70 Flights, Best Thesis, Latin Honour: Meet the YSA who Mastered the World

In the final weeks before commencement at De La Salle University, while many seniors cloistered in libraries or rehearsed the slow march toward their diplomas, one student was wheeling a suitcase through another airport, scanning another boarding gate, racing against another blinking departure screen.

For Josh Flores, a newly minted cum laude graduate under the university’s Commercial Law Department, the past four years unfolded not on a single campus but across continents, time zones, and turning points. He did not just finish his college degree in Law—with distinction, a best thesis award, and multiple first honor citations—but did so while taking 70 international flights, often logging more air miles in a month than many do in a year.

“I learned early that knowledge doesn’t come only from books,” he wrote in a Facebook post announcing his graduation. “It comes from people and lived experience.” It was a gratitude note that quickly circulated among students and alumni—equal parts academic victory lap and travel chronicle, stitched with memories of sleepless nights, long-haul flights, and “unlimited Coca-Cola.”

Studying at 35,000 Feet

Josh began traveling solo in 2022, just as the world exhaled from the grip of lockdowns. While others reacclimated to classrooms and office desks, he reacclimated to airport terminals. Tokyo one week. Dubai the next. A weekend layover somewhere in between—always returning home just in time for exams, oral defenses, or debates.

In one semester, he flew almost every week.

Yet far from compromising his academics, the frenetic rhythm seemed to sharpen them. That same semester, he earned a perfect 4.0 in all his courses—including Philippine Literatures; Geopolitics and International Law; Debate, Argumentation and Legal Advocacy; Logic and Analytical Reasoning; Legal Research and Documentation; and Philippine Trust Law.

To his professors, the feat bordered on the improbable. To Josh, it was simply the only option.

“I owed this milestone to the generations before me,” he said, invoking a family tradition that treated education not as competition, but consecration. “At home, I grew up with the understanding that ‘the glory of God is intelligence.’”

A Calling Paused—and Reinforced

Before university, Josh put his college plans on hold to serve a mission in Japan. What he did not anticipate was how much the experience would shape his intellectual direction.

Immersed in the routines of service, he saw firsthand how policy played out in real lives—how law could open doors or shut them, how power could be used for protection or withheld in silence. By the time he finally entered De La Salle University Manila, he carried with him a sharpened sense of civic responsibility, and an unusual discipline forged by years outside the academic track.

That maturity eventually bloomed into a rare academic record. For multiple semesters, Josh earned the Jose Rizal First Honor Award—the highest academic citation the university grants to the student with the highest grades.

A Thesis That Looked Beyond Borders

His thesis—Enemy at the Firewall: Navigating State Responsibility in Cyber Operations—was hailed by faculty as one of the best, earning him and his thesis partner the Best Thesis Award.

The work tackled one of the century’s most urgent but least understood challenges: How should international law interpret cyberattacks, and under what conditions may a state invoke the right to self-defense?

Drawing from doctrinal analysis and interviews with experts from the International Committee of the Red Cross, NATO, the European Union Commission, and scholars across Geneva and Asia, his research argued that traditional legal frameworks were no longer adequate. Josh called for a United Nations Convention on Cyberspace, proposing an architecture for defining state conduct, safeguarding civilian digital infrastructure, and establishing jurisdiction in a borderless domain.

It was an unusually ambitious undertaking for an undergraduate. It read less like a thesis and more like a policy blueprint.

A Young Legislator With a Reformist Streak

As Vice Chairperson for Legislative Affairs at De La Salle University, Josh operated with the instinct of a seasoned policy strategist. His term was marked by a sweeping push for institutional reforms, including the pioneering of the university’s constitutional amendment—a process rarely undertaken and even more rarely completed.

Service Before Success

His activism did not begin with titles. As a freshman, he joined the organizing team of the Break Free HIV+ Benefit Concert, eventually becoming Executive for External Relations.

