Lasallians bag 1st, 3rd Place in Inter-U Quiz
By: John Ray Estrellado
Never shall we fail!
With remarkable prowess and sharp-witted intellect, two teams from the Chemical Engineering Society (ChEn) were able to rank first and third place, in the 5th Students National Chemical Engineering Conference (sNCEC) Inter-University Quiz Bee at Bulwagang Tandang Sora, University of the Philippines – Diliman, November 15, 2015.
The two teams of De La Salle University (DLSU) emerged  victorious against 13 colleges and universities who joined the said competition. Among 28 participating teams, the team of Donna Angeles (112), Christian Balboa (113), and James Okusa (112) emerged first place, while the team of Jerome King (112), Ian Tobias (113), Joshua Kalaw (113) and Christian Uson (113) won third place in the competition.
The quizzers at the INTER-U. From left to right: Dr. Promentilla, Christian Uson, Ian Tobias, Jerome King, Joshua Kalaw, James Okusa, Donna Angeles and Christian Balboa.
The preparations made by the teams demanded vigor and passion in their pursuit for victory. Both teams underwent intensive training to reinforce their intellect in the field of Mathematics, Sciences, and their core engineering courses every Saturdays, and Thursday nights, regardless of whether they have an upcoming competition or not. Together, these teams sharpened their minds to achieve utmost speed, accuracy and quick-wit.
“As for preparation, we answered questions prepared by previous quizzers. Being a third year student, I, together with my other two batchmates, tend to ask the quizzers from upper batches to teach us concepts which we haven’t taken up yet. I guess we felt that we have a legacy to uphold. The DLSU quizzers are known to excel in these competitions and I guess we all took on the responsibility to make sure that that name would not be tainted,” mentioned Tobias.
The teams felt the pressure as the elimination round approached, knowing that they failed to win the previous competition they had with Malayan Colleges, Laguna.
“We do not want to fail the expectation of our trainers most especially that the competition actually served as our "pambawi" so we can redeem ourselves from our lost last time. Fortunately, we were qualified in the final round without having to compete in the wild card phase,” said Angeles.
Team A celebrating with all smiles after winning first place.
Amidst the past defeat of this year’s winning team in a contest sponsored by Malayan Colleges, Laguna, the team was not discouraged to bring home the bacon for De La Salle University.
“Our team was motivated by our loss in a competition last Sept. 26, which was held in Malayan Colleges Laguna. We didn’t make it to the Top 3 winners, while the other team bagged the 1st place. I think the most important thing here is the teamwork. For us, whenever there are conflicts with our answers, we can easily settle it with one another. I notice that we can easily connect with one another,”added Angeles.
Furthermore, the competition did not only enhance contenders’ awareness on the concepts anchored in Chemical Engineering, but also, they gained practice in tedious examinations like board exams and other licensure examinations. Team members from DLSU also mentioned that values such as camaraderie, trust, and preparedness are things the participants valued the most before, during, and after the competition.
Team B with their awards.
The team was mentored by Dr. Michael Promentilla, Professor, Chemical Engineering Department, together with past quizzers David Opoc and John Frederick Tapia.
The Inter-University Quiz is a quiz bee hosted by the University of the Philippines Chemical Engineering Society (UP KEM), which is a sub-event of the flagship event of UP KEM, the Students National Chemical Engineering Conference (sNCEC). At present, sNCEC has been running for five years.
On behalf of the Chemical Engineering Society, congratulations to the quizzers!
Photos by Jerome King, John Frederick Tapia and Christian Balboa.
