We Screamed "Mabuhay ang Pilipinas!" in Beijing, China at ISDC 2019

Last year, (July 23-28, 2019), we flew in to Beijing, China to compete for the International Science Drama Competition 2019. This is an annual event that aims to promote Science through drama and allows the participants to incorporate their passion for science into acting. I served as one of the judges in the competition and together with me were two of my museum colleagues (Ms. Maan and Mikee Angela ) and our country's representatives, students from H. Bautista Elementary School (HBES) in Marikina City. This year's theme was "Chemistry makes life better.", in line with the United Nations declaration that 2019 is the International Year of the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements.

The journey that HBES went through was truly an inspiring one and simply showed that we can achieve something that could change the lives of these kids. They had to initiate fundraising campaigns in order to gather funds that were used for the processing of their travel documents, accommodations, food, etc. It was actually their first passport, first visa, and first international trip!

BHES presented "The Clue to the Perfect Shoe", an original play about the pioneers of the Marikina shoe industry and all the wonderful science that created the defining feature of the city's identity.

Each participating countries has a representative judge, but as a general rule, we cannot give a score to our own country which I think is fair and necessary. It is also a good gauge if our entry is good enough as compared to others I have seen.

All the finalists from different countries delivered an outstanding performance that made the judges' deliberation of winners very difficult. We had to gather in one room to discuss each performances' strength and points for improvements. Decisions per category including the votes for the Outstanding Male and Female Performers was not unanimous but somehow we all agreed in the list of the winners. They all have the chance to win but the moment was given to the ones who truly deserve it.

We got the Merit Award but hey boy, our very own Zeek Bornilla was named as the Outstanding Male Performer (Best Actor!) in the Junior Category. One of the judges said that Zeek has the stage presence and is not only good in his role but he felt that the on-stage leadership to bring the whole cast together is more outstanding.

If there's one wish I could have for next year, I hope we can gather more support so we can send in more students to represent our country in each category. We really had outstanding stories/script even in the previous two years that we were joining this competition but I guess we fell short in terms of production design. It's really expensive to produce and transport props abroad.

We may have not won yet, but we have already raised our flag there.