School: Saint Louis Laboratory High School
    Baguio City, Benguet, Philippines

4 students, ages 14-15 worked together to complete this Doors to Diplomacy project on March 15, 2012. They have participated in Doors to Diplomacy in the following year(s): 2011

Classes and Teachers: Vincent Tabor, Florida Martin, Marizette, Leigh, Nikki, Kristin

E-Mail contact:

Our School's Web Site: http://www.slu.edu.ph

1. Description of Our Team

We are third year students from Saint Louis University Laboratory High School, Baguio City. Our team consists of four members namely Marizette, Leigh, Sandra and Kristin. Marizette, during her elementary years, was part of organizations that are involved with the environment and the society. She is assiduous in formulating ideas since she has guidance coming from her sister who had participated in this competition for the past year. Leigh was raised in Palawan. She wants to preserve her hometown's beauty. She is also optimistic. She always looks at the bright side of everything. She is the group's motivator. Sandra is very active when it comes to extracurricular activities, inside and outside the school. She believes that with her skills and interests, she could help in saving Palawan. Kristin is a nature lover. Since her childhood, she was against any activity which destroys the environment. She loves to join tree planting activities to help solve the problem of global warming. She is also fond of beautifying her surroundings like landscaping gardens. We joined together as a team to do this project to let the people be aware of the negative effects that the mining in Palawan might bring and to get the people’s support against the said activity. Palawan is one of the proofs that the Philippines is very rich when it comes to natural resources. If this mining activity would push through, the beauty of Palawan will be destroyed and the indigenous people's health in Palawan would be greatly affected. We will not let this happen. The work in this project is distributed according to our team member's strength, interest and skill. Mr. Vincent Tabor, Mr. Elizer Jay Delos Reyes and Ms. Kristel Melendez backed us up in our project when we needed help and when we had difficulties.

2. Summary of Our Project

2. Summary of Our Project - Our project, 'No to Mining in Palawan' aims to preserve the beauty of the last treasures remaining in the Philippines. The purpose of our project is to spread the message to all the Filipinos that the beauty of our country should be saved for the future and next generations. Although there is an act where the government allows miners to mine in other parts, there are limitations to these. Mining companies should not abuse it. They should think of the treasures they will destroy and the lives that they would endanger. We hope that our project will not only teach Filipinos but all the people around the world. Our project shows that creations of God should be preserved and cared for. People should not destroy these beautiful creations because sooner or later, we would also be the one regretting all the things we have done. Our project teaches us that we should learn how to prevent actions which can break or destroy things where we can get benefits or sources for living. Lastly, our project will be the one to guide everyone to the right path of attaining out goals, which is to preserve and save the treasures that have not been destroyed and touched by human hands.

3. Our Computer and Internet Access

A. Percentage of students using the Internet at home:more than 50%

B. Number of workstations with Internet access in the classroom:more than 6

C. Connection speed used in the classroom:dedicated connection

D. Number of years our classroom has been connected to the Internet:2-3

4. Problems We Had To Overcome

- In every project, there will always be a problem that the members have to overcome. And sometimes, these problems might bring the team of researchers down. But our team is ready for all those problems. One problem that we've faced is that our topic is not that easy. We are from Baguio City and we chose to make No to Mining in Palawan our topic. Baguio City is very far from Palawan since Baguio is in Luzon while Palawan is in Visayas. Although for the past years, it had been part of Luzon Island in the Philippines. Another problem is that we must communicate with ABS-CBN, a television company in the Philippines, regarding the necessary information we have to know. We decided to communicate with them because they advertise the No to Mining in Palawan campaign. They help in letting people know that it is not right to mine a beautiful place like Palawan. There's also one show in ABS-CBN that featured one person who is against the mining in Palawan. This particular show was Maalaala Mo Kaya which told the story of a woman who got blind but still continued to fight against this issue. The third and last problem is that we also have to communicate with the family of Dr. Jerry Ortega. He is also against this issue but unfortunately, he was killed by those people who are pro-Mining in Palawan. Until now, justice isn't prevailed to the Ortega family. We plan to interview them anytime possible regarding the incident. Maybe we had a lot of problems but with our teamwork and cooperation, we were able to overcome them. Every problem has a solution as they say. If you want something, you'll find a way to get it.

5. Our Project Sound Bite

5. Our Project Sound Bite - 'The frog does not drink up the pond in which he lives.' We want to be different; we want to stay away from clichés. Modernity is not always the answer and we all know that natural beauty is the best. We have to stand up for what we believe in especially when it concerns the things that we own. With the many issues surrounding the Philippines today, the only advantage we have is our natural wonder. But these too are slowly weakening due to human activity. Let us not make matters worse by giving in to self-indulgence when we all know that this is not what's best for our beloved home.

