Argel Monte de Ramos is KPU’s Resident Superstar
After winning gold at the “Talent Olympics” he considers his future, at KPU and abroad
Over the span of two busy years, Argel Monte de Ramos has done more for KPU than most students will throughout their entire university experience.
Born in the Philippines, Monte de Ramos arrived in Canada young and overwhelmed by culture shock. North American high schools did not treat him well—instead offering him an experience he likens to the movie Mean Girls—and Monte de Ramos suffered through years of bullying, personal struggles, and difficulty with adjusting to his new life in Canada.
Through that fight, he found solace in the comforts of creativity, especially with regards to singing and acting.
Although some of his peers pressured him to give up on his hobbies, he persevered, which paid off just earlier this year. Monte de Ramos’ musical and theatrical abilities won him seven medals at the 2016 World Championship of Performing Arts, also known as the “Talent Olympics,” an annual competition for entertainers. By the end of the competition, he walked away with one gold medal, two silver, three bronze, a scholarship, and one industry award.
“The industry award is given to a contestant that was really ready for the industry to have. That includes character,” says Monte de Ramos. “I got the bronze medal for acting contemporary, I got another bronze medal for acting comical, I got the silver for world—which is when you sing songs from other languages aside from English—and I got silver for pop, which was ‘Forget You’ by CeeLo Green, and I got the gold medal for an original work.”
The gold medal comes as a wonderful shock to Monte de Ramos, considering that he had only been writing songs for around six months.
It goes without saying that he was thrilled by the results of the Talent Olympics—which marks the first competition he had ever taken part in as an individual—and he intends to use the $10,000 scholarship he won there to go to school for musical theatre in New York. The connections he made at the competition will last him a lifetime, but he isn’t quite ready to leave KPU in the dust. Rather, he partially attributes his success as a performer to how he has grown as a part of KPU’s community, which has made him the person he is today.
His involvement with KPU began with a role as an orientation leader in 2014, sparking his love for volunteer work. Out of that love came his co-founding of ArtVersity, KPU’s performing arts club, and his work as a student ambassador.
On top of these responsibilities, he also serves as a Kwantlen Student Association’s Business Representative, which he is qualified to fill as a KPU business student. Monte de Ramos continues to fill all three positions today, along with further polishing his creative skills. He will continue to do so until he goes on exchange to the United Kingdom this fall.
As for whether he will go to school in New York for one year or two, Monte de Ramos has not decided. Annually, he will be given $10,000 out of the $30,000 required per semester, but his future there is still “up in the air,” in his words.
No matter what happens, Monte de Ramos hopes to return to KPU in the future, possibly to complete his business degree.
“I really think KPU played a very big role when it comes to my success right now. They’re the one who released my story in the news and helped me to get out there externally, outside of KPU,” he says. “If I didn’t have a strong relationship with KPU, this was not going to happen.”
