Dylan Ross Llamas Espino learned very early on that he has a natural aptitude for mathematics, but he also learned that doing well in schoolwork does not mean getting every title he wanted.

At UP Rural High School, Dylan received the school’s highest distinctions and won the Philippine Mathematical Olympiad, yet he states that he was more motivated by his early academic competition. He does not consider his lower GWA semesters in college to be the source of encouragement for his summa standing. Rather, he recalls his high school life and how he made it to the top 20 students of his graduating class, but could not snatch the valedictorian title. Not being valedictorian stayed with him, and it would eventually fuel his purpose in college.

That experience followed him into UPLB, where he was able to switch to a more comfortable, memorization-focused study style. He says that getting past the circumstances of the pandemic and being free from strict high school rules allowed him to escape traditional methods of studying. He was confident about the topics and slides he memorized on the day of the lecture, backing up this skill with other memorization tactics like associating his lessons with other memories, such as his daily commute. Doing so allows him to trigger one idea after another.

Dylan credits his mother with how he first started developing this unique study habit. While most of his ability to memorize he credits to instinct, he still values the early part of his life when his mother taught him how to study and what to focus on. This gave structure to an ability that already seemed to come naturally to him. His memory may have been instinctive, but learning how to use it was something that began at home.

However, he also admitted that he has a habit of leaving things until the last minute, including studying. Despite this, he firmly believes this boosted his sense of efficiency. He had to fully rely on his keen memory and a short time frame of around two hours to be ready for the exams ahead. Instead of spending long hours studying, Dylan relied on knowing what he could retain and what he needed to focus on. From this habit, his resulting academic accomplishments followed.

Dylan entered UPLB in 2022 as one of the university’s Top 10 Freshies. He was later one of the few UPLB students chosen to enter the 26th Philippine Statistics Quiz, despite not even being a statistics major. He was the Laguna Provincial Champion and placed second in the regional elimination. His ability in mathematics had already been established before college, but these achievements showed that it continued even as he moved into Computer Science.

Dylan joined Upsilon Sigma Phi in 2023. He credits the Fraternity’s results-oriented mindset with how he remains accountable no matter what he does, stating one of its doctrines: “There’s a saying in the Frat: we’re results-oriented, not excuse-oriented. When you only care about the results, you’re forced to actually do something; your circumstances don’t matter; you have to accomplish this.”

He adds to the importance of this mindset, saying, “You cannot do perfect, but try to be as close to perfect as you can.” He even said that if he could give anything to the Fraternity when he was first inducted, he would produce a summa cum laude standing. What started as an academic goal therefore became something he also saw as his contribution to the fellowship.

He is also a forward for the UPLB Men’s Football Team, which has increased his responsibilities and will further drive him to take his classwork seriously. He would arrive at school earlier than usual, sometimes leaving the house several hours before his first class. Football took away some of the freedom he had over his schedule, but it also forced him to be more responsible with the time he had left.

Across the university, Dylan had to keep many lives moving at once. Being excellent in mathematics, he chose BS Computer Science, which involved ongoing projects, examinations, and a heavy load of coursework. Football demanded training and the discipline of showing up for a team. Upsilon brought its own commitments and expectations. None of these could simply be put on hold whenever another became difficult.

Within Upsilon, that pressure also taught him to find his own place among accomplished fellows. As Dylan put it, “Everyone was excellent at something, or had their own niche; it just so happened that mine was academics.” This was the narrow line where he performed best, and he was able to fit what he admittedly calls a “lazy” lifestyle into an equally ruthless method of efficiency that still produced excellent results.

The quote also shows how he viewed his place in the Fraternity. He did not have to be excellent at everything, nor did he need to compete with every fellow on the same terms. Others had their own fields and strengths. His happened to be academics, and the summa cum laude standing he once said he would give the Fraternity became the clearest result of that strength.

He believed that despite all his responsibilities, his college life had the most amount of freedom for him to work on his own terms. He would leave things until the last minute and rely on his memory, but still remain at the top of the class. Upsilon gave him a results-oriented environment and a place where he could develop his own strength, while football gave him another responsibility that could not simply be ignored.

His experience also makes it difficult to explain his academic record as either natural talent or grit alone. Dylan himself acknowledges that mathematics and memorization came naturally to him. He was already academically competitive before entering UPLB. But natural aptitude did not give him every title he wanted in high school, and not becoming valedictorian gave him something that ability alone could not: a reason to prove that he could finish at the very top when given another opportunity. His mother first helped him give structure to his abilities; later, football, Computer Science, and Upsilon required him to turn those abilities into results.

For now, Dylan is taking what he considers a long-needed break while he figures out what comes next. He has some impressive work offers, but as of now he is keeping himself busy with video games like Path of Exile and Valorant. After years of competing, memorizing, training, and working toward a distinction that had taken on personal meaning since high school, Dylan is allowing himself some time before deciding what result he wants to pursue next.