Bogart The Explorer on his college entrance exams day. Facebook/Bogart The Explorer

MANILA — Bearing his childhood dream to be a "national scientist," Bogart the Explorer from Davao City is a freshman in his 40s at Caraga State University.

Bogart, or Marco Antonio Ho in real life, was the second to arrive at the venue of the entrance exam as he recalled.

After 2 hours, Bogart got the results of his exam. He thought he failed as he only got 118 correct answers out of 170 questions, which Bogart studied using old college entrance exam reviewers, those that he used for University of the Philippines College Admission Test (UPCAT).

Prior to this, Bogart studied in 2002 at UP Diliman as a DOST scholar but did not have the chance to walk on the stage and get his diploma. 

He was uncertain if he should go back to college. If there could be any hindrance on the application, Bogart would immediately view it as the universe's way of saying that he belongs to a different path.

Furthermore, Bogart worked in show business, completely different from the one he pursued in college.

But now, 22 years later, Bogart is a college freshman and a scholar, taking up Bachelor of Science in Agroforestry. 

“To those who feel that fear of being 'too old' for school or too late to start over, I want you to know this: the only thing standing between you and your dreams is the fear of taking that first step. Don’t let that fear stop you. Life is too short to let your dreams pass you by”, said Bogart on a Facebook post. 

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