The Cosmic Wonderer : Faces of Philippine Astronomy

(Disclaimer: This blog contains a lot of emotions. This is for my IB CAS reflection and evidence)

For the past two months, I, together with the Judenite's Astronomical Organization, organized a talk entitled the “Faces of Philippine Astronomy,” wherein we will feature famous astronomers, physicists, and astrophysicists here in the Philippines, to talk about their career in their fields (LO3). The speakers for this event are Dr. Perico Esguerra, Dr. Reinabelle Reyes, Dr. Rogel Sese, Engineer Camilo Dacanay, and Professor Norman Marigza. The event happened on January 13, 2018, from 1:00 pm to 6:00 pm at the Father Peter Yang Hall of Saint Jude Catholic School.

Dr. Perry proceeded to talk about exo-planets and exo-moons and in the ways in which we can detect and classify an object as such. Dr. Reina tackled the existence of aliens, and their probable location here in the universe if they are alive. Dr. Rogel meanwhile gave an in-depth procedure on how we can establish the Philippines' first space agency, and how it can benefit the Philippines and the Filipino community. Engineer Dacanay discussed geologic activities and climate change which are occurring on our planet. Lastly, Professor Norman gave an inspiring talk on how we can create opportunities here in the Philippines through collaborations and communications.

There are around 100 - 150 participants in the said event.

The main objective of this event is to inspire the future generation of Filipino youths to be scientists someday.

When I organized this event, at the start, I am really optimistic that everything will turn out fine since, in this event, we introduce the idea of having sponsors to cover the expenses for our event. However, as days passed by, I realize that my initial assumption that this journey will be easy is wrong since there are no companies who are willing to sponsor us. Even just a minimal amount of 1,000 pesos is a no to them. Because of this, at one point, I almost give up. But giving up is not in my dictionary so I told myself that I have to work hard. The fruits of my labor have finally turned into reality when finally, we were able to generate a sufficient fund for this event to push through (LO2 and LO4). In this CAS activity, I learned the value of hard work and not giving up.

To sum all my feelings up, at first I am feeling hopeless that this will turn out fine since we don’t have the necessary financial support in order for this event to push through. However, due to my hard work, I was able to generate sufficient amount of money, so now I am feeling optimistic.

Overall, I am very happy that I organized this event even though this event also took up a lot of my time and has caused me severe headaches at times. I realized that in this event, I was able to inspire a lot of Filipino youths to also be involved with the field of science. This is a mission accomplished for me.

I was able to accomplish all of the IB learner profile and IB learning outcomes that I wished to develop through this event. I was able to develop that I am knowledgeable when I am using my knowledge of astronomy and physics to aid some speakers with their presentation (LO1). I exhibit communicator when I used my communication skills to plan this event smoothly (LO5). I am balanced since I was able to plan this event while also planning two other CAS projects. I exhibit being a risk-taker since I know from the start that planning any event is already a risk because you might not say so that everything will turn out right, but I chose to push through with this event.

The program ended at around 6 pm with the resounding cheers from people of different organizations to congratulate us for a job well done.

Evidence

Pose for the Certificate of Appreciation. Starting from the left is Sobina Yu, Engineer Camilo Dacanay, Dr. Rogel Sese, Dr. Reina Reyes, Dr. Perry Esguerra, Professor Norman Marigza, and Mr. Marlon Ocfemia.