La Union students were hailed champions in the Fully Residential Schools International Symposium held in Kuala, Lumpur, Malaysia recently.
The two teams from Science High School of Lorma Colleges in San Juan bagged two gold medals after their research project anchored on the theme “Education nurtures solidarity and harmony” bested entries from Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, India, and host country Malaysia
Organized by the Ministry of Education Malaysia, the annual international research competition gathers the brightest high school students to exchange ideas, and experiences by applying the skills of effective communication, management, public-speaking, leadership, social ethics and creative thinking in the international arena.
“We decided on ‘socio-cultural development and human rights advocacy’ because the country has diverse culture, tradition and religion,” Grant Ganuelas, a Grade 10 student who led the second team, said.
Ganuelas also cited that ‘despite the diversity, people give a high value to human rights.’
According to international researches, the Philippines ranks seventh among the most gay-friendly countries in the world and 10th out of 17 countries in terms of gender equality. The Lorma students highlighted these in their discourse entitled “Mainstreaming the Culture of Peace through Education” which they presented before the Malaysian panel.
“Peace is something the world has wanted to achieve and we want to join our heroes and the people who are fighting for peace,” Maurin Marron, from the other team, said.
They proposed the conduct of a Peace Summit for students who will be Persons of Peace (POP). The latter be part of the Persons of Peace Movement (POPM) to promote a culture of peace.
Dr. Jose Mainggang, executive director of Lorma Colleges, said he hoped to sit down with the Department of Education and other educators to share the achievement of their students.
“We want to present the fruit of the hard work of these students on their research to excite interest and discussion,” Mainggang said.
The students’ coach Fernando Oringo said they researched the socio-economic and cultural issues of the different municipalities in the province, such as the pottery industry of San Juan town.
Meanwhile, other international youth engagements to be attended by Science High School students here include the Asean International Youth Camp in Fuijan province, China and the Final Thailand- Asean Youth Camp, both on October 17.