By Xarah Yap

By Alexia Bangayan

The Ateneo Senior High School (ASHS) staged the Youth Research and Engagement Forum (YREF) 2026 under the theme “Tanglaw: Ideas Igniting Futures,” which showcases student-led research through oral defenses and poster presentations by Grade 11 representatives.

The event gathered selected students who aligned with the University’s Strategic Priority Area through the Grade 11 research advisers, sending one representative from each section to the Research Congress, along with an additional “wildcard” entry per teacher.

Moreover, there were two additional representatives from the Junior High School, Grades 9 and 10, who were endorsed by the Science Subject Area Coordinator and the Principal.

The forum was divided into morning and afternoon sessions led by university officials, with the morning session facilitated by Dr. Leland Joseph Dela Cruz, Assistant Vice President for Social and Environmental Engagement for Development and Sustainability.

Meanwhile, the afternoon session was led by Dr. Norman Dennis E. Marquez, Assistant Vice President for Health, Care, and Well-being; University Physician and Associate Director of Health Sciences Program.

YREF Oral Defense

The oral presentation was held at the ASHS Blackbox Theater and Room 118. 

Participants were allotted 10 minutes each to present while wearing Filipiniana attire and a visible nametag, and each University Strategic Priority Area was evaluated by different panels of judges assigned per category.

The morning session, held from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., featured Integral Ecology (IE) and Bridging Cultural Divides (BCD). 

The IE was evaluated by Ivy Geraldine D. Ferrer, Program Officer for Climate and Disaster Resilience at the Ateneo Institute of Sustainability, and Ms. Riza Maree D. Rapada, Program Officer for Development Goals at the Institute of Sustainability.

Meanwhile, the BCD was assessed by Serge Gabriel, Lecturer in the Department of Philosophy and Student Affairs Professional at the Office for Social, and Mx. Jaztine A. Calderon, Gender and Development Officer, at the University Gender and Development Office (UGDO)

The afternoon session, from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., covered Education Reform and Transformation (ERT) and Universal Health and Well-being (UHW).

ERT was paneled by Dr. Rhodora Nicdao, Chair of the Department of Curriculum, Pedagogy, and Assessment at Gokongwei Brothers School of Education and Learning Design (GBSEALD), and Dr. Ma. Isabel P. Martin, Professor and Acting Dean at GBSEALD.

While the UHW featured Dr. Cherry Bernardo-Lazaro, MBA Program Director of the MD-MBA Program at the Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health, and Amina Aisa H. Boncales, Project Development Officer of Project Ka-ginhawa.

The winners for the YREF oral defense per category are as follows:

IE

• Research Project of the Year (Gold): 11-Moscoso “TIMBANG: Piezoelectric Weighing Platforms for Sustainable Micro-Energy in High-Traffic Goods Environment”

• 2nd Place Research Presentation (Silver): 11-Nakaura “Lifeband: Design And Performance Evaluation Of A LoRa-Enabled Wearable Locator Device In Simulated Post-Disaster Environments”

• 3rd Place Research Presentation (Bronze): 11-Mayer “GIS-Based Hydroclimatic Assessment of Groundwater Recharge Potential in the Central Luzon, Philippines”

BCD

• Research Project of the Year (Gold): 11-Hoyos “Driving Change:  Analyzing the Opinions of Metro Manila Jeepney Drivers on the Jeepney Phaseout”

• 2nd Place Research Presentation (Silver): 11-De Brito (A) “Equity and Opportunities among Women Student-Athletes in the Ateneo de Manila Senior High School”

• 3rd Place Research Presentation (Bronze): 11-Nakaura “Weaving the Gap: Ethical, Effective, and Gen-Z Oriented Marketing Plan to Promote Ibaloi Woven Products”

ERT

• Research Project of the Year (Gold): 11-Realino “Integrated Ecological and Social Capital Approach to Assessing the Impact of NGO Literacy Programs on School-Aged Dumagat Learners”

• 2nd Place Research Presentation (Silver): 11-Borja “Perceived Effectiveness of Ateneo de Manila Senior High School (ASHS) Physical Education (PE) Study Hall for Student-Athletes: A Case Study on Workload and Satisfaction”

• 3rd Place Research Presentation (Bronze): 11-Bellarmino “Traditional vs Modern Museums in the Philippines: A Comparative Study on the Engagement and Learning of Visitors at the National Museum of Fine Arts and A Museum in the Age of Digital Interactive Technology”

UHW

• Research Project of the Year (Gold): 11-Tsuji “GIS-based Analysis of Maternal Healthcare Accessibility: Mapping the Socio-spatial Determinants of Healthcare Utilization among Urban and Rural Teenage Mothers”

• 2nd Place Research Presentation (Silver): 11-Owen “Neo-Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (NeoBERT) for Alzheimer’s Disease Detection Accounting for Linguistic Variation Standard English and Tagalog”

• 3rd Place Research Presentation (Bronze): 11-Bellarmino “A Qualitative Study on the Perceptions of Underage E-Cigarette Users in Metro Manila: A Policy-Based Framework”

Moreover, the Presenter of the Year award was given to the authors of the AJHS paper entitled “PEEL THE POWER! A Comparative Study on the Effect of Calamansi (Citrofortunella microcarpa), Banana (Musa acuminata cv. ‘Lakatan’). and Mango (Mangifera indica cv. ‘Carabao’) Peel Extracts on Water Turbidity (NTU), Dissolved Oxygen (mg/L), and pH in Solar Water Disinfection.”

YREF Poster

Poster presentations were printed on a 33 x 33-inch matte board in portrait format and displayed in the designated classrooms per strand:

• Accountancy, Business, and Management (ABM): Room 115 
• Humanities and Social Sciences (HUMSS):  Room 109 
• Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) A:  Room 110 
• Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) B: Room 111

Judging for the poster presentation was conducted from 10:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. and was evaluated by Mr. Noel P. Miranda, Faculty of the Christian Livelihood Education (CLE) Subject Area, Fr. Noel Y. Bava, SJ, Chaplain at the ASHS, and Mr. Alvin George C. Cobar, Subject Area Coordinator of the Physical Education (PE) Subject Area.

The winners for the YREF poster per strand are as follows:

ABM

• 1st Place: 11- Campion 
• 2nd Place:11-Bellarmino 
• 3rd Place: 11-Brebeuf

GA

• 1st Place: 11- Fontura
• 2nd Place:11-De Brito 
• 3rd Place: 11-Escribano

HUMSS

• 1st Place: 11- Grande
• 2nd Place:11- Goupil
• 3rd Place: 11- Hurtado

STEM

• 1st Place: 11- Realino
• 2nd Place:11- Perez
• 3rd Place: 11-Tsuji 

The program concluded with a closing message from the ASHS Principal, Mrs. Rosanna Borja, who delivered encouraging remarks to the participants, followed by the singing of the Ateneo Hymn.

In an interview, Mark David Tan, a participant under the Education Reform and Transformation (ERT) category and part of the team that earned 3rd Place, shared that it felt ”incredibly exciting” to have their research selected for YREF, although he also felt pressured as they were representing their class.

He noted that one of the most memorable parts of the experience was the group’s practice sessions, as well as the bonding moments during breaks, which helped strengthen their teamwork.

He added that the experience felt like a relief, realizing that ”All the struggles our group went through were all for this moment…(knowing) that our hard work paid off in one of the best ways possible.”