Four Pinay students bag medal in int’l environmental contest

Four senior Filipino students from Greenhills took home medals for their research projects in an  environmental contest held in the United States last month.

The four, all students of Immaculate Conception Academy, won gold and bronze medals in the Global Environmental Issues and Us (GENIUS) Olympiad 2015 held at the State University of New York at Oswego last June 14 to 19.

Annicka Koteh and Anjeli Panis bagged a gold medal for their "The Feasibility of Utilizing Sago (Metroxylon sagu) Starch and Virgin Coconut (Cocos nucifera) Oil in the Production of an Antibacterial and Biodegradable Plastic Coating."

Koteh and Panis' study dealt with creating alternatives to fossil-fuel-based plastic coatings for plastic wares such as plates and cups.

On the other hand, Melissa Cheng and Tiffany Lao took home a bronze medal for “A Study on the Varying Amounts of Polyvinyl Alcohol (PVOH) and Cassava (Manihot esculenta) Starch as a Biodegradable and Water Soluble Alternative for Polystyrene Packaging Loose Fill.”

Their study also focused on discovering an environmentally-friendly alternative to plastic by using polyvinyl alcohol and cassava starch in non-toxic loose fills to replace non-biodegradable polystyrene packaging peanuts used in transporting boxes.

The GENIUS Olympiad is an international event hosted by the State University of New York that brings together gifted high school students for environmental solutions in the fields of Science, Arts, Creative Writing, Engineering, Design, and Business Development.

Now on its fifth year, 401 projects were selected for GENIUS out of 1,171 submissions from 69 countries.

The Philippine representatives participated in the science category where students provide understanding and solutions to environmental problems using scientific knowledge. Students presented solutions using scientific methods for a problem under the following categories: Environmental Quality, Ecology and Biodiversity, Resource and Energy, and Human Ecology. —Rie Takumi/KBK, GMA News