Agbayani

LAHAINA – Johnley Agbayani recently attained his Master of Management Studies Degree from The Fuqua School of Business at Duke University.

The son of Bonifacio Sales and Lilia Agbayani-Sales of Lahaina moved from the Philippines in January 2008 and graduated with Summa Cum Laude honors from Lahainaluna High School in 2011.

As a high school student, he was a member of the prestigious National Honor Society.

Agbayani then earned a Bachelors of Arts Degree at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, where he graduated Cum Laude in Economics and Political Science.

During his undergraduate education, Agbayani was a recipient of the National Science Foundation Research Grant to become a researcher at the well-known Frick Chemistry Laboratory of Princeton University.

He also studied as an exchange student at Yonsei University’s Underwood International College and National University of Singapore’s Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Both are premier institutions in South Korea and Singapore, respectively.

Agbayani was successful in his application to the Master of Management Studies (MMS) offered by The Fuqua School of Business.

He was the only student from Hawaii in the MMS program.

“It was very intimidating and scary at first. Intimidating because everyone in the program is ridiculously smart and they have very impressive resumes. Scary because during our orientation, the dean told us that getting one ‘F’ is an automatic expulsion,” Agbayani said, when he was asked about the program and his classmates.

The MMS degree program is a one-year business intensive program learning about marketing, accounting, finance, operations and other corporate functions.

Duke University consistently ranks within the top ten best universities in the United States, while The Fuqua School of Business shares the same tier as Harvard Business School, Yale School of Management, Penn’s Wharton and other famous business schools in the nation.

In September, Agbayani will move to the United Kingdom to start his second and final master’s program at the City University of London, where he will be studying Information Systems and Technology.

Included in this program is an industry internship for six months, where he will be working as an apprentice at one of London’s tech companies.

“I would like to get a job but it is hard to pass on these amazing opportunities. But I will be spending my summer vacation back home and I might get a summer job,” Agbayani said.