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OPTICS / FLEDGLINGS THE QUANTUM ACADEMY Crimson House snares House Cup ‘14 by: Keziah Acharon During the last flag ceremony on February 23, the Crimson House was finally declared this year’s House Cup recipient after garnering 589,250 points - only slightly surpassing the Emerald House which garnered 580,600 points. The Azure House came next with 578,300 points, and finally the Gold house trailing behind with 549,950 points The Battle of the Brains (BOB) finals, which was held a week before the announcement, was ruled over by the two leading houses. However, it was the Crimson House that nabbed the masters round - ranging a huge lead over the rest. The English week was the Emerald’s game - garnering more than an 8,000 lead over the Crimson House. Unfortunately though, their English week win was not enough to bring the house to the top spot in the overall ranking. The victory of the Crimson House did not come as a surprise to most. Having dominated nearly all the games of this school year, it was given that the Crimson House was to pelt the 2013-14 House Cup. Emerald snatches English Week, inches closer to House Cup Denise Congson T he Emerald House dominated this year’s English Week competitions, celebrated from February 10 to 14, with a whooping total of 101,800 points. Crimson tailed behind with a total of 100,050 points, followed by Azure house at third place with 97,500 points, and finally, the Gold House gathering a total of 90,950 points. Various activities and competitions were contested through grades 1 to 10, ranging from storytelling to impersonation for grade school, and extemporaneous speaking and thesis defense (exclusively for 10th graders) for high school. A speech choir contest was also held for the secondary level where the Junior Stallions hailed first. ”These contests were selected in order to foster students’ English speaking abilities and communication skills” quoted Teacher Gina Canonero, high school English teacher. Another activity to ensure the student’s cooperation during the week’s event was the Speaking English House Contest. During the contest, anyone caught speaking vernacular or Tagalog would be obligated to sign a slip of paper containing the violator’s name, house, and signature, as well as the reporter’s. These slips were collected by the end of the week and house points were deducted from the violators’ and additional house points were given to the reporters’ 2 I OPTICS / FLEDGLINGS 2014 Sanidad advances to NSPC by: Keziah Acharon Eighth grader Aeron Sanidad is about to set on yet one more journey in his endeavor as a student writer. The soon-tobe editor-in-chief of the Optics, the school’s official publication, is to advance to the national level of the Schools Press Conference (NSPC). He will be competing alongside 50 other sports writers from different parts of the country in Subic from the 10th to 14th of April. At 13, Sanidad, though the youngest competitor in his event, managed to topple down 50 others who were older than him. Most of Sanidad’s writing rivals are in their senior year but the young Sanidad remained unstoppable. Having bagged gold in both the Division Schools Press Conference (DSPC) and the Regional Schools Press Conference (RSPC), Sanidad proved himself an excellent sports student writer.