Niel Anthony Lajot, a senior student of the College of Mass Communication of Silliman University in Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental, won as the Most Outstanding Jose Rizal Model Student of the Philippines (JRMSP) 2021.
Lajot topped the 32nd Search for the JRMSP of the Order of the Knights of Rizal (KOR), an annual, nationwide search that aims to honor students who best epitomize the Rizalian qualities of academic excellence and leadership in campus and community activities, and serves as role models to the youth.
The KOR, a non-sectarian, non-partisan, non-racial civic, patriotic, and cultural organization was chartered under Republic Act No. 646 that was approved on June 14, 1951, a press release from SU said Jan. 7, adding that Lajot received a Jose Rizal trophy, certificate of excellence, and cash prize, in a ceremony on Rizal Day at the Manila Hotel.
Lajot said being a “Jose Rizal model student” means being responsive to the call of the times. “In these challenging days, it is important that students emulate the Rizalian spirit of academic excellence, community-servant leadership, and nation-building. It is an opportunity to challenge what more can the students do to be of great service to others, and influence more to be that leader we are called for,” he added.
He is currently the governor of the College of Mass Communication student body and president of the Kapunungan sa mga Mass Communicators, the College’s student organization. He was the editor-in-chief of the Weekly Sillimanian in SY 2020-2021, and a college representative to the SU Student Government in 2019-2020.
He was named SU Freshman Student of the Year in 2019, and SU Sophomore Student of the Year in 2020.
Lajot served as the community officer of the Association of Young Environmental Journalists in 2019-2020, and one of the Philippine delegates to the Japan East Asia Network of Exchange for Students and Youths: Youth Exchange for Media Industry 2019 in Tokyo, Japan. | NND
