“Humility will get you places”—wise words that Nicollo Lopez imparted to us as he told us about his days as a college student in Southville International School and Colleges, and as a working force in the filming industry today.

Nicollo Ramon Alessandro Lopez, usually called “Nic” by his peers and colleagues, is a Communication graduate of SISC Batch 2013. During his college days, he faced many hardships and challenges before he graduated last April 2013. Nic was a working student. He had to support himself and his family by already entering the corporate world from his first two years in college. He was a freelancing editor and was an English tutor for Korean students for two years.

In his third year of college, he developed interest in films as it allowed his creative mind to take full control over the stories he wants to make. “Putting sounds and visuals together is really fun,” he said as he was expressing himself with his passion.

Since Nic has a hold on his passion, he exerted more effort in enhancing his skills. He created videos for the school and made the teaser trailers for Chicago—a play staged by the Communication students last 2011. Not only does he have passion for editing and directing videos, but he also has a thing for music. Nic is part of the non-academic school organization, “INK Society”. There, he expresses himself through playing the drums.

Nic, with his abilities and talents, he actively participated in inter-school competitions such as the Public Relations Society of the Philippines Grand Prix, and the BLUED Stylepreneur Project. Southville and his other organizations usually pick him as an emcee in their activities for Nic has a charismatic way of talking.

“My unforgettable experience in Southville was passing thesis,” this was Nic’s exact words as he remembered the days where their group literally went through the extreme circumstances as they went about the course of thesis writing and production. Their thesis topic was “Life @360”, a three part web series about the evolution of courtship and dating. Their hard work and perseverance paid off as their submission was regarded with the title of Best Thesis. By reminiscing on this, he said that “We sacrificed a lot for the thesis, and we can’t believe that it was done. Being the best thesis is the reward”.

Though he has already graduated College, it is just the beginning of acquiring more opportunities and encountering hardships in the real world. Being committed with his passion, he is now a director in Thirty-Six O’ Media. He shoots events, commercials, and documentaries. One of the perks in his job was being able to travel to different places, here and in abroad, because it allowed him to meet new people. Recently, he went to Cebu to shoot a triathlon. He has also been to Hong Kong to work for their client, OtterBox—a well-known company that makes high quality and durable phone cases.

Nic joked that Southville did not really teach what he knew about directing and editing, but it prepared him in a more sensible way. Selling himself in the industry is way more advantageous than just knowing the academic lessons he learned in college. Being “Hardworking” is the best word to summarize what Southville has molded him into what he is now since he revealed that he was somewhat lazy during his high school days.

As he was in his journey, he follows his own motto that being humble will open up lots of opportunities for him to learn and give him room for improvement.  With that, Nic left us with these powerful words “Humility is not learned, it is something that you need to work hard for.”