Amorlito Nepacina walked the streets of Antipolo, Philippines, with a cotton candy cart.
He did it near a seminary, day after day, without fail, while his daughter Andriana studied Legal Management at Ateneo de Manila University. He had previously worked as a janitor at a private school, just enough to secure her a tuition scholarship in high school. His wife Diana also contributed her salary as school staff. Between the three of them, they built, balot by balot, the path to a university degree.
Andriana graduated on June 20, 2026. She is the first in her family to complete a university degree and the first in her clan to graduate from Ateneo, the same university she had admired since adolescence because of sports and her idol, volleyball player Alyssa Valdez. Two days after receiving her degree, she wrote a public tribute to her father. She did not speak of her own achievements. She spoke of a man who sold sweets on the street so she could dream higher.