Two UA&P teams ended January 2021 with a gold and a silver in tow.
The seven-member team from the UA&P environmental organization ALON emerged as champion in “#EcoSquadGoals: A Digital Citizen Science Approach to Understanding Solid-Waste Management” sponsored by the De La Salle University – Br. Alfred Shields FSC Ocean Research (SHORE) Center Marine Station in coordination with UNESCO in celebration of the World Science Day of Peace and Development. The activity, which consisted of an online workshop, contest, and symposium that culminated on January 8, 2021, aimed to increase awareness among the youth about how their current lifestyle impacts the environment and how they can contribute to minimizing or managing plastic waste.
Bianca Lerma (3BSIE), Holly Pantaleon (3ABIMC), Rallion Abeledo (3ABPE), Adrian Reodica (3BSIE), Ernina Cruz (2BSBA), Monday Manalo (2ABMEM), and Katrina Jimenez (2ABPE) grabbed the Eco Squad Grant of US$300 with their proposed SAGIP app, a data collection application meant to keep track of the users’ waste incurrence and to direct them to the nearest waste management or recycling facilities. SAGIP stands for Systematic Application on Goals for Integrating Plastic Management. The grant serves as seed money for the team’s initiative, which is expected to be implemented in the next six months.
“There are a lot of people who are willing to help us work on this project,” said Bianca Lerma, president and founder of ALON, “and, for that, we are very grateful.”
Not to be outdone, however, are the younger Dragons from the Junior College Program. Maria Christiana San Juan (26YP), Charles Kendryck Caluste (16YP), and Christian Ulysses Paculaba (16YP) placed first runner-up in PLEIADES: Case Study Competition, a sub-event in the Youth Science Convention of the Research Fair 2021 organized by the University of the Philippines Academic League of Chemical Engineering Students (UP ALCHEMES). The case study competition focused on the issue of coral rehabilitation in the Philippines.
The trio presented their case study paper on “Coral Rehabilitation in the Philippines through Acclimation and Farming within Land-Based Nurseries” in the final round of the competition held on January 28. Among the prizes they won was a seat to a training or a workshop offered by Microsoft. The group, together with another UA&P team who also made it to the final round of the case study competition, were coached by Dr. Edwin Olmos, program director of BS Industrial Engineering.