Story By Georgene Quilaton-Tambiga
Photos By Rachel Mae De Gracia and from Jessa S. Jimenez
Eight years of dividing time between school and work. Eight years of keeping one motivation pasted invisibly on her forehead. Eight years of persevering and refusing even the thought of quitting in order to become the first in her family to earn a college degree.
Jessa Sabandeja Jimenez was among the 66 Thomasians who graduated from the Colegio de Sto. Tomas-Recoletos, Inc. College Department last June 6, 2026. The 23-year old BS in Criminology graduate first shared her inspiring story of sheer grit and gratefulness for her opportunities during the College of Criminal Justice Education’s (CCJE) First OJT Graduation Ceremony at the St. Ezekiel Moreno Covered Court.
Jessa, who comes from a family of eight children, has been a working student since Grade 9. She was only 15 when her mother’s employers offered her a weekend housecleaning job so she could keep going to high school. A year later, their situation became tougher still and since her school had to resort to a half-day class scheme to accommodate a burgeoning student population, Jessa made use of the remaining time to work. She became a stay-in household helper to sustain her studies and to help her family using the weekly allowance given to her by her employers.
By five in the morning, Jessa’s day would already begin at the kitchen where she’d cook the family’s breakfast. During the pandemic years, when she was in senior high school, she had greater flexibility because of the modular mode of learning.
“I would answer the modules at night, only after I have finished my work,” Jessa shared with no trace of tiredness nor bitterness in her eyes.
After she finally finished high school, the Binghay family, offered to send her to college. She admitted that CST-R was not her first choice. She went to take the admission test of a local state college and when she failed, she thought that her college dream was already over. But her employers, who happened to be her mother’s employers, too, encouraged her to go check the private schools within San Carlos City. It was then that she picked CST-R because she wanted to study BS in Criminology.
“I didn’t expect to be able to study in a private school,” she reminisced, but because of the kindness of the family who already considered her one of their own, Jessa pushed through with her criminology dream. They paid for her school fees, gave her a weekly allowance still and allowed her to attend all school activities, not minding that during the first year Jessa’s Saturdays were occupied with ROTC training.
Jessa said that the kindness and generosity of the Binghay family pushed her through the last four years when juggling work and exams became doubly hard. She even went through failures of the mock board examination. Her employers remained considerate and even encouraged her until she was allowed to re-take the examinations. For this, she said she is grateful to the family because they became “instruments” for her to achieve her college diploma.
Asked about her motivation, Jessa simply said that she wanted to inspire her younger siblings that children from low-income families like theirs could also graduate from college. Jessa shared that her twin brothers, now in Grade 10, also wanted to study criminology. Now that she has done it, she knows that her brothers could, too.
With the Licensure Examination for Criminologists (LEC) underway, Jessa only has one goal and that is to pass. She aspires to become part of the tri-bureau of law enforcement one day. In between her smiles, she offered her simple logic for persevering.
“If I quit, where would I go? If I stopped studying, it won’t be bad because finishing college is not a race, but what I have already started would all go to waste.”
To students, who like her are financially struggling, “Padayon lang,” she shared.
“Keep going and use poverty as a motivation because it will be harder still if we won’t be able to earn a college degree.”
For Jessa, one chapter has closed, though robbed of the normal childhood things like games, leisure and hobbies, she is merely grateful to be able to share her story and inspire other young Filipinos.
