NYAS Mentorship

I submitted my application in September of 2018 to the website of The New York Academy of Sciences. I was reminded of completing the application by an email in which I didn’t finish. The mentorship is in cooperation with the United Technologies Corporation. One of the qualifications of being a mentor is graduate students, postdocs or professionals working in STEM-related fields with expertise in green buildings and sustainability or related topic area. Other criteria are to be passionate about engaging and inspiring the next generation of STEM innovators.
I was able to complete the application and I was scheduled for an interview by another mentor in October. After the interview, my background was checked by a vendor to provide a secure and comfortable mentoring environment to the NYAS program. It took 3 weeks to finally be cleared of the background check.


In the first week of November, I was admitted to the program. I was given access to the portal. We were then given a welcome package on how to use the portal and what are the reminders of being a mentor.
I received an email that I was matched with my mentee in the second week of December. My mentee is budding 17 years old girl from Bulgaria who wants to be a Chemical Engineer. I was matched with her because I graduated with BS Chemistry in college.
We were introduced and our first meeting was in the same week. She’s a very pretty girl who is active in her hometown in different science-related activities and also with her advocacy with her community as one of the young leaders. She planned to study in a different country and she’s learning French.
There are four modules with the STEM U that will also help and guide the young generation and it was distributed for the whole school year. They are an interactive module that helps the mentee with their personality and personal goals going to STEM.
At the end of the school year, both mentees and mentors will receive their certification in being a part o the program.
For more details about the mentoring programs, you can check the website www.nyas.org

Bohol Island Tour

After our tour with Bohol Grand Scenery, we rested for awhile in our resort in Panglao. After dark, we stayed at the sands of Alona Beach.

Alona Beach

Our resort is located in Alona Beach, Panglao Island. There are different resorts, hotels and hostels around Alona Beach.

Dolphin Watching

We woke up early the following and waited for the boat that would take us for our island tour. The sun was rising from the horizon and we took pictures of it before going to the site for the dolphin watching.


There were so many boats on the site who was also taking a chance to see the creatures. We were happy to see a bunch of dolphins lingering around the boats. They were having their own show for the people to watch.
We then had lunch in Balicasag island.

Balicasag Island

After which we went snorkeling in the Balicasag Island Marine Sanctuary where there was a diverse marine environment to explore. It is a dive site if you go further beyond the snorkelling area.

Virgin Island

Our last stop was Virgin Island or also known as Pungtod.
This one was my favorite island from all other islands I had seen in the Philippines because of the long sand bar. We even went to the middle of the island where the sand bar was no covered with water.DSC03512
There were vendors on the island. In his boat were coconuts, clams and sea urchins.

Hinagdanan Cave

We went back to our resort to check out. After which we went to Hinagdanan Cave in Panglao. Stalagmites and stalactites surrounded the cave with a deep lagoon. The cave is also made of limestone.

Panglao Shell Museum

The tour ended in the Panglao Shell Museum and with us getting souvenier.

Trends in Biobank and Genetics

A symposium with a title of “Trends in Biobank and Genetics” was conducted last 18th of July in the Shangri-La EDSA in Mandaluyong City. It was a seminar of Technidata in collaboration with St. Luke’s Medical Center Human Cancer Biobank.

The symposium was attended by the different Hospitals both private and government hospitals and research institutions. researchers, medical technologists, doctors and scientists took part in the seminar. The rain was pouring heavily in the morning and the traffic going to the hotel was really bad, but luckily the turn out of the participants was really high.
The first part was the introduction of the Technidata corporate profile by the General Manager, Ronan Mage. The second part was the Future in Cancer Genomics and Cancer Biobank by Dr. Daphne Ang of St. Luke’s Medical Center.  After the very highly anticipated talk of Dr. Ang was a snack break.

The third part was about TDGenetics of Technidata by Kristine Agustin, the Business Development Manager of Technidata before they proceed to the lunch break. After lunch, Carlo Fernandez, Technidata’s Senior Service Engineer talked about TDBiobank and had a demo. The last part of the seminar was a talk by Loraine Kay Cabral of St. Luke’s Medical Center.

