IF there’s one skill a student-athlete picks up over the years, it’s having an A+ time-management skills.
So perhaps in this period of quarantine, their natural skills were put to good use with the amount of free time they suddenly found themselves with.
That’s the case for foil fencer Maxine Esteban, an Ateneo Lady Eagle sophomore, who recently finished nine online courses from Ivy League universities around the globe in just a couple of weeks during this pandemic lockdown.
Spotted among the sheaf of certificates she's holding up in her Instagram post are the seals of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, as well as Yale University in Connecticut.
“With Ateneo calling off all online classes and deciding to give a passing mark to everyone, there wasn’t much to do anymore, there was a lot of idle time,” she told SPIN Life. “I was really used to having a hectic schedule. I came across forwarded links of free online courses from Ivy League schools, I got drawn into it because there were so many interesting business courses. I was really happy.”
The 30th Southeast Asian Games bronze medalist encourages people who stay at home to keep themselves as productive as possible all because this is the best time to do it.
Aside from her daily workouts to keep herself in shape, the UAAP season 81 Rookie of the Year also continues to promote her personal initiative to raise funds for the health and street frontliners, as well as affected local areas. Just a week ago, Maxine raised more than P300,000.
“We have a responsibility to our community,” she said. “In our own small way, we all can do something to help. So, we came up with our fund raiser, and we are really grateful for all donors. We hope to be able to raise more money or supplies. The drive is still on going and we are receiving some call for help from some NGOs.”