There’s a 17-year-old Fil-Am girl who’s graduating as valedictorian at West High School in Billings, Montana, on May 30 and she’s one of 560 semifinalists among 3,000 candidates from 3.2 million prep seniors in the US Presidential Scholars Program where 141 winners will be honored in a ceremony at the White House in June.
Bronte Nicole Ficek is the oldest of three children. Her father Dave Ficek, 50, owns and operates a metal fabrication business in Billings while her Filipina mother Mary Anne Asencio, 51, is a teacher at the Big Sky elementary school. Her uncle Clem lives in General Santos City and is Manny Pacquiao’s friend from way back.
It was Clem who tipped me off on Nicole whose list of achievements is phenomenal, considering her age. She is a varsity soccer player, a classical pianist, a violinist and the youngest concert master with the Billings orchestra. Nicole turned down full scholarship offers from Cornell, Montana State, Princeton and other schools to study neuroscience and music at the University of Southern California starting next school term. Her fascination with the brain began about two years ago and she dreams of becoming a neurosurgeon someday.
What is most special about Nicole is her love for the Philippines. Although she was born in Billings, Nicole appears to be more Filipina than American. In the essay she submitted as a requirement to be a candidate for the Presidential Scholars Program, Nicole wrote about St. Gemma’s orphanage in General Santos City and how she raised over $5,000 for the facility at a solo benefit recital.
“I will never forget one of many (Filipino) cousins’ birthday parties shared with the orphans,” she said, recalling a recent visit to her mother’s hometown. “A boy with a shaved head ravenously gulped down a heaping plate of spaghetti, a delicacy to him. He returned to the food table. The first time I laid eyes on the recently arrived blind four-year-old and her twig-like brother, my heart skipped a beat. No longer would they live on the streets but no longer did they have parents. Yet despite their dismal conditions, my admiration for them outweighed my pity. It all came back to their joy, their contentment in life. And it wasn’t just them. All the orphans were that way – when they showed me their deteriorating roof, their grimy stuffed animals, their ancient television.
“When I returned to the US, those poignant images kept revisiting me and I knew I should try to help along the orphanage caretaker’s devoted work. Sharing their story, I performed a benefit recital, which raised over $5,000 for the orphanage. Someone that night wrote me, ‘I must say that your performance was marvelous and touched me deeply...more touching, however, is your love of humanity and desire and willingness to act out of sheer love that other’s lives might be blessed and improved.’”
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Nicole’s maturity is unique for a girl her age.
As a musician, she learned how to play the piano from her mother at four. Then, at eight, she took up the violin. At 11, she performed in her first major solo piano recital. At 13, she soloed with the Billings community orchestra and at 15, performed the Grieg Piano Concerto with the Billings symphony, the adult professional orchestra. Two years ago, she toured Ireland with the Billings Ceilidh Fiddlers and last year, attended a month-long program on a full scholarship with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D. C.
In community service, Nicole has been involved with the Montana Rescue Mission, the Dress-a-Child program, St. Vincent Hospital and her church’s Kids Ministry Worship Band. She has also taught second graders the relevance of stories in the Holy Bible.
Believe it or not, Nicole earns her own money in music. She provides background music for dinner parties and weddings on piano, accompanying string players at festivals and teaching private violin lessons.
This year, she was named a National Merit Scholar, honoring the top 8,000 highest PSAT scorers in the US. Nicole is in contention for 141 awardees of the Presidential Scholars Program where the criteria of selection include superior academic marks, leadership qualities, personal character and involvement in community and school activities.
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Despite her busy schedule in and out of the classroom, Nicole always makes time for soccer. “Outside of school, I score goals or at least attempt to score goals as a faithful 13-year player with the Yellowstone Soccer Association,” said Nicole who visits different elementary schools to discourage the youth from taking drugs as a West High senior and National Honor Society president.
Nicole’s mother recently wrote Clem sharing the full text of the essay she submitted to the US Department of Education which is supervising the selection of the awardees of the Presidential Scholars Program. “I had no clue that the Philippines has impacted her this much until I read her essay,” said her mother.
Proud to be Pinoy, Nicole revealed in her essay that “my engagement with the Philippines has shaped my life indescribably – I am, after all, half-Filipino.”
She wrote, “It’s my heritage, my culture. I love the mangoes. I love the langka. I love the warm ocean waters and their blue glow-bugs. I even love the bumpy roads and the constant swerving through traffic. Most of all, I love the people and their attitude towards life – the mold which shapes my life indescribably. When I grow up, I think I’ll live among them and serve in the medical field, mesh even more with them. I miss the Philippines and I miss my (Filipino) family. But this is certain: The Filipinos, particularly my grandparents, have left me with a lesson. Life is precious. So why waste it complaining or moping or dying when I can spend it appreciating and smiling and living. Salamat, my fellow Filipinos.”