PinoyBuilt — Stories of Filipino America

Chicago, IL • August 2026. August 19, 1976: The Day Joy, Lola, and I Came to America. Filipino immigration, Chicago, 1976, Northwest Orient Airlines, Warren Barr Tower, Illinois Masonic, St. Sebastian School, Lakeview, family archive, 8/19, fil-am, nursing, PinoyBuilt. Family Archive • August 2026 August 19, 1976: The Day Joy, Lola, and I Came to America Fifty years ago today, my sister Joy, our Lola Rosita, and I left the Philippines on Northwest Orient Airlines. We were not going for America. We were going for our parents. At Manila International Airport, August 19, 1976. Left to right: Joy, Edward, David, and me. Edward and David were our little Reyes cousins, six and seven years younger. On the tarmac at Manila International Airport, August 19, 1976. Joy, Lola Rosita, and I stand yards away from the mobile boarding stairs to our Northwest Orient 747. Tito Sonny took this photo — he worked for PAGASA and could get...

USA • March 2026. The BSN Playbook 2026: The Definitive Guide to Elite Nursing Programs in America and California. BSN nursing schools 2026, Filipino American nurses, direct entry BSN programs, California nursing admissions, best nursing schools USA, Samuel Merritt accelerated BSN, Dominican University nursing, fil-am healthcare careers. HEALTHCARE & EDUCATION • MARCH 2026 The BSN Playbook (2026): The Definitive Guide to Elite Nursing Programs in America and California From the nation's top nursing schools to California's brutal admissions battlefield — a complete, evergreen guide for ambitious students, Filipino-American families, and anyone serious about building a career in nursing. For decades, nursing was seen as a stable, respectable — but secondary — career path. Something practical rather than prestigious. A "backup plan" for students who didn't make it into medical school. That p...

San Rafael, California • March 2026. Four Percent: My Daughter Joins the Filipino Nurses Who Hold Up Two Countries. Dominican University of California nursing pinning ceremony, BSN pinning, Filipino American nurses, Fil-Am healthcare, Marin County, Bay Area Filipino community, nursing graduation, Nightingale Pledge, National Nurses United, family archive. Nursing Pinning • San Rafael • March 2026 Four Percent: My Daughter Joins the Filipino Nurses Who Hold Up Two Countries At the Dominican University of California pinning ceremony, I walked up and fastened the pin myself. Twenty-seven seconds of video, and everything underneath it. mAR San Rafael, California, March 15, 2026. The pin goes on the left side, over the heart, and it takes about four seconds. Everything that got her there took considerably longer. Photo: J.F.R. Perseveranda / PinoyBuilt. The speaker at the podium reads the name, and then she reads the second half of the s...