Beyond Braniac
A Showcase of Filipino Pride
Through the participation of Lourdes School of Mandaluyong in the recently concluded “Braniac: Clash of the Sci-Tech Qualifiers”, their students exemplified their prowess in the subjects of Science, Mathematics, and Research. It was a tightly contested battle with a well-deserved victory for a spot in the final round for the Junior High School and Senior High School participants. However, with their qualification for the final round, what does this mean for the country? After all, this small but sweet victory doesn’t just show individual capabilities, but the potential for us Filipinos to shape our society for the better.
Though this victory was well-deserved, our journey getting there was anything but pleasant and easy. Being an honor student is already a difficult task to accomplish; what more if you are a Brainiac participant? Only the most deserving students get an opportunity to fight in this prestigious competition. Those invited undergo private training sessions and collaborative work to learn new techniques and develop critical thinking skills. Despite the pressure to review various topics and to keep up with the other schools in the competition, we persevered through and learned advanced lessons in Math and Science. In such a short period of time, we were able to gain brothers through school mates who had greatly helped us in the training.
A popular Filipino proverb, “Kung may tiyaga, may nilaga,” perfectly encapsulates our efforts before the competition. We understood that we had to give our best in those hardcore training sessions for our efforts to be fruitful, even when the going gets tough. When the day of the competition came, we were initially intimidated by the atmosphere and the numerous schools from Metro Manila participating in the competition. We saw that public schools, private schools, and science high schools from different cities in the region were present. Eventually, we had to come face-to-face with our fears and bring glory to the school, to our country, and to God. During the entire competition, we enjoyed every part of it, despite not knowing if we would qualify or not. We knew we gave it our all, and there was nothing else we could do but to leave it to God.
In this journey of discovery and opportunity, we realized that this competition is not just meant to pit school against school to see which is the best. Rather, it is a showcase of pure Filipino talent and pride, to show the world that we Filipinos are capable of doing more. Through this competition and many other competitions, we show that the youth of today is a force not to be reckoned with. Even the everyday student can change his surroundings if he puts effort into it. The quote “Why settle for less, when we deserve the best?” should be our guiding motto to use our intellect and talent to help our fellow countrymen and lift this country from the ashes for a better future. We should put our heart, mind, and soul into the things we do, for our country and for God.
