CKS College News

When we think of science, we often imagine an Einstein-esque individual wearing a white coat and speaking in tongues that only other Einstein-esque people understand.  With this stereotype, science seems to be isolated in a very far-flung place—the white, pristine laboratories—wherein only the chosen ones can enter.  The Science Learning Area (SLA) of CKSC’s Junior High School Department hopes to break the mold and bridge this gap.

With this objective, the SLA recently hosted two webinars via Zoom for grades 7 to 10 students last Friday, September 16, 2022, in celebration of Science Month.  As the theme for this year’s celebration, "Expanding the Horizon: The Future of STEM," these two webinars focused on science as the pivot for the continued growth of our local and global community.  Here, participants could get a feel for what science is really like and its important contributions to society.

In the first webinar, Dr. Emmanuel "Mel" Garcia, the current director of the La Salle Food and Water Institute, talked about coffee science in his webinar titled "SCIENCE! What Makes Coffee Cool."  His webinar focused on the role of science in the quality of a good cup of coffee, from the farm to the cup, as well as the impact of science-backed coffee quality on the local and global economy.

Afterwards, Dr. Dean Kyle Ang, a medical doctor and a homegrown CKSC alumnus, talked about monkeypox in his webinar titled "A New Global Threat: What You Need to Know."  His webinar focused on the history, nature, and prevention of monkeypox, which is a looming global threat after COVID-19.

The webinar series also opened question and answer forums at the end of each webinar to give participants the opportunity to clarify certain issues and misconceptions, and to also satisfy participants' further curiosity.  And to break the ice, the webinar hosts also provided participants with a science trivia question game that allowed participants to win gift tokens from CKSC.

SLA hopes each participant develops a new or renewed fondness for science and that, through this activity, the younger generation will be interested in venturing into STEM.