Humans of Bayanihan #4 - Cyril Lapinig
SARAH: Hello Cyril, and welcome to our last Humans of Bayanihan for the year!
CYRIL: Thanks for having me :)
Okay so, I usually ask about people's origins. Where are you originally from, and what was it like growing up?
Chicago, Illinois. I was born in Northwestern Memorial Hospital downtown, and I grew up in the Budlong Woods neighborhood, which is by North Park. After that, I moved to Edison park in Chicago in 2001. Living in Budlong Woods was nice because it was mostly Black people and Latinos. Edison park was very segregated, and I was the only non-white dude in my graduating class.
Cyril was the only brown kid on the basketball team.
Most of my friends were from Budlong Woods. It was termed "El Barrio", and it was a very diverse neighborhood. A lot of Jewish people lived there too. As a kid, I played basketball A LOT, and until today, the friends I play with are like my family. What was family life growing up?
You can call me Peter Griffin, because "I'm a family guy". My parents were pretty cool–they used to be really strict, but in a good way. Like I could be in jail or dead. The only thing is that they wouldn't let him become a nurse, which wasn't very cool.
Did you always want to be a nurse?
Yeah. When we came here, I was looking into Emory Clark Hall, but my parents were always looking more into the new Engineering Hall. And the new E-Hall is depressing.
Why did you choose Engineering then?
I didn't, my parents did . . . well, growing up, I played with Legos a lot, I loved building stuff, and I was also really good at math in high school. Most of my honors classes were math and Spanish. So naturally, my parents pushed me towards engineering. I've had many arguments with them about it; they wouldn't let me switch majors since my dad is an accountant and my mom is a nurse, and she did not want me to do the dirty work. It's ironic because Filipino parents usually want their children to become nurses.
When did you realize that you were more interested in nursing?
Senior year of high school.
Why did you decide that?
I just really like directly helping people. With engineering, building things can take years to make, but with nursing, you see the progress right away. When you provide nursing care for someone, you get direct gratitude, and you get to care for new people everyday. I hate the idea of being stuck in cubicle; if I had to do that, I'd probably run away. I haven't had a co-op or internship yet either.
So are you still going to graduate as an engineer then?
I am graduating as an engineer, but I want to get my CNA certification over the summer, maybe travel for a bit, and then pursue nursing. I'm not going to take the pre-engineering board exam.
So what turns you off so much about engineering?
I guess I'm pretty okay at math, but I don't want make buildings for the rest of my life. I'd much rather help people, you know?
No I totally get it. Nursing is a great field and I think it's wonderful that you want to do something so compassionate. Okay, so switching gears... what are some of your other interests or hobbies?
Basketball, obviously. Ball is life. I was more passionate about it in the past, but my knees are getting bad now. I'm also into fishing! I usually fish at Crystal Lake or other forest preserves. I'm in the Fishing Club here at Marquette, but the president backed down and the club isn't so active anymore. I'm also involved in InterVarsity LaFe, which is my Latino Bible study group.
That's really cool! Are there any shows or music you're into?
Yeah, I listen to Hip Hop, EDM, Hawaiian, country, and reggae music. Recently I've been watching One Day At a Time, Stranger Things, and Fresh Off the Boat. I also watch a lot of Skins– if you watch Skins, watch the American version first before you watch the British version so you don't get disappointed. My favorite movie would have to be Grown Ups. Have you seen that movie?
Uhhhh, not all the way through…
Everyone hates it, but I've watched it like 60 + times. I like know almost every line. I just like it because I just see myself and my family in that movie. Oh okay I see, interesting. So another question I want to ask is, what is your favorite thing about yourself?
Well, that's a good question… I'm pretty funny I guess. I'm nice and easy to get along with. I'm also pretty proud of myself for almost finishing college, especially in a major I don't like. I'll be the first one in my family to graduate from a university. Wow! That's impressive... that's like kind of a big deal. Do you have any goals in life aside from academics?
Honestly, I didn't plan that far ahead, I didn't know I'd make it this far. I guess I just want to go with the flow and live by the Marquette slogan– I want to "be the difference" and see the positive effects of my work. Oh, also I want to be a Dilf of Disneyland. Alright. To wrap this up, what is your philosophy or mantra in life?
There's a few things I always try to live by. The first is not to take life so seriously, because everybody dies in the end anyway. Yolo. The next is not to educate your children to be rich, but educate them to be happy. I want to do this because for me, I really don't care about the money I make; helping people is what makes me happy. Another one is remember to eat food as your medicine, because otherwise you'll eat medicine as your food. And lastly, if you want to walk fast, walk alone, but if you want to walk far, walk together. ♦
