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A team of four college students from AMA Computer
College in East Rizal earned the top spot in Cisco’s Annual Skills
Competition.
The team, who were first-timers
in the competition, earned the highest points against five other
teams in the networking challenge. The team, led by Coach Natalia
Estelon, was composed of college students Levi Edrian Santos,
Vincent Floyd Rosacay, Rusette Cu, and Delmer Gerald Galinato.
“Winning this probably means
that we will be joining next year’s competition,” said AMA East
Rizal Coach Natalia Estelon.
Bagging second place was the team
from Mapua Institute of Technology in Intramuros, composed of ECE
students Wilheim John Sy, Patrick Ilog, Jon Warner Campo and Del
Harold Antone. The team was headed by Coach Emma Ruth Tiong, who
also coached Mapua in the previous year.
At third place was the team from
AMA Computer College in Davao, composed of members Ryan Rusiana,
Darryl Mae Ramoran, and Sheri Lou Igdanes. The team was headed by
Coach Warren Badong.
The three winners received
P60,000 in total prizes and as a bonus, two students from the
winning teams also get the chance to be trained by Cisco for six
months.
The scores of the winners were
based on two parts: an individual written examination composed of 50
questions and a group hands-on challenge. The team who earned the
highest written scores was the team from Mapua Institute of
Technology and the team who earned the highest hands-on score was
the team from AMA Computer College East Rizal.
“We want to simulate what is
happening in the outside world to help the students,” said Gerry
Talisic, Core Council president of the Cisco Networking Academy Core
Council of the Philippines. According to Talisic, while the Cisco
Skills Competition provides a simulated networking environment for
IT students, it also provides a benchmark for educators and Cisco on
how effective the program is.
The Cisco Networking Academy is
an IT educational program to enhance students with networking and
Internet skills. Launched in the Philippines in 1988, the academy
currently has 143 participating schools with 800 instructors and
more than 116,000 students who have been trained.
The participating academies in
the finals were System Plus from North Luzon, AMA Computer College
East Rizal from South Luzon, Mapua Institute of Technology from NCR
North, Mapua Institute of Technology School of IT from NCR South,
University of Cebu from the Visayas and AMA Computer College Davao
from Mindanao.
 --Marian
Jean Benetua
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