Ateneo team wins National Biology Cup (NBC)

April 05, 2017
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(L-R) Mr. Ronald Cruz (coach), Peter Coloyan (BOx Academics Deputy), and contest winners J-r Sanchez, Marianne Lee, Marla de Torres, Bien Romulo, Joshua Rodriguez, Gelo Legitimas

For the first time, a team from the Biology and Life Sciences Departments competed and won the National Biology Cup (NBC) at the Biosummit 2017 of the Biology Majors Alliance of the Philippines (BMAP).
 
The team of Marla Grazel P. de Torres (5 BS Biology), Marianne Allison G. Lee (4 BS Life Sciences) and
Bien Perry N. Romulo (4 BS Life Sciences) won over all the other contestants.
 
Another Ateneo team composed of Francis Mart Angelo R. Legitimas (5 BS Biology), Joshua Emmanuel Q. Rodriguez (4 BS Life Sciences) and Joseph Raymund G. Sanchez (3 BS Biology) placed third, just behind the team from University of the Philippines-Los Banos.
 
All six students are members of TaTaBOx, the official academic competition team of the Ateneo Biological Organization - eXplore. eXperience. eXcel. (BOx). De Torres is Executive Vice President of BOx.
 
This is the third first place finish of Ateneo students in five biology quiz competitions this academic year, the other two being the National Inter-collegiate Genetics Quiz Contest (NIGQC) and the Excellence, Knowledge, Genius (EKG) Inter-University Pre-Medical Quiz Show. Ateneo teams also placed second in the other two competitions.
 
On that same day, two Ateneans won the top prizes as Bio Mr. and Ms. Earth 2017 in the Biosummit 2017. The winning biodiversity proponents were Emmanuel Enrique A. Manlutac (3 BS Life Sciences) and Vivienne May B. Ordonez (3 BS Biology).
 
Ordonez also won the Best Talent award, while Manlutac took home the awards for Best Talent and People's Choice. They advocated marine biodiversity in the Verde Island Passage. This is the third Ateneo title of Mr. Bio Earth and the fourth of Ms. Bio Earth in five years.