Tacloban students to Water Rocket Competition

MANILA, Philippines - Two Filipino high school students will represent the country in the Asia Pacific Regional Space Agency Forum (APRSAF) Water Rocket Competition to be held next month in Melbourne, Australia. 

Julius Dacuycoy and Edward Louie Chua of the Asia Development Foundational College (ADFC) in Tacloban City bested 23 other schools and will compete against 20 other countries in Asia and the Pacific in the APRSAF Water Rocket Competition.  

Dacuycoy and Chua are fourth and third year high school students of ADFC, respectively.

ADFC was also the Philippine representative to the last APRSAF Water Rocket Competition held in Bangkok, Thailand in February this year.

The APRSAF was established in 1993 to enhance space activities in the Asia-Pacific region.

According to the Science Education Institute (SEI), this year’s competition challenged students to land their rockets inside a specific target. Students were to launch their rocket from a 60-meter distance and should land it within a three-meter radius from the target.  

Rockets that land beyond the radius are not given scores. Schools are allowed two launches.

“ADFC was the only school to land their rocket within the range, successfully setting their rocket down 2.65 meters from the target,” the SEI said in a statement. 

SEI director Ester Ogena said the agency conducts yearly the Water Rocket Launching Competition as part of the World Space Week Celebration to provide a venue for students and teachers to learn more about space science. 

“Competitions are great venues for our students to put their best foot forward and exercise their excellence and skill.  Through this contest, we are able to identify students who have the knack for science who in turn could be provided the training to develop their full potential and, eventually, provide the science and technology backbone of the Philippines,” she said.

SEI, an attached agency of the Department of Science and Technology, was designated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as the focal point for the space education program and related activities in the Philippines.