Pinoy whiz kids bag 19 medals in international math, science tilt

MANILA—The mathematics whiz kids of the Philippines came home Saturday night after winning 19 medals in the 7th International Mathematics and Science Olympiad (IMSO) for Primary Schools held in Bali last week.

Farrell Eldrian Wu of MGC New Life Christian Academy in Taguig City and Clyde Wesley Ang of Chiang Kai Shek College in Manila won gold medals in the competition. Wu gained a bronze medal in the same competition last year.

Andrew Brandon Ong of Chiang Kai Shek College and Miguel Lorenzo Ildesa of Westbridge School in Iloilo City won silver medals.                                        

The delegation was trained by the Mathematics Trainers’ Guild-Philippines. Its president, Dr. Simon Chua, expressed pride over the accomplishment of the Philippine team.       

The Philippines placed third in the overall standing in the Math division. The team from Thailand gained five golds, five silvers, and a bronze. Indonesia won two golds, eight silvers and six bronzes.

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Smart Communications backs online campus journalism

Student journalists in the cities of Iloilo and Baguio are now ready to put online their campus papers after learning how to access online resources and undergoing relevant training under Journ.ph, the online campus journalism project of Smart Communications Inc.

This was after over 400 of them along with their respective faculty advisers attended the Basic Journalism Seminar separately conducted by the Philippine Information Agency in the two cities. Smart Communications brought in experts to discuss the Fundamentals of Blogging and Journalism Ethics and Cyber Laws, and showed the participants how to get an account via the journ.ph website and how to post and edit campus news on their online campus paper.

Journ.ph includes collaboration with media, academe and journalism institution partners to promote and develop online campus journalism among schools nationwide, using Information and Communications Technologies (ICT). The project also includes a mentoring and training program for journalism students and local media, and an online content management platform, www.journ.ph.

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DOST opens undergraduate scholarship programs to interested applicants

ILOILO CITY (PNA)—The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) is now accepting applications for its undergraduate scholarship programs for those interested to pursue priority fields in science, mathematics, and engineering starting next school year.

The DOST-Science Education Institute (SEI) scholarship comes in two programs: the Republic Act 7687 or the Science and Technology Scholarship Act of 1994 and the merit scholarship.

The RA 7687 is open to a member of the five percent of the regular high school graduating class or a member of the graduating class of the DOST SEI-identified schools or science high schools recognized by the Department of Education (DepEd).

The merit scholarship, on the other hand, is open to qualifiers of the 2011 scholarship examination whose annual family income is above P120,000.

It is being awarded to students with “high aptitude in science and mathematics and willing to pursue fields of science and technology” the DOST primer stated.

The deadline for the filing of application is on October 8 while the examination date is on November 21.

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Creation of a Philippine center for teachers excellence proposed

MANILA (PNA)—The creation of a Center for Teachers Excellence has been proposed in support of the recommended adoption of a 12-year basic education cycle in the country in conformance with global standards.

The proponent, Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri, said the proposed center will provide a continuing program for teachers to regularly upgrade their teaching skills and competence in compliance with the criteria set forth by the Department of Education (DepEd).

He said the continuing decline in the quality of education over the years could be due to government’s failure to address the plight of local teachers.

He said that as the education department looks into the possibility of adopting a new basic education phase for Filipino students, a similar concern should be given to teachers to ensure that their teaching skills and competence are at par with international standards.

“These days, only a few of the newly graduates (teachers) would want to enter the teaching profession. The once bright and promising career of the teachers has suddenly become a job that must be evaded,” Zubiri said.

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Philippine 2010 science and technology fair launched

PASIG CITY—The Department of Education (DepEd) is launching the 2010 Science and Technology Fair in end-August to choose the most creative and best science researches that will represent the country at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) and other various international/regional science fairs.

The fair will be conducted in the school, division, regional and national levels. The school-level competition is scheduled on August 28-29; the division level, September 18-19; the regional level, October 2-3; and the regional level, October 27-30. Qualified to participate are students from both public and private secondary schools, and students from all Special Science classes are expected to join the competition.

For student researchers, prizes in each category will be P2,500, P1,500, and P1,000 for first, second, and third places, respectively. The teacher advisers or coaches of the winning student researchers will receive P1,500 in each of the categories.

According to Education Secretary Br. Armin Luistro, FSC, the event aims to promote science and technology consciousness among the youth. Science is one of the core learning programs in the basic education curriculum.

“A strong orientation on science and technology among the citizenry is the foundation of highly developed economies all over the world,” Luistro said. “This is why we open avenues such as this fair to encourage our youth to immerse themselves in scientific pursuit.”

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English proficiency campaign challenges UST studentry
By Keavy Eunice E. Vicente, Manila Bulletin

MANILA—“Language cannot be legislated.”

This was the pronouncement of Dr. Ruth Elynia Mabanglo in a seminar titled “Panayam sa Wika 2010” held at the Rizal Conference Hall of the University of Santo Tomas (UST). The seminar is deemed very relevant in light of a university-wide English proficiency campaign which will soon be implemented in UST.

