My Prometheus Cup Adventure and A little bit of Hide and Seek :)

As I sit here, a week after Prometheus Cup, I can’t help but look back and poignantly remember how I excited I was as we flew to Singapore, yet in a blink of an eye, it’s already one week since Prometheus Cup ended and here I am back to the everyday grind of school work, projects, review classes and what not. I miss the experience so much that I guess it’s just right that I take a walk down memory lane and relive the wonderful adventure I had in Prometheus Cup!

Just right before we flew to Singapore 😀

It’s these trips abroad that make high school such an adventure. It’s not everyday you get a chance to be able to represent your school in international competitions. Yet, the excitement, pressure and anxiety can be so overwhelming that you get out of character at some points in time.

They say that your true character is tested when you’re in your hardest moments. For us Xaverian, Prometheus Cup was a character building experience that really humbled a lot of us and taught us the importance of teamwork, patience, hard work, and most importantly, appreciation and gratefulness.

My First and Last Philippine Schools Debating Championship (PSDC)

Philippine Schools Debating Championship (PSDC)

It’s become a ritual of mine to write about a debate tournament experience one week after the tournament itself. It’s always fun to look back at these tournaments because you start to realize that it wasn’t just a tournament, but a growing experience as well. More than just the pressure packed debates and headaches, the little moments of laughter you spend with your teammates are moments that make these tournaments so surreal.

With the Xavier Contingent right before the start of PSDC….the incredible company is what makes being part of the debate team so surreal!

Last week, from Nov. 9-11, the Xavier team participated in another tournament, the Philippine Schools Debating Championship (PSDC) which is hosted annually by the Ateneo Debate Society. PSDC is a national tournament that brings together debaters from schools from all over the Philippines for a 3 day tournament where anything and everything can happen.

What doesn’t break you only makes you stronger

Coming out of HKDO, I thought that I’d be able to do just as good in PSDC but reality struck quickly in the first few rounds of PSDC as my team quickly fell into a hole. It was really disheartening and to be honest, during the fourth round, I was feeling really down already. I thought that we probably wouldn’t break anymore. Then I realized that all I could do was just give it my all and pray for the best.

Science Fair – Chemistry of Social Beings At Its Best

Fountain International Science Fair – February 23, 2013

I was never really a fan or advocate of fairs, let alone Science Fairs but recently, I’ve become more a more outgoing and gregarious person for I’ve realized how much fun fairs can be.

When my mom mentioned to me how there was an ongoing Science fair last Saturday, I was really fascinated and curious as to what this fair had to offer. It’s not everyday that you see grade school and high school students presenting their respective science and math projects in middle of a mall in front of the public.

I was really excited to go and see the different projects of young minds more or less the same age as me. I also saw it as an opportunity to meet new people and make new friends. I immediately called up several friends of mine if they were available or if they wanted to accompany me. A lot of them had previous obligations already but luckily, I had one friend who was willing to accompany me and be my partner in crime for the day.

It was also just last saturday when we had our Chinese Quarterly Oral Test, so I was really hyper and in a good mood already when I headed to V-mall where the Science fair was taking place. I had nothing to lose anyway and everything to gain especially since I had nothing planned for that afternoon and I would’ve ended up just bumming around if I didn’t go. Aside from that, I was really going to V-mall to finally buy an otter box for my phone.

As I caught sight of the Science fair, I was a bit skeptical that I would be able to see any breathtaking projects or get to meet any new friends but I knew I wouldn’t know unless I tried. I just said to myself, I won’t lose anything if I go but if I don’t go, I might have just passed on an amazing opportunity to learn and make new friends.

To my surprise, I actually had one amazing and breath taking experience. Some of the booths that really astonished me and left me a bit in awe were the solar powered robots and the mind reading using binary codes. These two were really innovative and it was really inspiring how students younger than me were able to come up with these projects.

What really made last saturday a surreal experience was the fact that I really interacted with the students and simply had fun trying out their inventions, inquiring about their projects and flat out just conversing and having a good time. I even made new friends and that feeling of gaining new friends will never get old.

The joy and extraordinary feeling one gets when interacting, socializing and getting to know new people is just indescribable. Quoting from my CLE teacher, we are social beings and we need each one in order to make the most out of our lives. Going to this science fair and getting to meet new people was an experience like no other and was definitely time well spent.

-DOitChoco