I received yesterday a call from a former student of mine. I was told that she was invited by Pisay to judge in their Science Congress. How's that again!? I thought I was induced into a mild shock, I tried to recover from what I have just heard... My former student was invited by Pisay to judge in their Science Congress? I increased the volume of my phone to check that I was hearing her right. Yes, she assured me... She was invited by Pisay to judge in their Science Congress!
But of course, I should not have doubted it. Her batch is an academic powerhouse. I remember that her group back then worked on the rate of acclimatization of Solanum tuberosum for their IP... It was a novel idea in agro-science as it proved the possiblity of growing highland taro plants on the lowlands. I also remember that their group would even have to spend weekends in my place to analyze the data that they have vigorously collected over a period of six months. I can't imagine how they transformed my place into a makeshift laboratory. Unfortunately for their group, they have to make do with Fifth Place. The Top Prize went to a younger batch that looked into the antibiotic potential of certain microorganisms that are autochthonous to the hides of toads. Their IP won 4th Place at the National Intel Science Fair in Diliman. These two groups along with practically all the groups I've made in all the classes I've handled back then, frequented my place every weekend and turn our stove into a "Bunsen Burner" and our oil bottles into "petri-dishes". We called our group and our meetings, "The Weekend Society".
In my conversation with her, she asked me about certain aspects in the criteria that puzzled her like scientific and engineering relevance... haha... I don't have an answer myself. Then we traded recollections of the years that were, when they have to spend every hour of everyday of every week for so many months, just collecting data and analyzing them... sometimes ending up with insignificant results. Then they have to start all over again. In those years, I saw how tears were shed in pursuit of knowledge infinite. But the thought of having been able to contribute an idea or two for the advancement of scientific inquiry is itself their own reward.
She graduated at the University of the Philippines two years ago. Except for two classmates, their batch all went to the University of the Philippines. When after a month after her graduation, I chanced upon meeting her at UP, I asked her about what she makes of her newly minted UP degree. Her reply was curt. She said that her science education at Pisay is what defined her science education at UP.
Ah... Time... So fleeting... So evanescent.
Her call of course came at a confluence in time. At Berea, Science Congress is scheduled on the 16th of this month.
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