CASS Teams on PALAKASAN Quiz Bowl and Spelling Bee 2023: “It was still a good fight for us”

PALAKASAN Quiz Bowl and Spelling Bee is a competition testing the students’ knowledge of various subjects and testing their spelling ability. Yesterday, participants from the seven (7) colleges of MSU-IIT compete in the Quizbowl and Spelling competition held at the College of Engineering (COE) Amphitheater.

Each college has two (2) teams composed of four (4) participants. The College of Arts and Social Sciences (CASS) had Axl Llanes, Karl Anthony Ong, Vincent Balustre, and Jonand Rex Magallanes for Team 1; and Kana Francine Gatabon, Maris Lorenzo, Jevan Dela Cruz, Dhale Rose Solmayor for Team 2. The participants were tested on their knowledge of Mathematics, Science, General Information, History, Spelling, and MSU-IIT Matters.

In the first round, the two (2) CASS teams gained 10 points. In its 2nd round, CASS Team 1 gained 10 points, while CASS Team 2 gained 12 points, placing CASS Team 2 in the Top 10 in the 7th rank, while CASS Team 1 was eliminated. During the 3rd round, CASS Team 2 was eliminated placing the College of Science and Mathematics (CSM) Team 1, CSM Team 2, COE Team 1, CCS Team 1, and CEBA Team 1 in the Top 5 respectively. The Quizbowl and Spelling competition concluded with CSM Team 1 as the winner.

Despite the results, the CASS teams were still grateful and honored to have the chance to represent the Dendro Arachnids. “It was still a good fight for us”, Balustre said. He emphasized that competing for PALAKASAN for the first time is already a great step given the limited resources, limited preparations, and tight schedules. “...we don’t have a coach at all unlike any other colleges and it’s not our forte sab ang math, and other subjects na related sa [Science], but we still aced it naman sab, [at least], on our part…”, Balustre said.

Karl Ong added that as first-timers, being able to come this far — from representing their respective society during CASS Days to representing CASS for Palakasan and gaining high points during the first round even though they were not trained with a coach are already great achievements. “Nakadako gani mi’g points bahalag wala mi coach”, he added.

Mariz Lorenzo from Team 2 also expressed the same challenges they faced during the preparation for the competition. “Mas nice jud naay coach”, she said. Lorenzo expressed that they were shocked to see other colleges having a coach and having much preparation for the competition. She said that the best thing they did to prepare was just to do some “self-study” and since all of her teammates got tight schedules. Moreover, she added that having a coach would be an advantage for them because the questions given were not that easy. “Ang level sa questions [kay] professor level…”, she said.

Despite the challenges that these Arachnids faced during the preparation for the Quiz Bowl and Spelling competition for PALAKASAN 2023, they were still honored and grateful to represent CASS. What is important for them is that they knew they have done the best they could for the Damangs.