Si Robert Nelson “Tobi” R. Leung ang hinirang na valedictorian ng Ateneo Class of 2025.
Siya ay nakakakuha rin ng pinamataas na Latin honor, ang summa cum laude, sa kursong Bachelor of Science Applied Mathematics.
Inanunsiyo ito sa website ng Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU) website, noong May 27, 2025.
Si Tobi ay taga-Baguio City na naging scholar sa Ateneo.
Read: Ateneo team wins world's largest debating tournament
Tobi Leung: A Global Debate champion
Bagamat Applied Mathematics student siya, kilala si Tobi sa larangan ng debate.
Kasama ang fellow Atenean na si David Africa, naging champion sila sa 2023 World Universities Debate Championship (WUDC), na ginanap sa Madrid, Spain.
Ito ang kauna-unahang championship title na nasungkit ng Philippine team sa debate tournament na kinukunsiderang “world’s largest debating tournament,” ayon sa Institute of Competition Sciences.
Si Tobi rin ang itinanghal na Second Best Speaker.
Tinalo niya ang mga estudyanteng mula sa Princeton University sa U.S., Tel Aviv University sa Israel, at Sofia University sa Bulgaria.
Magkasama rin sila ni David at fellow Atenean Mikko Vitug sa United Asian Debating Championships 2023, at itinanghal ang kanilang team na Asian Grand Champions.
Kahit noong high school ay naging international debate champion si Tobi.
Noong 2021, hinirang siyang Overall Best Speaker sa World Schools Debate Championships (WSDC), na isang “annual, global debate competition for high school students.”
Si Tobi ay Grade 12 student noon ng Philippine Science High School – Cordillera Administrative Region (PSH-CAR).
Pagka-graduate sa PSH-CAR, naging beneficiary siya ng San Ignacio de Loyola Merit Scholarship, na iginagawad sa qualified graduates mula sa public schools.
Ang ADMU ang napili niyang unibersidad.
At sa unibersidad, hindi lang science at math ang kanyang naging mga interes. Ang undergraduate group thesis niya ay tungkol sa napakahalagang isyu ng political dynasties.
Ayon sa university website: “[H]e took advantage of Ateneo's interdisciplinary academic culture and worked with people outside the School of Science and Engineering.
“This led him and his coursemates Aldie Alejandro and Rafael Acuña to work on an undergraduate thesis on political dynasties.”
Naging aktibo rin si Tobi sa student organizations gaya ng Ateneo Mathematics Society; Gabay, na focused sa scholars’ benefits at support system ng unibersidad; at Ateneo Debate Society (ADS).
Read: Lone senior high school graduate is also summa cum laude
TOBI LEUNG'S DILEMMA
Bago magkolehiyo, nagdalawang-isip daw si Tobi sa kukuning kurso.
Paliwanag niya, “I’m a debater. I like writing speeches. I’m a performer.
“But, at the same time, I’m a mathematician. I’m a science kid. I’m a nerdy kid.
“And for a while, I felt so much conflict because, I’m like, ‘How can a person be more than what you expect of them?’”
Dumaan din daw siya sa self-doubt.
Ani Tobi, “I never thought of myself as a world champion debater. I never thought of myself as a brilliant mathematician. I still don't think I am.
“But in the moments where it counted, where I needed to show up to give the best speech of my life, where I needed to ace the exam, to study as hard as I could, I would just tell myself: This is who I am. I am who I say I am, and I will be who I say I am.
"I think overcoming – i[f] not per se overcoming the self-doubt because it's always there, you'll always doubt yourself even in the moment.
“But learning to set aside the doubt and say—who I think I am doesn't matter, it's who I believe I am that does."
TOBI ON BEING A VALEDICTORIAN
Malaking karangalan daw ang maging valedictorian ng kanyang batch.
“‘Ateneo Valedictorian’ is a very special distinction. We don’t just base it on grades. It’s not a one-dimensional thing,” aniya.
“We pride ourselves as a university on having a holistic assessment of who should be valedictorian. We have a very long and complicated process for it.
“Sabi ko nga sa interview, talo pa natin ang conclave.”
Isa rin daw itong “affirmation of the unconventional life” bilang isang “scholar, a mathematician, a debater.”
Malaking bagay na kinikilala ng kanyang unibersidad ang mga estudyanteng tulad niya na may iba’t ibang interes at hilig.
Paliwanag ni Tobi, “What this means to me, really, is it’s a celebration of the more unconventional paths in life — which I think is really the strength of our university.
“We celebrate interdisciplinary people, people who go out of their comfort zone, and people who excel in that lifestyle. I’m very happy I got this far.”
Plano ni Tobi na ipagpatuloy ang pag-aaral pagka-graduate sa kolehiyo.
Balak niyang kumuha ng Econometrics and Mathematical Economics master’s program sa London School of Economics.