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PROJECT NARRATIVE
Title:
3R’s of Zamboanga
City
Project URL: http://www.oocities.org/zchscyberfair2004
Category:
Environmental Awareness and Issues (#
7)
There are
12 students: 8 Fourth Year and 4 Third Year students with an average
of 16 years old, worked together to complete this CyberFair project
on January 30, 2004. They have participated in the CyberFair last year
2003.
Name
of Teachers:
Mrs. Gina Q. Arriola; Mr. Michael C. Rute; Mr. Johnny Jean Tigas
Name
of Students:
1. Strawberry Anne Alcantara - IV-Einstein
2. Daisy Bustillo - IV-Galileo
3. Ivan Santos - IV-Galileo
4. Jemima Reyes - IV-Galileo
5. Dhenmar Zainuddin - IV-Galileo
6. Ryan Bayore - IV-Galileo
7. Ruel Sagario - IV-Galileo
8. Mingelo Guimalan - IV-Galileo
9. Delsie Mae B. Banggalando - III-Dalton
10. Jemalyn T. Gayon - III-Dalton
11. Aubrey San Luis - III-Dalton
12. Amedia Marie Climaco - III-Dalton
email
contact: zchs@zambonet.adzu.edu.ph
School Name: Zamboanga City High School – Main
School URL: http://www.zamboangacityhighschool.ph
PROJECT OVERVIEW
Description
of "Our Community"
The
early Malaya settlers called the region "Sambangan". On one
of the earliest Spanish maps, "Samboangan" meant "docking
point", from the word "sabuan", the wooden pole used
by the Samals and Badjaos in pushing their vintas on shallow waters.
The city
is situated on the southernmost tip of the Zamboanga Peninsula, on the
island of Mindanao, Philippines, 460 nautical miles south of Manila,
365 nautical miles northeast of Kota Kinabalu (Malaysia) and 345 nautical
miles northeast of Manado (Indonesia). It is bounded to the west by
Sulu Sea, to the east by the Moro Gulf, and to the south by Basilan
Strait and Celebes Sea.
Beautiful
Zamboanga is only an hour and a half by jet from Manila, one hour from
Cebu and 50 minutes from Dipolog. It is one of the principal ports of
call for cruise ships and inter island vessels on the Manila-Davao-Cotabato-Jolo-Tawi-tawi-General
Santos-Cebu routes. On the Philipine-Japan Friendship Highway that links
Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.
Imprints
of the Castilian heritage are found in "Chabacano", the native
"patois" which is 70% Spanish and 30% mixture of the other
languages. Other native languages are Tausug, Bisaya, Samal, Yakan and
Maranao. The Spanish culture influences the way of life of the Zamboangueños.
The culture blends harmoniously with the Moorish and western influence.
Zamboanga became a chartered city on October 12, 1936 through a commonwealth
Act No. 39.
Today, Zamboanga
City continues to play a central role as a center of trade in Southern
Mindanao under the new leadership of a fine gentleman in the person
of Hon. Erico Basilio A. Fabian who succeeded the late Hon. Maria Clara
Lorenzo Lobregat who recently passed away last January 2004.
SUMMARY
OF THE PROJECT
A major issue facing modern society today, is waste management. More
simply put, what should we do with the waste we produce? A growing emphasis
has been placed on the three R's: Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. Composting
provides a means of accomplishing all of these three. Through composting
the amount of garbage sent to the landfill is reduced, the organic matter
is reused rather than dumped, and it is recycled into a useful soil
amendment.
Our project plan was to explore how composting as a waste management
program operates, how the composting system is planned and what kinds
policies are needed to support it. Zamboanga City has adapted composting
as a means to reduce the waste being brought to land fills. This compositing
system was envisioned to reduce by 90 percent of the waste that will
go into the dumpsites. The two structures known as the Materials Recovery
Facility or MRF were built. One, to cater to the commercial wastes of
the two major markets in Zamboanga City, while the other one is for
the garbage from households within the ten kilometer radius of the city.
Fertilizers, the by-product of composting, are then sold as soil conditioner
at Php60.00 per bag.
Our Computer
and Internet Access
- Enough computer sets with complete software and program were used in the accomplishment of this project; this ensured that individual researchers could input their data faster.
- Thirty percent (30%) of the student population use the internet.
- There are two out of three classroom which have computers connected to the internet (for teaching purposes), while the school has 4 computers with internet access. These are in the computer laboratory.
- The connection
speed used in the classroom: 56 kbps
Our classrooms have been connected to the Internet: Since SY 1997-1998.
Problems We Had To Overcome
Because
of the limitation of time, energy and resources, we decided to narrow
down the scope of our research to the issues on how our community copes
and responds to the ever-increasing problem of garbage and how to manage
it.
All of the students working on this project have very hectic academic
schedule. To cope with the time constraint, we worked on this project
during Saturdays only.
Our Project Sound Bite
Our
sound bite:
A cornerstone of the environmentalist movement is that one person can
make a difference. You may seem insignificant, but what you do really
matters. However, this is only a half-truth. In the greater scheme of
things you are insignificant. One person out of more than 5 billion
will not affect the world. But many people who on their own try to help
our planet can make all the difference. If many people take it upon
themselves to do what they can to be environmentally friendly, then
the combination of those many individuals would slow, if not reverse,
the damage we have caused.