6. How did your activities and research for this Doors to Diplomacy Project support standards, required coursework and curriculum standards?

- Our project strictly followed the curriculum guidelines given to us to be able to join. We tried hard to answer the questions precisely and even researched about it. With all the new things we have done, there are new skills that we have learned. This includes having more knowledge in HTML. We also improved our creative skills with our webpage. We better understand our international issues by reading about it and trying to find a solution for it. We discovered that we all applied the lessons taught to us and we are able to use it here in our project. Using the internet for teaching and learning has been more effective than traditional methods because it is more advanced and information around the world is updated daily. Although methods before can still be effective because we can say that facts here are very precise, it's not updated daily.

1) What information tools & technologies did you used to complete your Doors to Diplomacy project?

•Software: Microsoft Word 2007 – This was used to encode information and the content of our project. Adobe Photoshop CS4 – This was used in order to create and edit images for our website. This software helped in making our website more innovative and out of the ordinary. Notepad – This was used so as to create the code for our website. This was the most used of all because our output on the project relies on this software. Windows Movie Maker – This was used for making videos regarding our topic and also for our website. •Hardware: Desktop Computer – Since all of the members own a desktop computer, this device was the most helpful of all. With the use of this, the members are greatly contributing their part for the project. This was also used mainly in accessing the Internet for further research and also for communication among members. Cellular phone – This gadget was used to communicate between members. Television – This device was used to gather data concerning our matters. Given that our topic is currently promoted right now, we used this equipment in watching commercials which endorse the said issue. •Other tools & technologies: Interviews – Some of the people involved were interviewed in order to collect information about the issue. Even if we are far from Palawan, we have never used this as a weakness. We used electronic mail in communicating with the people that were concerned about Palawan.

2) In what ways did you act as "ambassadors" and spokespersons for your Doors to Diplomacy project both on-line and in person.

•As online ambassadors: We will be the ones who will promote and help those who are organizing No to Mining in Palawan. Knowing that we are the generation X, we use the power of technology in promoting, encouraging and communicating to people. In this way, we will be able to give out information about the disadvantages and why illegal mining should be stopped. In line with our goal, of course, we will help in stopping such activity. With the amount of possible visitors who will view and review our website, maybe we can gain sponsors to help lessen the problems that we are going to encounter or maybe with much luck, it may help terminate our problems. Hopefully with the information given out by our website, we will and can make people change. •In person ambassadors: Those who are destroying the beauty of Palawan don’t know its worth. As representatives of our beloved school, as well as our country, we plan to spread the word to those who are ignorant to our goal. Promoting and stopping miners to quit what they are doing might be a difficult job but we will take the opportunity and responsibility with our confidence, we know we can do it. In our own little ways, we can make a difference. It may be a simple transformation to others but we believe that what we did and what we are going to do is for a good cause and it’s what is right.

3) What has been the impact of your project on your community?

- Our project made the people more aware of what is happening in Palawan. By their awareness of this issue regarding the mining in Palawan, we were able to have more supporters. By having more supporters maybe the mining company which is proposing a mining project in Palawan might listen to the protesters who are against their activity and cancel their project and mine somewhere else where no people would be harmed and is a more suitable place for mining. Because of our project, our community, the people all around the Philippines and even the people all around the world, after exploring our web pages have learned the negative effects of this said activity not only to the environment but also to the indigenous people who are living near the mining site. We also have established some new working relationships with organizations that are also against the mining in Palawan. We would be helping them gather supporters for our campaign to protect the environment especially the lives of the indigenous people. After sometime, we have received positive feedbacks from individuals and organizations who found our project to be very helpful and convincing so that the mining in Palawan would be cancelled and stopped to preserve its beauty and no life would be harmed. They were very thankful to us because even if we were still young, we were socially aware and we were ready to be part of those who are protesting against this activity. Although we have received positive feedbacks, we also expected to receive negative feedbacks from those who were supporters of the mining in Palawan.

4) How did your project involve other members of your community as helpers and volunteers?

- Other members of the community became helpers and volunteers by helping to promote our advocacy regarding the “no to mining” in Palawan. They volunteered to help us support the advocacy. They are also against the mining in Palawan because they also know that lives of people will be in danger and of course, scenery spots in Palawan would be affected. We as students also needed advice when doing our project that's why there are people who willingly gave advice to us. They are Mr. Vincent Tabor and Mr. Jay Delos Reyes, out teachers. They told us that we should read and research about our project in order to widen our knowledge about it. They also support our ideas about our project and they are the ones giving us strength and inspiration to do it very well. Long distance helpers are also present during the making of the project. They are the local government in Palawan. We use the internet to communicate with them and to talk about the project we are promoting. We thank all of them who helped and supported us during those times of making our project. We thank them for encouraging us to join and help solve the problems of our country to be a better place to live.