The MOEP and MOSSS for AY 2009-2010

What makes a student outstanding? Is it the school, the teacher, or the student himself? Do the school and the teacher matter?

Solomon Integrated School De Iloilo in Tabuc Suba, Jaro, Iloilo City could be a hole-in-the-wall of a school, with its small building that is lost among the neighboring residential houses and a small number of enrollees which thankfully is proportional to the number of yayas, and correspondingly both numbers, thankfully again, do not crowd the narrow streets around the school.

Such an innuendo in numbers maybe pejorative but, yes, that small school has created waves in the Mathematics world because its student has carried the name of the Philippines in international Math competitions. It could be that Solomon is an offshoot of a tutorial center and that its small number of students just lends credence to the one-on-one tutor-student feel of a tutorial school. But it could be that tutorial approach that really polishes the students into world class ingénues.

For the first time, Solomon Integrated School De Iloilo joined the Search for Ten Outstanding Elementary Pupils of Iloilo. And immediately it clinched the number one spot among the top 10, with its nominee LEO EMMANUEL OCCENO SOMBIRO, being named the Most Outstanding Elementary Pupil of Iloilo for the academic year 2009-2010.

Sombiro is a Math whiz and has represented the country in competitions in Luckhow, India, and in the recent International Math Olympics in Iloilo City participated in by at least seven countries. He could be the symbol of the pupils of his batch - at ease with the Academics as he topped the Academics portion of the Search. But he is not the nerdy type as he too is adept in campus journalism, leadership, public speaking, and even personality contests in his school.

Santa Barbara National Comprehensive High School may not be synonymous with excellence or exclusivity. But sometimes, there exists a student who just wanted to rise from ordinariness and the stereotype of a public rural high school. No mountain could stay unclimbed. No ocean could remain uncrossed as the student just wanted to test the limits of how far he can go.

BRYAN ERIC T. CEREBO is a student who wanted to get out of the confines of his school. Reading his resume, one would have thought he is enrolled in some renowned and pricey schools in Metro Manila. He is the National President of the Federation of Supreme Student Governments, an umbrella organization of all high school student governments in the Philippines and he too presides over the National Secondary Editors Guild, which is made up of all editors of high school publications in the country. Last December, he was in Japan as a Philippine Ambassador of Goodwill, sponsored by the American Field Service – Japan East Asia Network of Exchange. Probably, nothing can stop Bryan from his quest for more achievement. Not even, or more so, as he is now the Most Outstanding Secondary School Student of Iloilo after taking the number one position among the top ten. This is a double OSCI medal for Bryan as he was already an OSCI awardee five years ago, as one of the Ten Outstanding Elementary Pupils of Iloilo, representing the more remote New Lucena Central Elementary School. He truly lives the OSCI motto of ‘making a difference’ in his endeavors.

As this year’s MOSSS, Bryan epitomizes his OSCI batch – excellent in the Academics but never geeky as they too excel in leadership. Oozing with charisma and brimming with the idealism of youth, the awardees are sporting the bright and hopeful face of the Philippines. Cut their wrists, and out flows, not blood, but the master plan of the Philippines ten years from now.




LEO EMMANUEL OCCENO SOMBIRO (above, left) and BRYAN ERIC T. CEREBO (above, right) are the Most Outstanding Elementary Pupil and the Most Outstanding Secondary School Student of Iloilo, respectively, for AY 2009-2010.

The list of the other awardees will be published soon.

Patience is a virtue.@