Recently, we covered the story of six young inventors from Roxas National Comprehensive High School who competed at the 2024 International Exhibition for Young Inventors (IEYI) in Taiwan, where they won medals for their innovative creations. In this piece, we’ll dive into how they achieved this remarkable success.
The international competition took place on August 4-5, showcasing their inventions: the “Cooling System for Swine Farms” and the “Smart Stick for the Visually Impaired.” The former clinched a gold medal at the event.
The young inventors made their projects to immediately address some situations in their community, such as agriculture and special needs. Jorvie Amistoso, Franz Jimenez, and Princess Audrex Magdayao said that idea for the Cooling System for the Swine Farm came after Jorvie, whose father was a livestock farmer in Roxas, once forgot to do his daily task of bathing the family’s pigs.
“Unfortunately, namatay yung baboy, namatay daw sa extreme heat. Ayun yung diagnosis ng veterinarian nung nagpa-consult kami sa kanya. Yung loss ay nag-setback po sa amin for a while since malaki na yung na-invest namin, around ₱20,000 sa baboy na iyon. Pinagalitan ako nun, at nag-isip ako ng paraan. Papaano kung maulit iyon at walang tao sa bahay? Kaya nag-isip kami ng device na makakatulong sa mga livestock farmers,” he narrated.
Althea Stephanie Morales, Mc Denver Rodriguez, and Meg Chloe Gilongos created the Smart Stick for Visually Impaired individuals as a way of improving aids.
The solar-powered Smart Stick had an array of additional features such as obstacle detections for people in the path, or water-level sensors for puddles, and a GPS tracking system, which sends an alert to relatives once the device breaks.
Althea said that their invention also had relevance even outside of the country.
“Pagdating namin sa Taiwan, kumbaga normal activities ng tao, nakita namin yung relevance ng paggamit ng cane doon,” she said.
RNCHS’ science department has been competing in international robotics competitions for years, previously winning a bronze and silver award for the same event from before.
Their coaches, Honnelley Balo and Asael Palermo, credited their wins to the students’ own passion for science, as well as the robust institutional support from the school faculty and parents.
“Every year po nagpapadala sila ng invitation through email. Nung nalaman namin ni Sir na yung mga invention ng mga bata ay may potential talaga na i-improve, nagsubmit kami,” Balo said.
Palermo also said that the students were disciplined, and took their guidance and advice easily, as they were already passionate about their inventions.
The young inventors had faced some setbacks, spending the weeks before the actual competition torn between refining their inventions and worrying about the funds needed for the trip to Taiwan.
As the 2014 IEYI was not a competition conducted by the Department of Education, the students received no stipend or reimbursement for their travel fees, paying for the trip out of pocket and with money raised or donated by stakeholders.
Mc Denver noted that external fears should not stop other young inventors from chasing their dreams. “Di naman po madali talaga na sumali sa mga ganitong competitions. Grabe po yung pressure na naramdaman namin before the competition, pero dapat di sukuan para makamit ang mga pangarap,” he said.
RNCHS Principal Felomina Alanis said that more students had the same capability and potential to be recognized on the international stage, and that they only needed the support and opportunities from stakeholders to be involved in their education.
“Hindi naman overnight na nakakamit namin ang goal na ito. Madami kaming tao na kinapitan, it takes a village to teach people. Kailangan na magtulong-tulong kami, especially with financial support (…) In the future hopefully, with the support of stakeholders, wala na silang iisipin, magpapractice na lang sila,” she said.
The fire of knowledge has been lit in these young investors, and they expressed their sentiments that other students should not let anything extinguish that same passion.
Franz stated that other students should also not be afraid to take risks when it comes to their dreams, while Chloe said that pursuing their true interests should trump whatever hardship they faced. Princess Audrex, the youngest at Grade 9, also echoed the same message of fearlessness.
“Kayang-kaya yan. (…) Wag na wag nilang i-disregard ang passion nila, kahit na may bashing, they should take it as a motivation to do better.”
