Selfie Moment Engineer Rikki Macolor with Pope Francis at UST
ECE graduate and licensed Engineer Rikki Q. Macolor had a very special "selfie moment" with Pope Francis during the unforgettable youth encounter held at the University of Santo Tomas(UST) on Sunday, January 18, 2015. The young engineer, who is currently working in Accenture Philippines, was among the few chosen youths to publicly appear and directly speak to the Pope.
The blessed Engineer openly shared his "selfie" together with Pope Francis via his social media account. On Facebook, his close friends and colleagues in Accenture expressed their overwhelming joy upon seeing the uploaded selfie. One of the commenters identified as Roj Avante even said, "This is beyond amazing" while D.j. Schmalz mentioned, "..that's a world class selfie!".
Engr. Rikki Macolor's personal encounter with Pope Francis had a remarkable impact to all youth attendees. Rikki testified how great are the works of God and how the Creator helped him overcome the challenges he encountered in their family. The faithful young engineer never quit dedicating his time in serving God even when he dropped out of school due to financial problems in 2002. He worked for six years without a degree and was able to send his sister to the University who now earned a degree in Web Development. After the graduation of his sister, he enrolled at UST where he completed his course in Engineering.
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Speaking in front of many youths, Rikki encouraged everyone to help and serve those people who are in need. Engr. Macolor, who invented the lamps running on solar power cells, said "his innovation is his way of giving back." Thousands of solar-powered lamps were initially distributed by Rikki Macolor in the Yolanda-strickened areas in Tacloban in 2013.
In a separate speech, the lucky engineer sought an advice from Pope Francis and asked him, “How can we be successful without being blinded by earthly pursuits? What more can we do today?”
Meanwhile, Engr. Rikki Macolor also reportedly gave a prototype of his invention to Pope Francis. The selfie of his invention which was carefully wrapped with plastic is also making the rounds online.