MANILA, Philippines - Conceptualizing and designing an interactive exhibit to celebrate 50 years of human space flight in the “The Global Enterprise Challenge (GEC) 2011” is not rocket Science, at least not for six Miriam College High School (MCHS) students who placed fourth among 16 countries who joined the 24-hour international online competition last June.
Fourth year students Athena Antiporda, Louise Toledo, Kathrynne Rose Pizarro, Alyyana Antiporda (MCHS batch 2011), Sally Kong, and Nicole Catrina Santos were the representatives of Team Philippines who had to face this challenge: commemorate Yuri Gagarin’s first flight in space in April 1961 by coming up with an outstanding concept for an exhibit that will be for display in “Science museums around the world.”
Part of the challenge is coming up with a business plan that accounts the cost of exhibit’s development and its maintenance and how team intends to recover the expenses incurred.
Team Philippines came up with “Beyond” and created a simulated space launch that showcases the accomplishments, developments and advancement in the field of space exploration, starting with a capital investment of $500,000, and a projected return of $1.5 million in five years. The presentation was done online through a video that showed “interactive stations that stimulate the young mind to go beyond earth, time, and oneself.”
The team was commended for their approach to developing “upright citizens as well as space explorers” through the exhibit and found their proposal “to target schools directly” as innovative.
The team competed against 16 countries with the top three placers as Australia, New Zealand, and USA, respectively.
This is the second time MCHS has joined the same competition. “The GEC 2011 experience has helped our students become more empowered and analytical in their decision-making skills, traits that complement the school’s academic program.
It has also imbued in them a sense of responsibility to the national and global community,” says the team’s adviser Ma. Rosario Neri.