UST Rector Fr. Rolando de la Rosa, O.P. greenlighted the proposal in answer to a report about the declining competence of the Thomasian community in the use of the English language. The Rector challenged Faculty of Arts and Letters Dean Michael Anthony Vasco to lead the said campaign.

The said policy had its roots from complaints of employers about graduates of UST having problematic communication skills. Fr. De la Rosa said that most of the time, UST graduates are competent in their line of work, but are not very articulate, especially in the English language. This prevents them from getting promotion in their jobs to higher positions.

Professors from the Faculty of Arts and Letters (Artlets) had been instructed by Dean Vasco to be vigilant about the campaign and to strictly implement the use of English at a medium of instruction and communication.

The policy requires that English will not only be used in the classroom for academic purposes, but also in extracurricular activities including plays, scripts, projects and productions. The policy however will not affect Filipino and foreign language classes.

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National campus journalism fellowship set by UST from October 21-23

MANILA—To promote press excellence and foster camaraderie among campus journalists all over the country, The Varsitarian, the 81-year-old official student publication of the University of Santo Tomas, will hold “Inkblots 2009: the 11th UST National Campus Journalism Fellowship” from October 21 to 23 at its Thomas Aquinas Research Complex in the UST campus in España. The event is open to all student writers, campus press advisers, high school journalism instructors, and school officials.

The fellowship will consist of seminars on news writing, sports writing, investigative reporting, features writing, culture and lifestyle writing, opinion or column writing, and parallel sessions on writing for broadcast, cartooning and lay-outing, among others.

Among the invited resource speakers are Cesar Apolinario (news reporter, GMA Network), Conrado de Quiros (columnist, Philippine Daily Inquirer), Nestor Cuartero (entertainment editor, Tempo), and Cristina Pantoja-Hidalgo (vice-president for public affairs, University of the Philippines-Diliman).

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UP students shine in Asia business concept

MANILA—A multi-discipline team of students from the University of the Philippines-Diliman won the second prize in the KT&G 2010 Asian Students’ Venture Forum competition for the best business concepts using new technology, held recently in Beijing, China.

Composed of Business Administration students Katrina Gay Cruz, Karen Gail Feble, and Michelle Ann Molas; Public Administration students Julia Chu and Ezekiel Vicente; Mass Communication student Julio Danilo Silvestre; and Interior Design student Crisette Evelyn Arcilla, the Philippine team won over teams from eight other universities in Singapore, Japan, Korea and China.

The UP team presented “Language Live,” a concept for online Mandarin language tutorials, during a program at Renmin University. First prize went to a team from Singapore and the third prize went to a Korean team.

The students’ participation in the forum made them part of the Asia Entrepreneurship Community (AEC), a network of university students of China, Korea, Singapore, Japan, and the Philippines who exchange business venture information in the field of new technology and are concerned with venture entrepreneurship.

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Arts and Letters students tapped to start speak-English campaign at UST

MANILA—Students at the Faculty of Arts and Letters at the University of Sto. Tomas are now required to speak in English during class discussions, serving as “guinea pigs” before the launch of a University-wide English proficiency campaign.

Rector Fr. Rolando De la Rosa, O.P., said that competence in English is one of the main complaints of many of the employers of UST graduates. He explained that a survey by employers in the country and abroad indicated that  although UST graduates “are very competent in their profession,” one of their setbacks ois that “they are not very articulate, especially in the English language.”

Artlets Dean Michael Anthony Vasco said the policy requires students and faculty members to use English as the medium of instruction and communication. However, the policy will not affect Filipino and foreign language subjects.

“Every liberal arts student is expected to be highly articulate. It’s about time that we create a strict language policy in the college. Our students should be able to articulate their discourse in the English language,” Vasco said.

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Crossing barriers
By Kelsey Peters, Breezejmu.org

This summer, three students plunged into Chinese culture to teach English to young students. There, the language is seen as a necessity in order to succeed in life.

Climbing the Great Wall, bartering for watches in the city, and eating dog, scorpion, cricket, jellyfish, chicken feet, pig feet and goose liver were just some of the experiences three JMU students had in China this summer.

But after spending three months in Qingdao, Ricky Quiñones, an accounting and finance major, couldn’t help but say he “missed the all-you-can-eat dining halls” of JMU.

Since 2009, Mark Xie, the headmaster of Qingdao Leewen Foreign Language School, has hosted JMU students and alumni who teach English as a second language to 4- to 18-year-old Chinese students.

Junior Yanan Wu, a friend of Xie’s, introduced the program to JMU when she arrived in 2009. She now runs the organization China Work Study through JMU’s Recruit-A-Duke program.

The experience offers college students a yearlong venture abroad, and as of summer 2010, JMU students can also do a summer internship at the foreign language school.
I always tell [Xie] how great JMU students are, and he always says ‘Send them over!’ ” said Wu, an accounting and finance major.

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