Synergy 2016 to Focus on the Development of Smart Communities

Wazzup Pilipinas!

This four-day academic convention has always been a venue of sharing ideas for those in the field of Electrical and Electronics Engineering to explore related career paths to help them build and develop the nation. On its fifth year, Synergy encourages the students to develop and promote technological innovations for safer and smarter communities.

This November 8-11 2016, Synergy would be having its five main events; TECHNO TALK, a discussion including topics on security and information and INGENIOUS IDEAS, a problem-solving competition involving the participants and panel, REVOLUTIONARY ROBOTICS, a competition with autonomous robots, DYNAMIC DISCOURSE, an immersive company tour, and CORPORATE CONNECTION, the culminating event of SYNERGY. The first two events would occur in the first day (November 8) and the following days (November 9-11) would have the aforementioned events respectively.

University of the Philippines Engineering Radio Guild has always aimed to bring together the EEE student body for the betterment of the Electrical and Electronics Engineering industry. Synergy is one of the mediums which the organization uses to achieve this goal. Synergy will potentially increase the quality of Engineers and Developed technologies. Synergy would act as a basin for EEE students to output their accumulated knowledge and skill for the improvement of the country’s tomorrow.

The organization began when Electrical Engineers and some radio enthusiasts led by Solon Matthew Dakis pushed towards acquiring a license to put up a radio station. UP ERG found both a name and home in the UP Campus in the year 1935.

To learn more, visit up-erg.org, or e-mail us at execom@up-erg.org

Filipino Short Film “Caretaker” Wins in Egypt

Wazzup PIlipinas!

The short film “Caretaker,” directed by advocacy filmmaker Seymour Barros Sanchez and produced by Red Room Media Productions, recently won second place in the short fiction category of the sixth CAM International Festival for Short Films in Cairo, Egypt.

The film, which is co-written by Kristine Camille Sulit and Sanchez, is about a newly hired custodian of a vacation house who finds the gruesome conclusion of a fraternity’s initiation rites too much to handle. Rolando Inocencio plays the title role with John Paul Duray, Raymond Rinoza, Jomari Angeles, Luis Ruiz, Ryan Sy, Vince Rillon and Ron Nacianceno providing support.

The film festival, organized annually by the Egyptian Arab Society for Culture, Media and Arts, aims to promote cinema as a means of combating ignorance, terrorism and poverty.

“Plankton” by Russian filmmaker Giovana Olmos edged “Caretaker” for the top prize in the short fiction category while “Jasmenco” by Syrian director Wathec Salman placed third. “The Daughters of Mother India” by Indian filmmaker Vibha Bakshi topped the documentary category while “Sintel” by American animator Colin Levy, “Bear Story” by Gabriel Osorio Vargas of Chile and “Empsillnes” by Jakub Grygier of Poland led the entries in the animation category. The comedic film “Ave Maria” by British-Palestinian director Basil Khalil bagged the Jury Prize. Meanwhile, Morocco’s entry “Houkak” directed by Younes Yousfi was hailed Best Arabic Film.

Arab Film TV School director and cinematographer Dr. Mona El Sabban headed the CAM film festival jury comprised of members Dr. Nagwa Mahrous and actress Nada Bassiouny from Egypt, film critic Yusuf Shayeb from Palestine and Dr. Bou Shoaib El Masoudi from Morocco.

Jahzeel Abihail Cruz, Third Secretary and Vice Consul of the Embassy of the Philippines in Cairo, received the second prize trophy and certificate from CAM film festival director and chairman Alaa Nasr on behalf of the “Caretaker” team during the awarding ceremonies last October 13.

“Caretaker” has also been selected as one of the ten finalists in the Active Vista International Human Rights Film Festival short film competition currently being organized by the DAKILA artist collective. The film previously won the Golden Philippine Eagle award and Best Actor trophy for Inocencio at the third Singkuwento International Film Festival co-organized by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts last February. It was also shown at the 22nd annual Filipino International Cine Festival (FACINE) at the Roxie Theater in San Francisco, California and the International Film Festival Manhattan at the Producers Club in New York City. 

Sanchez is a lecturer at the Digital Filmmaking department of the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde School of Design and Arts, the Department of Communication of Far Eastern University and the Arts and Education program of the College of the Holy Spirit-Manila. He also currently serves as adviser of the FEU Film Society. Apart from graduating from Brillante Mendoza’s first directing class, he is also a graduate of Ricky Lee’s 14th scriptwriting workshop and a member of Writers Studio. He previously worked as a producer for CNN Philippines, Solar News and TV5.

World Teacher’s Day: A Dedication to Teachers Who Tech

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Lorelee Dedoroy Asignacion, is a Microsoft Innovative Educator (MIE), teaching at Bata National High School in the Philippines. Her journey began in 2012, when she was a finalist for the Microsoft Innovative Teachers’ Leadership Awards. Her winning entry was an activity about raising environmental awareness among local officials, where students were required to use technology as a platform for conducting research on the environment, organising mangrove-planting sessions in other cities and creating presentations for local officials.

Since then, her students have enjoyed getting involved in other environmental projects such as clean-up drives and environmental camps, using tools such as Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Publisher and PhotoStory, to share their findings on environmental issues.

Inspired by this experience, Asignacion endeavoured to introduce this to her colleagues. She demonstrated to them that even with limited Internet access in school, technology can still be integrated into lessons in many ways, such as by using quizzes created through PowerPoint and its hyperlink functions.

“The teachers love that technology has made their lessons more interactive and engaging than ever before, even without much additional effort,” said Asignacion. “What I find more rewarding is how students are raring to use them after seeing how these apps work. For instance, they now use PhotoStory in class to celebrate their classmates’ birthdays!”