Sanggunian President Gio Tingson doesn’t back down in the face of natural disasters, but spelling is a different matter.
After having a hard time spelling “supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” during his turn in Tugon’s “Beat It” quiz bee on September 18, Tingson gave up spelling the word—and chuckled to himself.
“Beat It” is a spin-off of last year’s Tugon “Spellympics.” Project Head Clement Huang combined three types of challenges inspired by the game shows Jeopardy and Pinoy Henyo, and a spelling contest.
Huang said that besides having fun, he and the organizers wanted to promote better bonding between students and teachers, reflecting the concept of cura personalis through the contest. “It’s personalized teaching,” he said. “So, your teacher is not just your teacher but your friend.”
The goal, said Huang, is to make the audience happy. The organizers even told the teachers to just let loose. “Kung mag-asaran sila, fine (If they tease each other, it’s fine).”
“Also, through this event, we advocate our org’s cause—that we are doing this for the babies and girls (beneficiaries of Tugon) of our participating institutions and to raise funds,” he added.
Redemption
Huang and his team began planning the event two months earlier, however, there was still a low turnout of audience members as compared to last year’s crowded Escaler Hall.
“We didn’t foresee that there would be several events held the same day at the same time,” said Huang. He also attributed the low turnout to the long weekend, saying that most students preferred to go home early.
Although there was good effort put into the project, Huang still felt disappointment. “Sayang lang, sayang lang siya (It was a waste).”
But School of Social Sciences contestant Madel Ching, despite the smaller crowd, had fun competing. “I enjoyed being a contestant, and most especially being teammates with professors from my school,” she said.
However, Ching’s bubbly spirit wasn’t enough for her team to win the prize. Last year’s second placers from the School of Management (SOM), came back with vengeance as they outscored the representatives of the School of Science and Engineering.
“Nakabawi na last year (We finally redeemed ourselves from last year),” said Business Statistics Instructor Eugene Refuerzo. He was partnered with Senior Renchie Veracruz and Communications Technology Program Director Alyson Yap.
Refuerzo even displayed his expertise during the Jeopardy round with the question “the mathematics of gathering data.” The SOM instructor confidently answered “statistics,” without any hesitation.
The questions ranged from guessing literary quotes to remembering how Horacio Dela Costa’s hands are positioned in his monument in front of the Dela Costa building.
Wit and humor
There were five teams: four groups representing each of the Loyola Schools and one group representing the administration. Each team had two teachers or administrators and one student.
Despite the efforts pulled by defending champions from the School of Humanities, they had to settle for fourth place. However, they still generated hoots and laughter from the audience, especially after Filipino Instructor Ariel Diccion answered “Brad Pitt” when he was guessing “mashed potato” during the Pinoy Henyo round.
Veracruz said that he was not surprised that they won since he was partnered with good people. He also added that they really prepared well. “Plus nandito ako sa team ngayon (Plus I’m part of the team now),” he joked.
The fun-spirited Veracruz said that he prepared, as evident in his outfit, especially his knee-high brown boots. “[In terms of academics], I didn’t prepare because that’s stock knowledge.”
