With the purpose of discovering and expanding the students’ creativity, the Grade 12 Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Strand students had an Outbound Trip last September 18, 2018. Included in our itineraries were St. Jerome Parish Church in Morong, Rizal; Cardona Livelihood Center in Cardona, Rizal; Pililla Wind Farm in Pililla, Rizal; lastly, the Sierra Madre Hotel and Resort in Tanay, Rizal.
For our Research Capstone, these places will be able to help us learn more about innovation.
The first stop is the St. Jerome Parish Church. It was built in 1615 at the town of Morong by the Chinese craftsmen. During the Spanish colonization, it served as the Pueblo’s center wherein people gather there whenever there are attacks from outside. but its main purpose is to be a place wherein Mass would be officiated.
STEM XIX FAM 
The architectural style of the church screams baroque. It has a 3 storey-façade that was built on 1850-1853. Since it was built by Chinese craftsmen, there are several evidences or marks that was left there such as the two Chinese lion sculptures (a male and a female), and the sculpture that looks like the head of a dragon. The cross at the top of the bell tower illuminates at night and it served as a guide to the fishermen around the area. The bricks were built using egg white and adobe.
One amazing thing about the Church is that when you speak in front, people can still hear you at the back. It’s shaped like a dome that enables sound to bounce back and thus creates an echo. Way back then, technologies like microphones and speakers do not exist, it was only because the church was shaped like a dome that people can hear what the priest will say. This is one of the creative and useful ideas from the past.
The next stop was at the Cardona Livelihood Center wherein the Water Hyacinth Facility and the Bamboo Processing Facility was situated. Initially known as a pest, the water hyacinth deemed to be the one who prevented the fishermen from continuing their livelihood. Boats cannot go out to Laguna de Bay because water hyacinths blocked their way. Through time, people realized that they need to do something about this pest and eventually they made use of it and ended up being a source of livelihood.
In the water hyacinth facility, water hyacinths are harvested, dried and sorted into different products such as mats, bags, wallpapers, hats and other products. These hyacinths were once considered as pests but eventually, they became one of the main source of income of the people in Cardona. It also gave an opportunity for the community to create more jobs for the people in which almost 80% of the community works in this project. The water hyacinth was once considered a problem but has now turned into one of their top products. A blessing in disguise indeed.
On the other hand, bamboo, being an abundant plant in Asian countries is also utilized by the Bamboo Processing Facility which was funded by the Department of Trade and Industry in the said livelihood center. They use bamboo and convert it into engineered bamboo or crafted bamboo. The crafted bamboos were the ones that are sculpted and turned into products like bamboo speakers, wine holder and coin banks. Most of the time, they still resemble the shape of the bamboo.
The engineered bamboos were the bamboos that goes through the processes such as pole harvesting, cutting, waning, assembly, glueing and pressing. They are converted into another type of wood called “engineered bamboo” which can be used for products like chairs, dresser, and tables.
Nowadays, people are consuming too much wood products for furniture such as bed frames, tables, chairs, wood for building houses, doors, and other wood products that we harness from hardwood trees. These hardwood trees take a long time to grow, probably for millions of years and people just cut it without replacing with another tree.
With the utilization of the bamboo as an alternative for other wood products, the usage and cutting of hardwood trees will be lessened. Those hardwood trees can be helpful in preventing global warming and climate change. On another note, bamboo can grow as fast as 10 years’ time. Using bamboo will be able to promote a more environment friendly products and additionally, it will be able to prevent further destruction of the nature.
The third stop was Pililla Wind Farm. Situated at Pililla, Rizal it boasts wind turbine generators that can support about 66,000 households. Its turbines were made abroad and has a life span of 35 years. It as a project by Alternergy Wind One Corporation, a renewable energy company who was also in charge of the Bangui Bay Wind Farm. Due to its strategic location, the wind power is greatly used as a renewable source of energy.
It has become one of the tourist spots around Luzon but its main purpose is to supply a renewable energy. Recently, the use of non-renewable resources has been very alarming. It will take lots of years to generate fossil fuels that later on will be burned and will be used for energy. With the launching of the wind farm, the consumption of non-renewable resources will be lessened. Choosing a more natural and clean energy will be beneficial not only for the people but also for the environment.
The last stop was at Sierra Madre Hotel and Resort which is located at Tanay, Rizal. We had our team building with the activities like “egg-gineering” & human knot.
We were also tasked to think of a new product out of the water hyacinth. Out of all the groups, one group from our section was able to protect the egg from cracking in the activity called “Egg-gineering”. We covered it a lot and put a triangular frame around it, that’s why it did not crack when it was thrown from a high place. The second one which is the human knot tested the our teamwork and the ability to think over time pressure. The losing team (which was us) ended up crawling under the legs of the winning team. This also displayed sportsmanship between two teams.
Due to time constraints, the last activity wherein we were tasked to think of a new product out of the water hyacinth was done at the bus. The ability to be creative and innovative was tested and the two groups from our section, STEM-19 showed great products. One is a bouquet wrapper, that instead of using plastics when covering flowers, they opted to use the woven water hyacinth. The winning group ( our group!!) had a product which is an alternative to carton cup holders. It lessens the use of cartons that was made from trees – which is much needed by the environment.
During the outbound trip, we were able to discover and have fun at the same time. Our creativity, skills, thinking abilities and character were tested. The outbound trip is an activity that stokes the willingness of a student to go beyond the barriers. Combined with the willingness to do those things for others and for the environment, we can say that innovation and creativity will take people to places.
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