Shell Eco-marathon Asia: Bogo student scientists to join Singapore international tilt

CEBU, Philippines - Thirteen budding student scientists from Bogo City in northern Cebu are among the country’s representatives to an international competition to be held in Singapore later this month.

The high school students of the City of Bogo Science and Arts Academy (CBSAA) will battle against representatives from other prestigious schools in Asia in the Shell Eco-Marathon Asia 2017 slated on March 16 to 17.

The Shell Eco-Marathon is an annual competition sponsored by Shell that challenges student teams to design, build, test and drive the most fuel-efficient vehicles. It is held around the world with events in Europe, America and Asia.

The young scientists will compose one team of the 14 teams to represent the Philippines in this renowned international event, Bogo City’s Public Information and Communications Office said in a statement yesterday.

The group dubbed “Team Masiyentista” is the only group to represent the whole Visayas region with its vehicle entry called “Labyug,” a former local mode of transportation.

Bogo City Public Information Officer Rhett Vincent Minguez said Team Masiyentista will participate in the Prototype-Internal Combustion Engine category with a gasoline-run vehicle, which has a carbon fiber exterior and is shaped like a raindrop to allow it to cut through the air as efficiently as possible.

Team Masiyentista, along with other 13 teams from the Philippines, will be competing against 100 teams in Singapore, the host country for this year’s Shell Eco-marathon Asian leg, to push the boundaries of energy efficiency.

Asia’s Shell Eco-marathon was held at the Rizal Park in Manila for the past two years.

The team, Minguez said, is confident that Labyug will finish with a record fuel efficiency of not below 200 km/l.

Chastren Soon, faculty adviser, said the school’s participation in SEM Asia 2017 marks a milestone for CBSAA in molding innovative leaders and globally competitive students.

“This will usher in building a bridge for students to transcend a world of mere blueprints to actual application,” she said.

For his part, Bogo City Mayor Carlo Martinez said, “The SEM Asia 2017 is a wonderful opportunity to showcase the ingenuity, knowledge and skills of our young Bogohanons on the global stage.”

The Team competed in last year’s Shell Eco-Marathon Asia in Manila where it won fifth place in the Best University Launch.

Minguez said it was the first time that a secondary school from the Philippines joined the competition and won.

Majority of the teams that joined last year’s competition were college engineering students, owing to their technical background in conceptualizing and building the vehicles, she added. (FREEMAN)