A Father's Gift to His Daughter

by Marlon Viloria 

Valerie Viloria

I was driving home from work the other night when it occurred to me that my elder daughter’s birthday is coming soon and I thought of what can I get for her too, apart from what we, as a family, have already bought for her, as per her indicative need. I tried to think what else she needs or what she’s keen to have but during that one-hour journey, I was not able to come up with something credible. As far as I can determine, she has already everything she needs. Then, a few miles away from home I thought of writing a short essay about her instead, chronicling her life to date and the little achievements she has made over the years, without getting into too much details. That, I must say, was the basis of me not getting a good sleep that night as I was trying to gather my thoughts from the day she was born.

Valerie Kate was born on a cold, dark winter morning. In fact, it is still so vivid in my memory that a few weeks after her birth, there was a snow storm where we woke up one morning and was presented by nature with a beautiful and alluring scenery of pure glowing white color. We were not able to hold back ourselves from the invite of such natural beauty so my wife and I took her to a nearby park, played snowball and took some photographs of her…and with her.

As the days, months and earlier years of her life passed by, Valerie became a chubby little girl. She was always bubbly and although she had a tendency to be quiet at times, she was also a complete chatterbox, as reported and confirmed by one of her teachers at elementary school. She developed an interest in reading and she can finish one book in no time. I remember those days when we had to queue up every single Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings book, amongst many other books and stories, the moment it reached the bookshelf. At elementary, we noticed how easy she dealt with numbers or mathematics in general. As a matter of fact, until this day, she has never asked any help from us when doing her homework or assignment. During her elementary level, her school entered one of her works for a national competition and won her a Young Engineer’s Award certificate issued by a professional governing body in the UK, the then so-called Institution of Electrical Engineers (now IET – Institution of Engineering and Technology), a body which has also given me the status of Chartered Engineer and of which I am now a member.

Due to the nature of my work, we moved out of the city and took abode in the English countryside, about 100 miles away from the capital. Here, she continued her penultimate and final years of elementary education. Much closer to home, we enrolled her at a local secondary school with an impeccable reputation at national level. Her teachers had immediately noticed her academic prowess and advised us, with their full recommendation and support, to send her to a specialist school…which means sending her to a boarding school away from home. My wife did not take this advice easily and I must admit, neither did I. We thought she was too young to be separated from us, so we decided that she would continue where she was. As expected of her, she continued to excel at school where gaining A grades seemed to be the norm each year…and if I may add, without any pressure from us whatsoever.

In spite of the fact that, at first, we seemed to be the only non-white residents in the area, she gained many close friends in our town over the years. She puts one of her extra curricular activities as a charity worker where she spent many hours volunteering for charities, winning herself some kind of Prince of Wales award in the process. She is also a regular blood donor, something that has earned her my utmost respect and admiration, not to mention my glowing pride, for her caring attitude towards the sick and the needy, as she is doing it at her own accord without even asking our opinion, never mind permission. At secondary level, she had demonstrated in class how she can easily manipulate a rubik’s cube puzzle and can finish at such speed that even myself could not believe it. She became a mentor to pupils in acquiring such skills, but like any skills, if you don’t have what it takes, you simply don’t have it!

She graduated from secondary with flying colors and has achieved all the pre-requisites to apply to any prestigious university anywhere in the world. I had at one point a wish of sending her to Princeton University in New Jersey where we once visited in 2005. But the idea of her being too far from home as well as the type of joint-degree course she was intending to do, she settled at London School of Economics, none the lesser amongst its equals, but also a specialist and world renowned institution famous for producing world leaders and many Nobel Prize winners, not to mention investment bankers too. She seems to be enjoying herself at LSE and she has already gained close friends too, as demonstrated by their recent 10-day trip to New York with friends and staying at the house of their American friend/classmate. Apparently, their house is a mansion in a large estate with no neighbors, while her other friend has an ambition to be a president of South Korea someday! Despite of these international, rich and ambitious friends she has now, I can not see any sign of inferiority from her or being fazed by them, let alone ashamed of her humble beginnings.

Right now, she is in her penultimate year for her first degree although I expect her to do a master’s degree too, preferably either at Cambridge or Oxford, although I have also implied my wish for her to do that at Harvard…IF she can get some sort of scholarship programme…big IF, that is.

Valerie has grown into a beautiful young lady, now taller (and bigger) than her mom at 5’8”, almost as tall as I am! She has become confident and articulate with a promising bright future ahead of her. It is obviously costing us a small fortune each month for her upkeep but who are we as parents to put a price tag on her education? It is simply the best “inheritance” we can give to her.

Let me close this essay by appending her cover letter in applying for an internship programme, being part of their curriculum, for this coming summer. Any of you readers could then make up your own mind if she really has the tenacity and substance to achieve her future dreams…and not just me bragging or blowing my own trumpet, albeit a proud father! She has asked my advice in drafting her first CV (resume) as well as composing her cover letter but I simply said to her to be honest, consistent and not to use too many big words but able to prove or demonstrate her ability instead, i.e. that she is as good as her words. She has sent me a copy of it and asked for my feedback, but again, I simply said - good, without a single comment or correction to make. Well, in all honesty, I feel humbled by her ability to express herself nowadays, in written as well as oral English. I believe she is already much better and smarter than me. Please read on:

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{name deleted}
Executive Director
SEO London
52-54 High Holborn
London WC1V 6RL


Dear {name deleted},

Re: SEO London Investment Banking Summer Internship Programme

I was recently introduced to SEO London via Milkround and I was impressed by the quality of career opportunities your organization offers to students of ethnic minority background. I am most interested in securing a position in structuring with the SEO London Investment Banking Summer Internship Programme.

I am a Mathematics and Economics student, in my penultimate year of study at the London School of Economics and I do not believe there is a better industry that encompasses both of these subjects other than investment banking. I have previously completed a work shadowing placement at Williams De Broë, where I followed a Director & Investment Manager. Here, I gained an invaluable insight into investment banking, which strengthened my desire to pursue a career in this fast-paced industry. It would be a great pleasure to be given the opportunity to work in what I believe is the pinnacle of the financial system.

In my first year of university, I excelled in my Mathematical Methods module, achieving a first class grade, which highlights my quantitative skills, thus showing my capability to deal with complex models. I believe the structuring division is very well suited to me as I have always been very keen to learn about mathematics and its application to economics and  I wish to be involved in an environment where analytical and quantitative problems are dealt with on a daily basis.

I believe in SEO’s aim to promote opportunities into the industry to underrepresented ethnic minorities and I would be more than willing to give back to the organization. My strong commitment and dedication can be demonstrated by my previous role as a student mentor, helping underachieving secondary school pupils in mathematics. Furthermore, I am currently a Volunteer Manager for the Maths and Stats society at LSE, organizing Homework help sessions to first year students.  I place confidence in the fact that my strong work ethic, passion and commitment will make me a worthy candidate for this programme.

I look forward to speaking with you in the near future to further discuss my qualifications and I welcome any questions or queries you may have regarding my application. Thank you very much for your time and consideration.


Sincerely,

Valerie Viloria