Precious Castillo

REPORTING FELLOW

Precious Castillo was born in Calamba, Laguna, Philippines. Her family immigrated to Bahrain in 2010. Although she grew up in a foreign country, she still calls the Philippines her home and fully embraces her Filipina identity. She brings this identity with her wherever she goes and claims that her unique background enables her to offer a different perspective in the classroom and the workplace.

In 2017, she received a scholarship to study abroad in the United Kingdom, where she discovered her passion for the STEM field. She moved to Winston-Salem in 2020 to start her college journey. She will be graduating from Forsyth Technical Community College with an Associate in Science degree in May 2021. Although her time at Forsyth Tech was relatively short, she was able to give back to the college and its community through her service as a Student Ambassador and a Student Phone Representative. Forsyth Tech also recognized Castillo’s academic ability and named her the college’s representative for the annual North Carolina Community College Academic Excellence Award.

Outside of school, Castillo is one of the Publicity Chairs of the Association of Filipino Scientists in America (AFSA), which is “a community of Filipino scientists…that seek to utilize their expertise to support the Filipino community.” She believes that diversity is the hallmark of cutting-edge scientific discoveries. This is why the representation of minority groups in science is very important.

This fall, Castillo will be transferring to Texas Christian University (TCU) as a biochemistry major. She hopes to gain more knowledge and first-hand research experiences in the biomedical sciences. Castillo believes in the words of her role model, Dr. Reina Reyes: “Mentorship is the most important thing in science.” In the future, she wants to become a mentor to aspiring scientists, especially those from minority groups.

Precious Castillo