He secured partnerships with artists and companies, personally sought the support of a Philippine senator that delivered the concert’s opening speech. By the night’s end, the event raised ₱12,798 for children and teenagers living with HIV—a small sum by corporate standards, but a transformative one for a student-led initiative.

A Global Lens: Diplomatic and Judicial Internships

Josh’ work extended far beyond campus.

At a European embassy in Manila, he learned diplomacy from the inside out. There, he directed communications for more than 50 Swiss firms—including Nestlé, Novartis, Roche, ABB, Rolex, and Holcim—helping strengthen bilateral trade and drive commercial growth. He supported major economic events, including the Swiss Innovation Prize, and drafted over 20 briefing notes for the Philippines-Swiss Business Council.

His legal training deepened further at the Philippine Court of Appeals, where he served as a legal intern clerk. His responsibilities rivaled those of junior attorneys: assisting in 12 court hearings, facilitating over 500 legal document transfers, and proofreading 250+ court records. He prepared 80+ petitions for review, 60+ minute resolutions, and 45 notices of judgment, often on cases involving anti-money laundering, civil disputes, and criminal liability.

A Seat in Global Conversations

If Josh’ academic life was grounded and his government work pragmatic, his intellectual horizons were distinctly global. He attended more than a dozen international summits and conferences, traveling from Tokyo to Hong Kong, Canada to South Korea, and engaging in dialogues on economics, law, religion, leadership, and regional security.

A co-presenter is presenting their solution for dam-induced crises in Assam, while Josh, one of the presenters, addresses the legal and diplomatic aspects of flood management, highlighting implications involving India, China, and Bhutan.

These included prestigious gatherings such as the Harvard Conference in 2025, the 11th Annual Canadian Chief Economist Panel, the International Economic Association–University of Nottingham Tax Policy Forum, and the Tokyo Forum in both 2021 and 2022. He also participated in the West Philippine Sea Forum, the Economic Leaders’ Congress, multiple iterations of the International Forum on Law and Religion, and regional YSA Conferences in Tokyo, Korea, Hong Kong, and Macau. Each program added another layer to his understanding—political insight, economic nuance, and diplomatic perspective—culminating in the formation of a young leader equally comfortable navigating grassroots communities and international institutions.

The Student in Transit

Near the end of his Facebook announcement, Josh listed the people who had made his journey possible—family, mentors, professors, and classmates—and added one final acknowledgment: “for every lesson that has brought me to this moment.”

Some lessons were learned in classrooms, but many were learned in transit: in the quiet corner of an airport lounge revising a research paper, on a midnight flight rehearsing a moot court argument, or in a foreign country observing how law shapes societies. Cum laude at graduation, ninety international flights, and enough stamped passport pages to narrate a memoir—yet beneath it all lay a simple belief: that learning stretches far beyond the walls of a room. As Josh reflected, “I’m simply grateful.”

The Portrait of a Relentless Scholar

Viewed individually, Josh’s achievements are extraordinary: cum laude, Best Thesis Award, ninety international flights, leadership in student government, advocacy campaigns, diplomatic experience, legal clerkship, and participation in international conferences. Together, they reveal a young scholar who has mastered both theory and practice, blending scholarship with service and local impact with global vision.

Mentors describe him as “incorruptibly curious.” Schoolmates call him “relentlessly disciplined.” Friends see “a mind structured like a court argument—methodical, precise, and visionary.” Josh himself remains grounded, crediting family, mentors, friends, and every experience that shaped him: “I am grateful for every lesson that has shaped this journey,” he wrote, reflecting the philosophy that guided him through airports, courtrooms, conference halls, and classrooms alike.

What Comes Next

As Josh steps beyond university, he carries a rare combination: an exceptional legal mind, a record of global engagement, and a deep commitment to service. If his undergraduate years are any indication, his next chapters will blend intellect with action, travel with study, and leadership with empathy—continuing a journey that has already traversed the world.

In a life measured not just by miles flown but by lives impacted and knowledge pursued, Josh Flores stands as a reminder that education, curiosity, and service are not separate paths—they are the map, the compass, and the destination all at once.