books and was unexpectedly awarded by the VSU Library with the ‘Book Geek Award," an award given to students with the most book loans. She then discovered her interest in chemistry, started to love reading chemistry books, and dreamed of becoming a high school researcher.
With her attempt, she managed to achieve her dreams and get to represent Visayas State University Integrated High School (VSU-IHS) in various competitions since then, like the Regional Festival of Talents, the National Science and Technology Fair, and the International Conference of Methodological Advances in Research.
It was then where it all began. With her hard work and curiosity, she achieved, garnered various recognitions, and became a scholar at the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).
One of the highlights in being a student achiever is when she was awarded an Academic Excellence Award by the College of Arts and Sciences Supreme Student Council (CAS-SSC) for achieving the highest grade point average among the freshmen who took up the BS in Chemistry program during the College of Arts and Sciences month.
In the same year, she even published her descriptive phenomenological study in the Asia Pacific Journal of Education in Arts and Sciences about undergraduate students’ experiences of scientific inquiry in a web-based environment, which she co-authored with Mar Jadina and was advised by Sir Joy Bellen, a faculty member of VSU’s College of Education, and the Doctor of Education in VSU’s College of Education, Ma’am Rizalina Truya.
For certain, she dreams big, aims high, and works hard.
Aside from being an achiever, Lao also took the initiative to earn money by selling biscuits, siomai, etc. to students who held their classes far from the VSU market.
She is a member of "Chemtrepreneur", a group of chemistry major students who sell finger foods. The group aimed to raise and earn money to support their finances at the university. Through this, Marigold was not only able to support her daily expenses at the university but was also able to finance her research and thesis study. She also wants to be of help to her fellow students and emphasizes the importance of filling their stomachs with food, as students cannot work at their best when they lack the energy to do so.
However, with all of what she achieved, her story was of how gold was made. Prior to becoming the woman she is today, she experienced receiving different criticisms at a very young age for being bookish and boyish. Nevertheless, she persevered with hard work, discipline, and an interest in any opportunities thrown at her.Yet, just as Marigold persists in thinking outside the box, she continues to dream, lead, and advocate.
Lao’s journey of becoming the woman she is today is entrenched in the people behind her successes: her parents, her extended family, and her mentors’ support. With them, she strived hard in all her academic endeavors, extracurricular activities, and advocacies. Her parents’ support never limits her scope of imagination. Both her parents and first-ever research adviser helped her develop and hone her skills and potential from being an introverted bookworm into a confident woman of science.
Marigold did not limit herself as a woman but extended herself to people through her advocacy. Science is her avenue. She ventures it with curiosity, ideas, and vision, without taking into account the stereotypes set on women by society. She is never scared to take up space, to lead her fellow students, and to empower youths to fill their curiosity with science.
Her love for science roots deeply in her core, and she believes that science is where women can freely express their ideas, wits, and creativity. She also believed that there should be no race, gender, or culture in science and that every diverse, curious mind should be cultivated and nurtured.
She is not just a woman; she is a woman of courage and interest. She is gold