Chasing for Dreams

Post date: Oct 11, 2017 3:51:17 AM

“It is difficult to study a course which you didn’t chose but it is twice more difficult to pursue a dream that your family is against.”

Such is the dilemma of the then 22-year old Harold Murilla of Trento, Agusan del Sur when he enrolled Electrical Technology at Agusan del Sur School of Arts and Trades in June 2015 while he wanted to pursue his dream of becoming a musician.

Dongkoy, as what his friends call him, is the second child of Alma A. Murilla, an entrepreneur and Samuel I. Murilla, a retired soldier. Like most kids, Harold knew that his parents wanted him to finish his studies for him to have a brighter future so he followed what his parents want for him, and decided to put his dreams on hold.

Although he kept a low profile, his passion for music shone through which caught his classmates’ attention and later gained their friendship. With his musical prowess, he spearheaded the sound and technical committee during the preparation of the school’s acquaintance party. Without meaning to, his short stay in ASSAT became synonymous with tilts relative to singing and battle of the bands.

Without his parents’ knowledge, Dongkoy tried to live a double life, juggling his busy schedule: he attended classes during the day and did band stints at night. Eventually, fatigue caught up with him and the secret he kept from his parents were revealed. Fortunately, his friends encouraged him to push through both with his studies and with his passion.

Despite major bouts with his parents, Dongkoy managed to continue balancing his studies and his evening gigs. He also took extra hours with his friends when he joined them as they enrolled and enjoyed an English Proficiency class.

However, a former band mate invited Dongkoy to join him in performing overseas, an opportunity Dongkoy has been waiting for. Eventually, he seized the moment and decided to join the band after he finished the required number of training hours.

Now working as a performing artist under Pioneer Asia Manpower International (PAMI) in Guangzhou, China, Harold muses that he earns a monthly of 30,000 pesos and shared that his contribution to his family so far is the fact that he is not a financial liability. Further, he reveals that his parents only asks him to save all his earnings for his future plans.

Dongkoy maintained that while he studied in ASSAT, his trainers and peers taught him a life’s worth of lessons that he is forever grateful for and confessed that he carry these lessons with him everywhere.

While it is true that the modules he has worked on during classes as well as the activities he had participated were difficult for him, he nonetheless viewed them as his challenges which made him a stronger person. However, the spirit of camaraderie and the virtue of exercising maximum patience made the biggest impact in his life so far.

“Never stop chasing your dreams. No matter what happens, exercise patience and just do what you enjoy most,” he reiterated.

Harold knows that the career he chooses and loves is evanescent in nature, thus, he plans to study veterinary medicine when he comes home and envisions to put up a pet shop, a music store and/or a farm.