The Scholarship of Stimulus to Academic Excellence (BEA in Spanish) is an initiative that our university grants to students with an outstanding academic performance. Ruben Jordan Bueno, Alvaro Quispe Lopez and Cesar Portocarrero Rodríguez were the winners of our School, who obtained the full coverage of their tuition fees for two semesters. We talked to Cesar and Alvaro, both from the specialty of Civil Engineering, about how they got the news, what are their plans for the future, and they shared with us some tips to keep a good academic performance.
How do you feel about getting this recognition?
César Portocarrero
Full of pride and, at the same time, thankful, since it’s an achievement that not only involves my own effort, but also the unconditional support I receive from my parents, my older brother’s words of advice, my classmates’ friendship, and the challenges posed by my professors. Likewise, I am very lucky to be part of an academic community whose high level of competence and desire to improve motivate me to be better every day.
Álvaro Quispe
It is very gratifying, because it represents an incentive to the effort made not only during last semester, but from the first one. It also motivates me to keep a good academic performance.
How do you keep such a good academic performance?
César Portocarrero
There is no “magic trick” to get good results, but it is not productive to study non-stop, day and night, because you would start neglecting your health, your friends, and your family, which are all just as important. I would say that, in order to keep a good academic performance, it is necessary to find motivation in what you are aspiring to become, and never forget the answer to the question “why am I in this university?” and always keep it in mind.
Álvaro Quispe
I think it is the result of perseverance, discipline and, mostly, the support from my family. I, personally, prefer to deepen the theory of the topics. Even though most of the courses we are taking in the School involve calculations, understanding the theoretical foundations is always a lot more fruitful. Likewise, I always try to complement what I learn in class with additional bibliography.
What advice would you give to your fellow students to motivate them?
César Portocarrero
Many of my friends are not motivated to study o forget what they revise, since they feel like what they have learned in the classrooms doesn’t have a practical application, so they do not see any use to it outside the paper sheets. However, you have to think creatively and adapt whatever you are studying to your own context.
Álvaro Quispe
I advise them not to study only for a grade or to pass a course, but because what is learned is going to be useful throughout their whole professional lives, and they never know in which exact moment they are going to be applying that knowledge.
Nowadays, what is what you value the most about your undergraduate program in the School of Science and Engineering?
César Portocarrero
Personally, I appreciate the effort made to apply the knowledge acquired in the classroom to actual contexts of our country. For example, in the Geology course, we had a study tour in the city of Ticlio to observe how the different relief phenomena were all around us. Likewise, in the course “Engineering and Architectural Heritage”, we had the opportunity to know more about how to apply measures for the preservation of our natural heritage to historic buildings such as cathedrals, colonial houses, etc. I think that this focus on our national context should be fomented in all courses, so students would relate more to the content of their subjects.
Furthermore, I value initiatives such as student interchanges and student associations. I have had the opportunity to travel to Japan, where I got to know a reality completely different from ours. Concerning the associations, I am part of the group Civilízate; this experience allows me to discover different perspectives about my field of study.
Álvaro Quispe
The quality of the laboratories is extremely useful in our learning, because they complement what we see in class. In this way, we can apply our knowledge directly, and it is a great way to acquire criteria and experiences that will come in handy in our future professional lives.
What are your plans for the future?
César Portocarrero
I am thinking about going as an exchange student to the University of Alberta, in Canada, to know about the academic and professional approaches of my field of study in that country. Also, I consider that this experience will help me enhance my soft skills, discover more about different cultures, and live new experiences.
I would like to pursue a postgraduate program, but I think that this kind of education should be carried out to professionalize and enhance a person’s knowledge. In this regard, I would like to experiment, for a while, the workplace before pursuing further studies.
Álvaro Quispe
In this discipline, it is very hard to know what lies ahead, but something that I am sure about is that I want to devote myself to teaching, because it is something that I have always liked. Actually, I hope to be a professor in this university. In addition, the area of my major that has gotten my attention so far is the area of structures, since it is because of said field that the safety and the resistance of every construction are guaranteed; so, it is precisely in this specialty that I would like to pursue postgraduate programs.