The best part of the symposium was the sharing of knowledge and ideas with regards to biobank issues related to the industry and the problems that arise from the different laboratories on how to set up the facilities. The biobank is still new in the Philippines. There are many hospitals and researches who want to put up their biobank lab to preserve the different specimens to help researchers.

Bohol Grand Scenery Tour

I joined my friend and her family in their Bohol trip. We were 9 in the group plus a child. We availed tour from Bohol Grand Scenery Tours to see the different places to see in Bohol.

Blood Compact Shrine

Continue reading “Bohol Grand Scenery Tour”

Potipot Island

It was a one and a half land trip to San Antonio to Candelaria after our Anawangin trip We went to Dawal beach resort in the town of Candelaria for an overnight stay. After having lunch in Dawal, we asked for a boatman to take us to the island.


Potipot island is a 15-20 minutes boat ride from the jump-off point in Candelaria, Zambales. The Island is a small island in Uacon on the West Philippine Sea. It has fine white sand and lots of trees which shades the tourist on their camping site. From docking of the boat and the payment of the entrance fee, we went around the island starting from the left side.


There were no visitors at the side of the island. My friend Maki and I were all alone exploring this side of the island. Potipot is a very small island that you could explore within an hour.

We stayed in some part of the beach in the secluded area. After an hour we then reached the part of the island with the tourist and campers. There were nipa huts in the area and you could also avail of tents for overnight stay. But it gets fully booked. We stayed there for some time before heading back to the beachfront of Dawal.


From the beachfront of Dawal, we waited for the sunset while overlooking Potipot Island. We sat at the fine black sand on the beach in Uacon.

For other post about Zambales, please check Anawangin Cove, Capones Island and Camara Island

Anawangin Cove, Capones Island and Camara Island

We went to San Antonio in Zambales during the height of Southwest monsoon. After 3 hours of driving from Manila, we reached San Antonio, Zambales and asked direction going to Pundaquit.  The road going to our resort was a little rough and we also crossed a signal from a Chinese radio station with our local station.

Canoe Beach Resort, Pundaquit

After 15 minutes from the town proper, we reached Canoe Beach Resort.  It is a resort with good amenities like a swimming pool, with a beautiful beachfront – overlooking Capones and Camara Islands, a nipa hut to stay and a coffee shop.  The beachfront was also a site for surfers and there was an incoming event for surfing when we got there.  We booked a room for an overnight stay good for 3.  We then asked for a boatman to take us to Anawangin.  The sky was dark on the horizon when we left the resort.

Anawangin Cove

We headed to Anawangin cove with a small boat.  The sea was not rough going there.  As we enter the coast of Anawangin, everything was breathtaking.  The rich greenish trees of the mountainous area that surrounded the cove and the white sand beach engulfed our adventurist site.  Anawangin is a place for camping.  There are restrooms and store for campers.  We weren’t there to camp but just to enjoy the view and to swim with the waters.  I love the line up of trees in the cove.

It rained while we were in Anawangin and decided to go to Capones Island after the rain.  We didn’t know that after the waters of the cove as you turn left to the open sea, it was raining hard and the waves were violent.  Our boat was not that big.  There was a thunderstorm in the open sea, as we saw lightning struck the waters.  It was scary and longest boat ride I had for a short distance journey from Anawangin to Capones Island.

Capones Island

It was still raining when we arrived in Capones and we weren’t able to explore the lighthouse.  We were on the other side of the island. We only took shelter because of the raging waters and the thunderstorm we encountered in the open sea. After 30 minutes we went to Camara Island.

Camara Island

I love sand bars between waters.  Camara has a long stretch of the sand bar.    We stayed here for a while before heading back to the beach resort.

Guimaras Island: Nueva Valencia Island Tour

Guimaras is the home for the famous sweetest and the best varieties of mango of the Philippines. Guimaras is a small island in the Visayas Region. It is also best to visit the island during summer especially in May to witness the Manggahan Festival held every May 11-22.

