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

3 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: Florida Martin, Vincent Tabor, Timothy, Valerie, Juliza

E-Mail contact:

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

1. Description of Our Team

Our team is composed of three junior high students, Redd, Valerie and Juliza. We came together in this project because we believe that we would be able to help each other in accomplishing this task.

We chose to do this project because we believed that this generation needs to learn more about the idea of good leadership. Some people think that being the “boss” is a great advantage. In this project we hope to present that there in being a leader than having authority. We also chose Philex Mining Corporation as our target area because of its reputation of having stood despite problems and we were interested on how did the leaders worked so well to unite their employees.

2. Summary of Our Project

Philex Mining Corporation located at Padcal Tuba, Benguet, Philippines is a dynamic company that stood tall for more than fifty years despite several problems. Although a lot of people are against mining, Philex held its ground and proved that mining is good if it is coupled with responsibility. The people behind this mining corporation are aware that they did nothing wrong. Yes, mining maybe blamed for some destructions in the environment, but Philex Mining Corporation practices responsible mining activities who abide by environmental laws and civil rights; This mining group try their very best to prevent adverse environmental problems. Lastly, they change the view that mining causes environmental degradation but instead, it promoted environmental awareness not only to their employees but to the whole community as well. Philex tries its very best to be eco-friendly by disposing their chemical residues properly and promote tree planting activities. Philex Mines has done a lot for Benguet. They contributed to the development of road works and they also provide free education, hospital services and other numerous contributions to the family around it.

The company lives by its core values – integrity, teamwork, respect, efficiency and lastly, social and ecological responsibility. With these values, Philex is not only able to produce precious metals but also great leaders.

The company is the biggest copper and gold production in the Philippines. Thus, the company reaches out to other countries and their companies to support them in their production. With this, Philex became an agent for business partnership among nations.

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

Barriers we had to overcome were that we didn’t have sufficient time to do interviews and gather facts, mostly because of our other academic needs, everyday we are faced with assignments, projects, and presentations for each subject. And also because the person we were to interview is also a very busy person, he couldn’t afford to fit us into his schedule. But despite these hindrances, we sacrificed our time to continue this project. Some days wherein we weren’t given too much work, we would get together and continue with our project. We tried our best to arrange meetings and gather facts in order for this project to be a success.

5. Our Project Sound Bite

A good leader, must first be a good follower, as Mr. Milton Agyao always said. This project has helped us realize that leadership requires a strong character that can be able to lead people into cultural growth. We also believe that this generation has a lot of potential to become leaders someday in the future.

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

Standards, required coursework and curriculum standards? Our different ideas made this project very successful. Because of this project, we now know many unrecognized leaders in our communities. Because, nowadays we only consider leaders who have a lot of money, not the one who do what is right, and what is the best for everyone. With the help of different skills of our members it made our project less harder to make. The leader we chose for this project had many contributions and accomplishments for our city, and he believes that “A good leader, must be a good follower”. And also with the help of the company where he is in, they helped many people around them, like, building schools for the needy, slope stabilization, tree planting and other programs that will help other people, but these are only some of their contributions, there are a lot more contributions that they have made, most of the people say that mining is bad in the environment and we agreed with that, but as we know them deeply we knew that we were wrong, their company is responsible for their acts.

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

In completion of our project, we used our digital cameras to document our leader in work, and also to document the various contributions of the company to our city. In addition we used the internet to gather relevant facts prior to Philex’s achievements and contributions. We also used various magazines to gather more information. With the use of these said resources we were able to gather reliable data, to help us accomplish our project.

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

Although we are just students, we wanted to promote leadership to the youth. As young ambassadors in our own little communities, we aimed to voice out that a great leader isn’t just born out of the blue, to save our country, a great leader is made and shaped by strong leadership skills.

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

Our project has had and impact in our community in ways like our project has helped promote Philex Mining Corporation as an responsible mining company. Also in ways that the public now knows more about the numerous contributions and programs Philex has done in the past years.

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

In the making of this project, we asked a few random people, who will be kept in utmost confidentiality, who gave us their opinions about our leader.

5) Discoveries, Lessons and Surprises (Optional)

We discovered that the mining industry is very interesting. They have huge machines that break down rocks and manufacture them. And we also discovered that their system is broken down into several groups and handling these groups and committees is very hard. In addition, we also discovered that being a leader is a very frustrating job title, because you need to be patient and understanding to the needs of your peers. This project has inspired us to work hard in our academics, so that one day, we ourselves could be successful leaders as well.