austraLasia #2677
"Team Grigio” back from Shell-Eco Marathon
MANILA: 16 July 2010 -- “Team Grigio” is the catchy moniker for FIN’s Don Bosco Technical College Mandaluyong entry in the recently-concluded Shell Eco-marathon Asia, held last July 8-10 on the famed Sepang Formula One racetrack in Malaysia (see Austra-L-Asia # 2262). It might not have brought home the bacon, but it surely came back to Manila rich and rejoicing for having had a wonderful stint in said race.
Accompanying our seventeen mechanical engineering students were Fr. Marty Macasaet (DBTC Rector), Mr. Leonardo Ablaza (DBTC past pupil and a Shell Philippines official, designated as the “godfather” of the team), and Engineers Stephen Ruiz (college dean) and Paul Catalan (department head and team adviser). But the limelight clearly belonged to the students themselves, for they were, after all, the prime targets and main protagonists of the whole event. According to the Shell Eco-marathon organizers, this unique fuel-efficiency race-contest (for some time now being held annually in Europe and the United States) is precisely for and by the youth. Faced with urgent concerns nowadays for saving and preserving our environment through sound ecological practices in the car industry, who else do you turn to for fresh ideas and out-of-the-box innovations? Or, as one Filipina journalist covering the event put it, “Young and smart minds are always an inspiration.”
Hence DBTC’s participation too, as one of the premier engineering schools from the Philippines chosen by Shell Philippines to field in a team. More than eighty teams took part from all over Asia. But having been the only Don Bosco school in Asia which joined in the event (held in a country with no Salesian presence at that), Team Grigio found itself in strange territory, it seemed. But driving on tracks it is most at home with (namely — engineering innovations, fuel efficiency, and safety procedures) its participation alone was definitely an achievement already in itself. As a bonus in fact, Team Grigio received a citation from contest organizers for “demonstrating safety compliance during the three days of the competition.” And already now it is looking forward not just to a repeat performance same-time-same-place next year, but hopefully to a much-improved stint — what with a lot of valuable lessons learned and prized experiences acquired.
Because in the first place, the whole thing fits in very well with DBTC Mandaluyong’s thrust for “technology with a soul,” translated to its benchmark environmental and ecological projects and activities. No regrets at all for its joining the contest, and all the more reason still to join again in the future. Team Grigio hopes to be back in Sepang with a louder growl.
_________________
AustraLasia is an email service for the Salesian Family of Asia Pacific. It also functions as an agency for ANS based in Rome. For queries please contact admin@bosconet.aust.com . Use Bosconet-wiki to be interactive. RSS feeds - just go to Bosconet, click on austraLasia 2009 in the sidebar. You will see the RSS orange icon in your browser address bar - add it from there. Or be interactive with the EAO blog Cetera Tolle. Avail yourself of the Salesian Digital Library at http://sdl.sdb.org
"Team Grigio” back from Shell-Eco Marathon
MANILA: 16 July 2010 -- “Team Grigio” is the catchy moniker for FIN’s Don Bosco Technical College Mandaluyong entry in the recently-concluded Shell Eco-marathon Asia, held last July 8-10 on the famed Sepang Formula One racetrack in Malaysia (see Austra-L-Asia # 2262). It might not have brought home the bacon, but it surely came back to Manila rich and rejoicing for having had a wonderful stint in said race.
Accompanying our seventeen mechanical engineering students were Fr. Marty Macasaet (DBTC Rector), Mr. Leonardo Ablaza (DBTC past pupil and a Shell Philippines official, designated as the “godfather” of the team), and Engineers Stephen Ruiz (college dean) and Paul Catalan (department head and team adviser). But the limelight clearly belonged to the students themselves, for they were, after all, the prime targets and main protagonists of the whole event. According to the Shell Eco-marathon organizers, this unique fuel-efficiency race-contest (for some time now being held annually in Europe and the United States) is precisely for and by the youth. Faced with urgent concerns nowadays for saving and preserving our environment through sound ecological practices in the car industry, who else do you turn to for fresh ideas and out-of-the-box innovations? Or, as one Filipina journalist covering the event put it, “Young and smart minds are always an inspiration.”
Hence DBTC’s participation too, as one of the premier engineering schools from the Philippines chosen by Shell Philippines to field in a team. More than eighty teams took part from all over Asia. But having been the only Don Bosco school in Asia which joined in the event (held in a country with no Salesian presence at that), Team Grigio found itself in strange territory, it seemed. But driving on tracks it is most at home with (namely — engineering innovations, fuel efficiency, and safety procedures) its participation alone was definitely an achievement already in itself. As a bonus in fact, Team Grigio received a citation from contest organizers for “demonstrating safety compliance during the three days of the competition.” And already now it is looking forward not just to a repeat performance same-time-same-place next year, but hopefully to a much-improved stint — what with a lot of valuable lessons learned and prized experiences acquired.
Because in the first place, the whole thing fits in very well with DBTC Mandaluyong’s thrust for “technology with a soul,” translated to its benchmark environmental and ecological projects and activities. No regrets at all for its joining the contest, and all the more reason still to join again in the future. Team Grigio hopes to be back in Sepang with a louder growl.
_________________
AustraLasia is an email service for the Salesian Family of Asia Pacific. It also functions as an agency for ANS based in Rome. For queries please contact admin@bosconet.aust.com . Use Bosconet-wiki to be interactive. RSS feeds - just go to Bosconet, click on austraLasia 2009 in the sidebar. You will see the RSS orange icon in your browser address bar - add it from there. Or be interactive with the EAO blog Cetera Tolle. Avail yourself of the Salesian Digital Library at http://sdl.sdb.org
