Dream Girl: Maria Alexis Alimagno
“Never take in more than you can handle,” quips 17-year-old Maria Alexis Alimagno. The shy and reserved high school senior at De La Salle Zobel says she doesn’t pursue something she’s not ready for. “It’s true that once an opportunity arises, one must take it. But it’s also important to be prepared to excel in that opportunity,” she philosophizes. And prepared she is. After her high school graduation, Alex is dead serious in pursuing an Economics with Applied Corporate Management course in De La Salle Taft. “Ever since I saw the books and the marble plaque of my lolo that says ‘attorney-at-law,’ it made me want to follow his footsteps and be a lawyer myself,” she explains.
Though, as a kid, Alex wanted to be either a writer or a flight attendant. The youngest daughter of architect Edgardo and Connie Alimagno, Alex would write stories about magical apples and trees when she was in grade school. “I also wrote about my sisters being princesses,” she smiles. This charming lass has a rich imagination, thanks to her hobby of reading a new book twice a week. “Half the fun of reading a book is looking for one,” she adds. Alex reveals that her overwhelming collection of books — from classics to chic literature, biographies to fiction — is not necessarily the expensive ones. This resourceful bookworm got some of her books from book sales and hand-me-downs. “I read absolutely anything because reading gives me a wide vocabulary.”
When she decides on something, Alex keeps her options open and admits “I am usually slow and steady to choose.” In the end, however, she’s confident with her decision and will stick to it no matter what. So when she decided to sign up for Greenpeace last year, Alex knows she will have a love affair with nature.
“I care for the environment,” she says matter of factly. “In school, we study about the state of the environment before, now and what it will be in the future.” And from this, Alex knows she has to do something so that the future generation can enjoy a healthy environment. — Jerni May H. Camposano
