IN a heartfelt gesture that turned heads and stirred hearts, Ylaysha Musngi Gosiaco, a Filipina scholar from Harvard University, used her 2025 commencement not only to celebrate her academic success but to honor her family’s—and the nation’s—history.
Graduating cum laude, with a magna cum laude distinction in Psychology, Gosiaco paused on stage in front of thousands during Harvard’s Commencement Exercises last May.
She bowed her head, raised a framed photograph of her grandmother—1st Lt. Dr. Mercedes “Mommy Ched” Cuello Lazaro Musngi, a WWII Filipina guerrilla combat medic—and saluted.
Wearing a sablay embroidered with Baybayin script, she also carried a collage of Filipino veterans, health workers, and everyday heroes.
The moment, captured on Harvard’s official commencement video and widely shared online, moved many, including fellow Filipinos around the world.
One of them, Hannah Santos, a Filipino student and teacher, emailed Publiko to highlight Gosiaco’s powerful act. In her letter, Santos wrote:
“Instead of making graduation about herself, she walked across the stage carrying a framed photo of her grandmother and a collage honoring our veterans, soldiers, medical workers, and everyday Filipino heroes… Even from behind my screen, I was moved to tears. It made me remember my own lola — and the sacrifices of our own people.”
Santos added, “She wasn’t just honoring her family. She was saluting every Filipino who fought for our freedom… This is not just an ordinary graduation story. It’s a story about honor, memory, and hope — in a time when we all need it most.”
Gosiaco’s tribute comes at a symbolic time: 2025 marks the 80th anniversary of the Liberation of the Philippines, when Filipino and American forces fought side-by-side to free the country from Japanese occupation.
Beyond her symbolic gesture, Gosiaco has spent her years at Harvard advocating for trauma-informed mental health, Filipino veterans, and intergenerational healing. Her nonprofit work has included seminars that have reached educators and students across both the U.S. and the Philippines.
She was the only Filipina among the 9,000 graduates featured by Harvard Magazine and the Harvard Alumni Association this year. On Philippine Independence Day, she posted a now-viral photo of herself waving the Philippine flag at Harvard Yard—an image many believe to be the first of its kind at the historic university.
The letter received by Publiko can be read in full on its official Facebook page, along with links to the video and coverage of Gosiaco’s moment.
In her posts, Gosiaco wrote that the moment was not for her, but for her grandmother and all the unsung heroes “who made her education possible.” As she stood under the Harvard banner, raising the face of a WWII Filipina medic, she reminded the world that public service and remembrance transcend generations.
In a time often clouded by division and distraction, Gosiaco’s quiet act of remembrance offered a powerful, unifying message: Honor those who came before. Carry them forward.
