DAVAO CITY—Mapua University’s Malayan Colleges Mindanao (MCM) is bringing to Mindanao its prestigious multidiscipline, multiskill interschool competition ahead of the opening of its first education foray into Mindanao.
More than 100 invitations have been sent to schools across Mindanao for the February 1 to 3 MCM Cup 2018 at its Mindanao campus here, the same cup that introduced its second campus in Laguna in 2007, and which remained the most prestigious long-running high-school competition in Metro Manila and the Region 4 area.
The MCM Cup would start this year with five fields as an introduction in Mindanao, although its forerunning MCLaguna Cup carries 14 categories, said Dodjie S. Maestrecampo, MCM executive vice president and COO.
Maestrecampo told the BusinessMirror last Friday the cup would test the school competitors’ abilities and level of excellence in brainmasters, science quiz bee, math quiz bee, speech choir and chorale competition.
The competitions would be beamed live from its venue at the lobby of the administration building.
“We hope to generate enough participation at the start of the cup for the Mindanao area, and hope to generate also the same level of interest and inspiration that it did for the schools in Metro Manila and Region 4,” he said.
Maestrecampo added the MCM Cup aims to provide the opportunity and the platform for high schools across Mindanao to showcase their excellence in various academic fields.
“The MCL [Malayan Colleges Laguna] Cup, for instance, has become the most participated interschool competition so far, and has been both participated by public and private schools,” he said.
Although topnotch schools in Metro Manila have figured in the top 10 in the annual competitions, the public schools have not been left out, with about four public schools landing in the top 10.
“The Sisters of Mary of Cavite, for instance, is an interesting and inspiring case of a private school that offers free education to the community,” he said. The sectarian school operates in the Boys’ Town of Cavite.
“Their students are the beneficiaries of the Boys’ Town, and it is inspiring to witness them competing periodically among the topnotch schools in the top three spots, even getting the championship in some of these episodes,” he said. “So, we wish to give the same venue for those schools which are into difficult circumstances, those without much resources but still offer good education,” he said.
Maestrecampo would not say how much influence or inspiration it generated in the schools in Metro Manila and Region 4 where the competing schools in the MCL Cup come from. He said it would be likely the competitions have inspired schools to provide or improve their learning environment to enable schools to pick more intelligent students.
The MCL Cup has been endorsed by the Department of Education (DepEd). The MCM has requested the DepEd here for the same endorsement. The competition questionnaires are based on the DepEd curriculum with questions in the easy, moderate and difficult categories.
The MCM is the fourth campus of the former Mapua Institute of Technology, now Mapua University. The other campuses are located in Intramuros, with succeeding satellite campuses in Makati (the annex campus in 2003) and the MCL (2007).
The MCM opens in June this year, with its senior high school and the baccalaureate courses in engineering, information technology and other related courses.