By Edward C. Maratita, Jr.
The 2017 Eskuelan San Francisco de Borja Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Fair showcased the best and the brightest during their school level event held on February of this year.
At the school level event, five winners emerged to represent the school and the Luta community at the CNMI PSS Island Wide STEM Fair held on March 11, 2017 at Saipan Southern High School.
Eianne M. Ladao, Edward U. Maratita III, John Anthony Tobongbanua, Kaitlyn Balgoa, and Michael Jon T. Cantil represented the school.
After the judging, three students from ESFDB won awards in each grade clusters at the event.
Cluster 1 (K – 2nd): 1st Place – Eianne Miel M. Ladao (1st Grade)
Cluster 2 (3rd – 5th): 2nd Place – Edward U. Maratita, III (3rd Grade)
Cluster 3 (6th – 8th): 1st Place – Michael Jon T. Cantil (6th Grade)
The two first place winners will go on to compete in Guam to represent the CNMI in the upcoming Guam Island Wide Science Fair. The event will be held sometime in May of this year.
“It is amazing to see our students excelling in science. I am proud of the students and I look forward to seeing their continued success,” said administrator-principal Carmen H. Atalig. “It takes hard work and dedication to develop a worthy project. I am always astonished by the caliber of the research that our students are able to conduct.”
“Congratulations Eianne, Eddie Boy, AJ, Kaitlyn, and MJ! You represented the school and the Luta community above and beyond,” added Atalig.
“It’s an incredible payoff and bonus for all the hard work invested by our,” says ESFDB science fair coordinator Mary Rose S. Lucero.
“This is a great opportunity for students of all ages to show off their enthusiasm for science at the STEM fair,” added Lucero.
ESFDB science teacher Edward Maratita, Jr., had been taking part of the STEM fair whether chaperoning, observing, or judging, he sees a lot of interesting projects every year.
“The students are often quite nervous talking about their projects to the judges, but I ease their fears and tell them to simply “tell us what you did, why you did it, and what the benefits are.” Then, it becomes a “continuous learning process” for the student who finds out what to improve on for future projects,” said Maratita.
The administration and faculty would like to extend their appreciation to the parents of the STEM student representatives, CNMI Public School System, and Tita A. Hocog. Thank you, Un Sen Dangkulo Na Si Yu’us Ma’ase, Oloomway, and Maraming Salamat Po!