What has our participation in International Schools CyberFair meant to students, school or community?
As students we became a part of the process by obtaining scientific information about composting, whether their results are applied in our own home, school, or by industry. At the same time, the team engaged in the observation of the process of composting activities; with an opportunity to improve our understanding.
The study of waste production and management lends itself to interdisciplinary study, and composting provides an opportunity for real-world problem solving with cooperative learning groups. It therefore can motivate students to learn, who feel alienated by traditional "science" experiences.
Furthermore, the team gained an awareness of individual roles in the world today as they learned how waste is produced and how it can be reduced. Finally, through construction of compost systems, the team is empowered to make a positive change in their world. For it is after all our youth to whom this planet belongs.
Through this project, all of us realized the importance of teamwork. Besides, we have acquired the skill of information editing and learned many computer programs, such as Dreamweaver, PhotoShop, Flash… etc.
How
did your activities and research for this International Schools CyberFair
Project support standards, required coursework and curriculum standards?
This project supports our Science and Music, Arts, Physical Education
& Health (MAPEH) subjects wherein we deal with lessons regarding
the conservation of the environment and also our Sibika at Kultura subject
wherein we studied the Republic Act 9003 known as the ECOLOGICAL WASTE
MANAGEMENT ACT. We also visited the Materials Recovery Facilities and
the Lumbangan the city’s dump site.
PROJECT
ELEMENTS
What information tools & technologies did you used to complete your
Cyberfair project?
Our school has thirty computers donated by DOST-SEI and the DTI's PC for Public High School. These are Pentium III computers and to be shared by 1,881 fourth year students.
Our computer hardware include Compaq-branded personal computers, internet, printer, scanner, digital camera, phone, and CD writer.
Our computer software are Macromedia FlashMX, Macromedia DreamweaverMX, Photoshop 7 Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition, Office XP,Norton Antivirus 2003,WinZIP 8.1
For communication,
we employed meetings and discussions through the phone, SMS and emails.
In what ways did you act as "ambassadors" and spokespersons for your CyberFair project both on-line and in person.
Interviewing
VIPs:
In order to accomplish this project, we interviewed the person in charge
of the project, the head of the City Public Services, Engr. Reynaldo
Gonzales. We did a lot of preparations before the interview. We started
with surfing the Internet to collect some basic data, and finally composed
the questions for the interview. We contacted the secretary to explain
the purpose and subject of our interviews. We also asked permission
to visit the sites wherein the project is in operation. We also talked
to the laborers who were working on the project.
What
has been the impact of your project on your community?
Educate the community residents:
We conducted a questionnaire survey in our community asking them if they are aware of the facilities that the city government put up in order to answer the garbage problem in Zamboanga City. We were able to gather varied reactions ranging from the supportive to the apathetic.
How did your project involve other members of your community as helpers and volunteers?
This project
would not have been possible without the help and guidance of our teachers,
school, friends, families and the public.
We would like to thank Engineer Reynaldo Gonzales for his untiring support
providing us the data needed to complete this project. We also appreciated
the help of the laborers who patiently explained to us how the process
works, from the segregation of wastes up to the finished product. When
we visited the Materials Recovery Facility, they enthusiastically gave
us a very comprehensive lesson and showed us the processing workflows.
At the end, they gave us sample fertilizers. This was one of the most
fruitful visits in the process of doing the project.
We would
also like to thank Ateneo de Zamboanga University, particularly the
graduating class of the Computer Science Department for giving us hands
on training with the Dreamweaver and Adobe Photoshop Software. They
sponsored our four-days training with free snacks. To Engr. Eugene Kanindot
Dean of the Computer Engineering department and Mr. Genner Cerna Web
System Developer who shared their expertise with us in developing a
website.
We will never forget how our teachers guided us through the process
of project research. They gave us general direction as we started the
project. They taught us how to collect data, edit and consolidate information,
construct the multi-media Web page during the research process. When
we encountered obstacles that we could not overcome by ourselves alone,
they gave us just-in-time advice.
Last but
not least, we would like to thank our parents for their love and encouragement
that supported us all the way through our endeavors especially so that
we have to be in school during weekends.
Discoveries, Lessons and Surprises (Optional)
This project
has taught us that awareness on how to conserve resources is expected
to reduce the volume of waste generated whether at the industrial level
or household and commercial levels. This first step will require extensive
education to change the values of the people. In addition to this, solid
waste management in the curricula of schools would enhance awareness
and promote the right attitudes of the youth. Moreover, we also found
out that by starting with ourselves we can make a very big difference
in the contribution to the preservation of the environment.
One of the things that cause a person to pause before even considering
changing his lifestyle is the false impression that it will require
large expenditures of time and effort. But little things do count. Mending
your ways may cost you less than a few minutes a day.
Moreover, we realized that harmonious teamwork is very important for
a team project. Besides showing his/her best ability, every team member
should also try his/her best to help one another solve problems and
overcome obstacles. Hence, we were able to work very hard together and
cooperate with one another.