MY DEGREE

Wednesday, March 30, 2005

SHOWBITS By Danny VibasSchool’s cool again in show biz
Having a college degree is not among the credentials of many of Filipino show-biz idols, including those who run for public office and become senators in this star-struck nation. But believe it not, a humble star has just finished college and is all set to join her school’s graduation march on April 4.
Do congratulate Klaudia Koronel, one of the stars of the controversial movie Private Show, which once earned its highly educated director, Joey Reyes, the tag as the country’s “prime pornographer.” (Reyes, who has a Master of Arts in Comparative Literature from Indiana University in the United States, was once an educator himself at De La Salle University.)
Klaudia now has a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from the New Era University along Commonwealth Avenue, a school meant primarily for the faithful of Iglesia ni Kristo.

“I finished the course in the regular four years because I practically gave up show biz in my second year in school. I had bad grades during my first year because my show-biz career was still my priority then. In my sophomore year, I stopped accepting regular TV shows and movies. I just had guest appearances in sitcoms and drama anthologies,” Klaudia tells Showbits.
Klaudia says she never got any special treatment from her teachers just because she was a celebrity. On the contrary, some teachers were stricter as if to test how serious she was in her studies.
“But, generally, people in that school were warm to me from the start, especially when I was just inquiring about the requirements to study there, even if they didn’t know yet that I am from Iglesia ni Kristo.

“There were other schools I tried applying to where I could hear the students and the school staff whispering what a sexy star like me was doing in their campus. That’s how I ended up enrolling at New Era,” recalls Klaudia who, in person, has a strong resemblance to the young Hilda Koronel. Probably the reason why her discoverer, Seiko Films producer Robbie Tan, decided to give her the screen surname “Koronel.”

Now that she’s done with college, Klaudia is again willing to accept regular TV shows and movie assignments. But she stresses that she can no longer do the movies she used to do.
“Since I studied in New Era, I became active again as an INC member, and I’m sure our ministers will not approve of me doing sexy roles again. Also, I have a boyfriend now of four years who was one of the people who inspired me to go back to school. I didn’t do it primarily for him, of course, but for myself. I needed a college degree to improve my self-esteem,” she confides.