By Princess Pauleen Oprin

The battle of the brains ended with the STEM strand dominating both competitions.

On January 29, 2025, the ABM, HUMSS, STEM, and TVL strands competed against each other in spelling bee and quiz bee at VHA Quadrangle.

The STEM participants in spelling bee are Emanuel Amancio and Thervin Marfil from grade 11; Elija Pajemolin and Razel Paleracio from grade 12.

“The preparations for the competition were just reading pieces of literature and taking note of unfamiliar words. During the competition, the communication between me and my teammates was clear of any misunderstandings. If we don't know the word, we let another member answer, and if not, we make an educated guess based on the words we already know,” Amancio said. 

ABM and STEM strand competed closely at the easy round of the spelling competition. However, as they entered the difficult round, STEM strand got the word Troubadour that secured the win for the team.

The easy and average round of the spelling competition contains ten words and five for difficult.

While, the quiz bee competition started with ten questions for easy round in which STEM led with 7 points, followed by both ABM and HUMSS with  6 points, and TVL with 5 points.  

The STEM participants in quiz bee are Lorraine Anne Brion, Jan Geoffrey Docena, and Alliver Narciso from grade 11; Charles Dewin Boncolino, Maxinne Duhaylungsod, and Daisy Ville Jean Paclibar from grade 12.

“Our preparation for the competition was unfortunately limited.  As grade 11 students, we only had a same-day review because we received notification about the competition that same morning.  However, we were fortunate to have grade 12 students on our team who had more time to prepare, and we are very grateful for their help,” Brion said. 

“We focused on supporting each other and working collaboratively to achieve the best possible outcome,” Brion added. 

The participants are a team consisting of students from both grade 11 and 12. In the spelling bee, two grade 11 and two grade 12 students are required. While on quiz bee, three grade 11 and three grade 12 students made the team.

Three rounds were prepared per competition; easy, advanced, and difficult.