How to get there

From Iloilo City, we went to Ortiz Wharf and took a 20-minute pump boat ride to Jordan Wharf. From there we asked local policemen how to get to Nueva Valencia where we booked our resort. He told us to ride a jeep going to Nueva Valencia. There are multicabs in the area, but hiring one would be expensive so my friend and I opted for cheaper transportation, a jeep for only Php 45.00 for 45 minutes to one hour depending on the jeep. The jeep was full of passenger, my friend and I were already at the end of the jeep uncomfortably sitting on a piece of wood.

Raymen Beach Resort in Alubihod

We told the barker to drop us going to Alubihod. We got off a gas station in an intersection going to Alubihod. From there we rode a tricycle going to Raymen Beach Resort in Alubihod. Upon checking in and since it was already almost 5 in the afternoon, we decided to check Alubihod beach and enjoyed the water with other tourists. Raymen also sumptuous food and the famous mango.

The following morning, we availed of the island hopping tour from Raymen Beach Resort and they helped us with the local boatman. It was still early in the morning and the sun was rising from the horizon. The first place we went to was our local boatman’s house where he fetched a tour guide for us. Our first island was the Ave Maria Island

It is a small island where the sand bars disappear during hightide. And since it was very early, we get to enjoy the small sand bar all by ourselves. The water was clear here and we took a short swim.

Across Ave Maria Island was the turtle sanctuary where we got to see a huge turtle. The island was surrounded by rock formations and a nice beach.

Baras Cave

Our next stop was the small cave of Baras Cave. Nice went inside the small cave with the rock formation.

Lamurawan Beach Resort

From Baras Cave, we went to Lamurawan Beach Resort. This island has a beautiful garden and is open to tourists to take pictures. We were able to talk to the caretakers of the garden. From Lamurawan, we could see the 7 small islands.

Natago Beach Resort

Our next destination was Natago Beach Resort. It was a resort and a secluded island. We tour the whole beach and were able to talk to the owner. It was my favorite beach on our tour because of the landscape, the sand bar between water with the rock formation and clear water with the visible school of fish.

Isla Naburot

 

We also check out the Fairy Castle and Isla Naburot.

Coron Island Tour

Coron has many islands tour packages to choose from. And since we were there for 3 days and 2 nights, we arranged for the basic tour. Our tour package is Island Tour A. There are upto 5 island tours to choose from.

CYC Island

We then availed the island tour that we booked and went to the tour operator.  The first island was the CYC of Coron Youth Club island, a small island with white sand beach and a mangrove.


From CYC, we went to the snorkelling area in Coral Garden. My three companions went to snorkel here and found diverse species swimming in the waters and the corals underneath.

Twin Peak Reefs

The next stop is Twin Peak Reefs, named after the two islets found in the area. I joined in for the snorkeling.

Bulungan Beach

We had our lunch in Bulungan Beach. It was included in the package where we shared the prepared lunch with the different tourist in our boat. We had grilled fish, liempo and seaweed salad. Tall limestone cliffs surrounded the area. After lunch we also enjoy the water here.

Hidden Lagoon

The fifth stop was the Hidden Lagoon with amazing rock formation and clear turquoise water. I was busy here trying to get a great picture of the limestone cliffs in a lush of green trees.

Kayangan Lake

Our final destination was the Kayangan lake. We then had a short trekked and found the most photographed spot where most of the tourist post during their island tour in Coron. It was a beautiful view from above of the cliffs in the waters.
We then went back to the muddy trail with stiffed rocks. We found the lake where there were pathways of wood at the sides. We left our things because clear water was inviting that made us jump to swim.


After the tour we head back to the Inn. We had dinner at Lolo Nonoy’s Food Station. It was not enough for a 3 days and 2 nights in Coron. There were so many islands and tourist spots that were still on my list. And I would definitely going back there.

For other post about Coron, please check: Coron: Mount Tapyas and Maquinit Hot Spring