Gokongwei Brothers Foundation (GBF) sponsored the Department of Education’s (DepEd) 2019 National Science and Technology Fair (NSTF) and is set to back contest winners qualified to compete in the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) in Phoenix, Arizona in May.
Through NSTF, DepEd promotes science and technology consciousness among public or private high school students by enabling them to produce science-based research works and solutions for their communities.
NSTF is the only Philippine high school science fair qualified to send delegates to ISEF, the largest international science research competition for pre-college students. In the past decade, NSTF winners have consistently won awards in ISEF.
As DepEd’s partner, GBF will support the Philippine delegation with an all-expenses-paid trip to ISEF 2019.
“We are honored to support DepEd NSTF and its goal of producing excellent young Filipino science researchers and innovators. We believe that quality STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) education is the driving force of sustainable national development and our sponsorship of NSTF signifies our commitment towards igniting interest and upholding excellence in STEM among the youth," said Grace Colet, GBF executive director.
Over a hundred grade 7 to 12 student-researchers from public and private schools nationwide participated in the 5-day NSTF competition at the Tagaytay International Convention in February. From a field of more than 51 entries, all first-place winners in their regions, DepEd chose the Best Six Projects under Life Science, Physical Science, and Robotics and Intelligent Machines categories.
These top research projects by 12 students will undergo DepEd’s rigorous review and boot camp to prepare them for the international competition. The final delegates to ISEF 2019 will then be selected and recognized as the first recipients of the Gokongwei Brothers Foundation Young Scientist Award.
With advancing STEM as its core thrust, GBF is guided by its mission of building the future through education. For the past 25 years, GBF has built quality learning facilities, granted scholarships to deserving youth, supported academic institutions through endowments and donations, and created synergies geared toward promoting STEM and uplifting the Filipino.