Diligence pays for Canada College grad

0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, Jan 23, 2008 | by Mark Abramson

MENLO PARK -- Froilan Malit's life journey has taken him from flower farms in the Philippines to the Ivy League.

Malit, 19, of east Menlo Park started working the flower fields in the Pampanga Province when he was about 6 years old. For 10 years, he would wake up at midnight or 1 a.m. to get a jump on the competition and make

10 cents for every pail filled with flowers.

He used the money to help support his 10-member family, who lived in a cramped house without indoor plumbing. In 2005, when Malit was 17, his family immigrated to the Bay Area, and he enrolled at Canada College. This week -- after a few years of hard study while developing a firm grasp of the English language -- Malit is attending Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y.

He has set his sights on going to law school at Harvard, Yale or Oxford and then returning to the Philippines to improve working conditions there.

Malit said he never thought he would find himself where he is now.

"It paid off, everything I worked for," Malit said. "I never had this opportunity."

Malit said the hard work included staying up until the wee hours to hone his English skills and turning to the Trio Student Support Services program at Canada, which helps low-income, first- generation and disabled students with additional support in college.

"I was really struggling here," Malit said of his early experiences at Canada.

At Cornell, he will major in political science and pursue a minor degree in economics.

"I think the biggest challenge will be how to reach the top (of the class)," Malit said.

His professors at Canada are confident Malit has the drive to succeed at Cornell.

"He was an excellent student," said Chuck Carlson, Malit's former African-American history professor, adding that he was impressed with how quickly Malit picked things up.

Carlson became a mentor for Malit, helping him apply to colleges and for scholarships. He credited some of Malit's success to the work ethic he developed while laboring in the flower fields.

Canada English professor Elizabeth Terzakis also got to know Malit. He was in her reading class and English 100.

Terzakis said she remembers how Malit, by enrolling in summer school, managed to complete in just a few months a series of English courses that typically take a year or two to finish.

"He learned so quickly. He was a phenomenal student," Terzakis said.

E-mail Mark Abramson at

mabramson@dailynewsgroup.com.