Rarely have I met anyone like this guy. Then again, it must be because there is but a few of his kind in this world. Since his days in high school, Grant has always been the achiever. Let me enumerate some of his achievements, starting with high school at Saint Jude Catholic School. There, he was named one of 10 most outstanding Filipino-Chinese Students in the Philippines by the Ah-Shin Foundation, won first runner-up in the American Chamber of Commerce Philippine Centennial Oratorical Contest district level Champion, became the team leader of the Champion team in the Annual Chinese Chamber of Commerce Oratorical Contest, joined the three-member team that took the gold in the Science Olympiad: Keys to Unlocking the Future, and also became the champion for both English Quiz Bee and English Speechfest Storytelling. Aside from this, he was also extensively involved in school as a student council PRO and Citizen Army Training Corps executive officer. If you think he didn’t have time for anything else, you are so wrong. Grant was also the MVP of the Softball Sportsfest and co-captain of his team, which took the championship title. Aside from this, he is also a member of the winning choir in the Annual Christmas Carol Singing Contest. Now, I know what you’re thinking. College must have been a different story, right? Well, not quite.
Upon entering DLSU in 2000, Grant immediately made his presence felt by becoming a member of the Jose Rizal Honors Society. This exclusive association is only open to those who have consistently become a first honor Dean’s Lister. Aside from maintaining his name in the Jose Rizal Honors hall of fame, Grant also joined the Philippine debating team in his sophomore year where his team was awarded the Best Rookie Team. By 2002, the awards continued to increase. He was named one of the Ten Outstanding Young Men finalists in DLSU as well as a Procter & Gamble Excellence awardee. That same year, he was also granted a DLSU-NUS (National University of Singapore) scholarship. He then became a member of the NUS pre-world debate tournament champion team. The year 2003 was even more spectacular for this man who became a Bayer Young Environmental Envoy semi-finalist and joined one of the three teams from Asia who made it to the World Universities Debating Championships. Needless to say, he also became the seventh best speaker in the country during the National Debating Championships. His final year in DLSU gave him even more prestigious awards. He became a BPI Science awardee, an Ayala Young Leaders Congress delegate, a recipient of the DLSU Student Leadership Award and a First Society of Manufacturing Engineers Joseph K Novek awardee. Upon graduation, he was awarded an MEM Gold Thesis with a perfect score of 4.0 and Brother Gabriel Connon Award, the highest award the university can give to its students upon graduation.
It is without a doubt that Grant Cheng’s future is bright and golden. As an IT manager for P&G, he has already led the implementation of SAP solution for plants located in India and China. I guess there’s no telling what’s next for him. Nonetheless, I do know that he’s willing to share some of his thoughts with Young Star and I took advantage of this opportunity...
Philippine STAR: What inspired you to become an active student since your high school days?
Grant Cheng: At that time, it was only to try new things and meet new people. Eventually it was the realization that I could only live through high school once in my lifetime.
Having achieved so much as a high school student, a lot of people surely encouraged you to go abroad for college. What made you stay?
It was more of a personal choice in that I still wanted to learn more about our country and our people. High school was a somewhat restricting experience in terms of developing a Filipino societal conscience. I wanted to gain that first. And I know I can always get a foreign education in the future if I choose to do so.
Why did you decide to take up manufacturing engineering and management in college?
It sounded interesting, I liked the fact that it was a mix of different disciplines, and that it had strong OJT linkages.
You’re an active debater. Did you ever want to become a lawyer? Why or why not?
I once did, but that was when I was much younger before I even got into debating. I wanted to be a lawyer then kasi pilosopo ako. I always wanted to outsmart people.
How did debating affect your personal growth?
Most people, including me before I started, think that debating is nothing but the practice of using your gab. Not true. While language skill is an asset, the most important thing I learned was that debating was an education in thinking, rather than speaking.
Describe your one-year stay in NUS. How different is it from your DLSU days?
It was life-transforming. It was different at so many levels. Living there alone and independent helped me find out who I really am. It also heightens your understanding and gratitude of the things you have at home, and makes you realize what else is out there.
Did you find any subject hard in college? What are your best and worse subjects?
Of course, but the harder they come, the harder the effort I put in. I would say my best subjects would be math, physics, English, and social sciences. My worst would be religion and Filipino.
Was your GPA always above 3.5? How did you manage to do it?
There were one or two terms where I dipped below that, I think. But I managed to stay above it more or less by applying to myself a standard of excellence that I set for myself.
Who’s your biggest inspiration in becoming such an achiever?
My parents, and the groups I belong to (friends, school societies, etc.).
Who would you say is your greatest teacher in life?
I know it’s cliché, but it’s experience. And I don’t mean just going through the motions in life. I mean really seeking out other new experiences that can push you and stretch you.
What was your thesis all about? Why do you think it garnered a perfect score?
It was to reverse engineer a robot. That means we take an existing technology, tear it apart to study how it works, and make improvements or modifications with it to suit our needs. I am very honored by the perfect score, but I will attribute it to my teachers both here and in Singapore, and a lot of hard work and dedication.
Having garnered so many awards, what would you say is your most memorable one and why?
So far, my most memorable award is the Bro. Gabriel Connon Award. It is such an honor to be awarded such by the university, and because a lot of the people I admired as a freshman and younger undergraduate got the award themselves.
How did you become an IT manager for Procter & Gamble?
I was actually offered an internship position upon receiving the P&G Student Excellence Award. I had to defer because of my scholarship to Singapore, and I just took up the offer when I came back.
What do you like most about your new job?
The travel and the people I work with. I’ve done my fair share of traveling (which is one of my greatest joys right now) and have met a lot of equally dedicated and talented people. I have so much to learn from this company.
How did you find the transition from study mode to work mode? How did your college experience affect this transition?
It was a bit difficult at first. There are so many different dynamics when you first go to the workplace. I can’t list them all down, but there’s a lot you have to adjust to. The college experience that best helped me with this transition would be the experiences of joining new groups, like the student council and the debate society.
If you can initiate a certain change in our country, what would it be and why?
I would want to give this country back its nationalism, its sense of community and country. This is a country with very few heroes.
Who’s the one person you would want to meet up close?
Tony Blair.
What words do you live by day to day?
Make the most out of it.
How do you see yourself five years from now?
Married, or close to. Health, wealth, and family are my priorities.
Describe yourself in one word.
Ambitious.