Beauty queens Rona Lalaine Lopez, Katrina Calica, graduate with honors at SLU

Two national pageant titleholders have proven that beauty queens are not just beautiful, they also have something between their ears. Rona Lalaine Lopez and Maria Katrina Calica have both earned Latin honors when they claimed their respective degrees recently.

Both of them graduated cum laude as part of the 2026 class of Saint Louis University in Baguio City, Lopez with a pharmacy degree, and Calica with a political science degree.

Lopez represented Pangasinan at ALV Pageant Circle‘s first-ever staging of its Miss Grand Philippines pageant held in 2023. She was also crowned Miss Continental World-Philippines a year later.

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Calica represented Baguio City at the 2025 Miss FIT (face, intelligence, tone) Philippines pageant, and claimed the title, inheriting the crown from 2025 Binibining Pilipinas second runner-up Kathleen Enid Espenido.

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Her SLU Political Science Academic Society (SLU POSAS) family congratulated her through a social media post, and she expressed her gratitude to the student organization.

READ: Ivy Padilla’s Binibining Pilipinas 2026 journey ends just weeks before finals

Lopez took to social media to reflect on her journey. “While trying to survive school, I also found myself chasing opportunities I never expected—pageantry, modeling, leadership, community service, and experiences that pushed me far beyond the four walls of a classroom,” she said.

“Every sacrifice taught me discipline. Every setback humbled me. Every failure made me stronger. Every opportunity helped shape the woman I’m becoming. Even the detours I once questioned ended up leading me exactly where I needed to be,” she continued.

Lopez also expressed her gratitude to everyone who supported her along the way, including her family and friends. “Today, I graduate not because the road was easy, but because God was faithful every step of the way,” she said. /ra

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