An annual inter-collegiate quiz contest “PACSiklaban” hosted by the Philippine Association of Chemical Societies, Inc. (PACS) is what some college chemistry students from different universities look forward to. This year, the contest was held last March 24 at Adamson University.
In UP Los Baños, the preparation started during the last week of October wherein top performing BS Chemistry and BS Agricultural Chemistry students were screened. This event is held to assess their competency in solving problems in the field of Chemistry.
Rigorous trainings were done for the participants which include review sessions in several branches of chemistry including General Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Physical Chemistry, Analytical Chemistry, and Biochemistry. Coaches review students by fast tracking courses and giving questions at the end of review sessions.
This year, seven students from the Institute of Chemistry were chosen to represent UPLB, three of them has already joined the previous PACSiklaban which are Rollan Parakikay, the team captain of the team, Kim Bolanos and Cesar Quizon Jr. together with the newly recruited members including Carmel Rolloque, Russel Molina, Brian Permejo and Edrian Monforte. The head coach of the team is Mr. Noel Maape together with other coaches including Ms. Peñafrancia Monte, Ms. Naela Delmo, Mr. Phillip Arche, Mr. Peter Dequiña, and Mr. Melvin Castrosanto all of which are former members of the team and are now instructors in the Institute of Chemistry-UPLB.
The contest has two major rounds, the Elimination part wherein 10 teams from different universities competed for the Final round. Five teams were able to continue in the final round including Ateneo de Manila University, Adamson University, UP Manila Team A, UP Manila Team B and UPLB. During the final round, the UPLB team garnered a close fight with UP Manila Team A during the first two rounds. They started excelling in the difficult round, making large gap with the second team as they answer most of the questions correctly. In the end a landslide score of 160 points makes UPLB on top of the competition, followed by UP Manila Team A with 103 points and on the third place is the Ateneo De Manila University with a final score of 100 points.
The team also finished as champions last year, which was held at UP Manila. Indeed, the dedication of the members and of the coaches to represent well the university does not fade through time!