Arielle Michaela Del Mundo De Castro was five months old when her mother carried her onto a plane out of Manila. Nearly 22 years later, she has graduated with Upper Second Class Honours in BSc Psychology from Heriot-Watt University Dubai — the only home she has ever really known.
She crossed the stage last night, capping a degree earned at the institution named Best University in the Middle East at the inaugural Forbes Middle East Higher Education Awards and rated five stars by Dubai’s Knowledge and Human Development Authority. Her classification, an Upper Second (2:1) in the British honours system, is the result often likened to graduating magna cum laude in the American Latin honors tradition.
Born in the Philippine capital, Arielle was raised almost entirely in the UAE, where her family settled when she was still an infant. Her mother has worked as a Senior Flight Information Coordinator with Saudia Airlines for as long as Arielle has been alive. Her father, a freelancer, spent those same years raising the children and running a long-standing carlift service for students at The Philippine School Dubai — the school where Arielle and both her siblings would eventually study.
“Both my parents are hard-working, risk-takers and most importantly the most loving as far as it can go,” she said. “The both of them would only want the best for me and my siblings.”
Arielle’s path into psychology began in senior high school, when she chose the Humanities and Social Sciences track at her alma mater. What started as curiosity about how people behave and interact narrowed, over the course of her degree, into something more specific.
“Upon studying my degree, I narrowed my interest and curiosity towards how the brain works and triggers human behavior, emotions and decisions,” she said. She now describes graduation as a first step toward a longer goal: a career in cognitive neuroscience.
Reaching that milestone meant carrying responsibilities well beyond coursework. As the eldest of three, with a brother four years younger and a sister roughly 16 years her junior, Arielle helped care for her siblings throughout her studies. She credits time management, and family, for keeping both in balance.
“Above all, I love my family so anything to uphold my duties would not be a problem to hold back my academics,” she said.
Studying through a pandemic and a regional crisis
Two disruptions bracketed her university years. The COVID-19 pandemic pushed her into online distance learning early on — a mode she says she used to her advantage, performing well enough academically to earn a scholarship at Heriot-Watt University Dubai. More recently, tensions across the Gulf region forced part of her final year back online as well.
“I kept managing my deadlines and remembered to be optimistic and persevere even if it was taken place online,” she said. “I got the support from my parents to face these challenges head on and we were able to withstand it together through those hard moments.”
Moving from a Filipino school into a British university system was its own adjustment. Arielle points back to The Philippine School Dubai as the ground where she learned to adapt.
“It wasn’t easy to step into an environment of the unknown, but I would say if it weren’t for the wisdom I gained from my teachers, friends and others from my old school, I wouldn’t have overcome the challenges of this new environment,” she said.
For Arielle, the achievement is bound up with faith, family, and her role as the eldest.
“This achievement meant that I succeeded through my hard-work, this as a part of God’s plan, my parents risks and support throughout the years, and the hopes and role model for my siblings as their eldest,” she said.
Her advice to students working toward their own goals is characteristically measured. “Be smart, be patient, persevere and listen to the people that are important and has been there for you for a long time,” she said. “It is better to build high aspirations to meet realistic expectations.”
