LAOAG CITY – The eldest daughter of a welder and an emapanada vendor, 22-year-old Shannara Tamayao worked hard to earn a spot in the top 10 list of passers in the November 2016 Philippine Nurses Licensure Examination.

Even at a young age, Shannara was already aware of the sacrifices of her welder-father Mario Castro and vendor-mother Bernadette Tamayao just to send her and her two other siblings to school.

Their sacrifice challenged her to finish her studies and ace the board exams. Soon, she hopes to repay all of her parents' hardships.

Shannara, a consistent honor student and a graduate of Mariano Marcos State Univeristy (MMSU) in Batac City, Ilocos Norte, ranked 10th in the recent licensure exam for nurses where only 6,836 examinees passed out of the 14, 322 who took the exam.

Shannara said she still can't believe she finished in the top 10. "Itinuturing ko talaga na bonus kasi hiling ko lang ay pumasa, pero binigyan niya ako ng rank na top 10,” she said.

(I really treat it as a bonus because I only wished to pass but they gave me the 10th spot.)

The humble Shannara then dedicated her success to her parents. "'Yung mga congratulations ay hindi para sa akin, para sa mga parents ko kasi sila ang may deserve ng mga congratulations sa akin. Kasi in the first place, sila ang nagpakahirap ken dahilan kung nasaan kami ngayon,” she said.

(The congratulations are not for me. They are for my parents because they deserve the congratulations more than me because they were the ones who struggled to bring us to where we are now.)

Shannara added that this year's Christmas season is the best and most memorable one not only for her but for her five other friends who passed the exams as well.

With a motto "one team, one goal,” Shannara’s friends Keith Valite, Odessa Padre, Charies Cacal, Maica Tunax, and Karizza Aldeon also passed the exams.