Xavier University student wins PalaECEpan Quiz Bee
Event webcast live in Visayas and Mindanao

For the second time in the seven-year run of the PalaECEpan quiz bee, a student from Xavier University in Cagayan de Oro City is declared the champion.  

Graduating ECE major Carlo C. Miñon bested 42 other students in a test of intellectual prowess on four ECE board subjects -- Electronics Systems and Technologies, Electronics Engineering, General Engineering and Applied Sciences, and Engineering Mathematics.   

PalaECEpan is the much-anticipated side activity of Smart’s annual SWEEP Innovation and Excellence Awards, a search for the best wireless applications developed by students, open exclusively to partner schools under the Smart Wireless Engineering Education Program (SWEEP).  

Faculty mentor Engr. Franklin Rey Pacquaio is ecstatic over Carlo’s win.  His batch mate Vyll Roxanie Tinampay was the 2006 PalaECEpan champ.

What makes Carlo’s win even more special is the fact that students from Visayas and even Mindanao got to witness his winning moment as he breezed through the difficult round. 

This was made possible by event host Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart) as it delivered live via webcast the PalaECEpan to schools in the Visayas and Mindanao regions.  The quiz bee held at the SMX Convention Center in Metro Manila was seen at the University of San Carlos in Cebu City and at the University of Southeastern Philippines in Davao City.

Awarded to this year’s champion was P40,000 cash, a trophy and a certificate of recognition.

“I laid out the groundwork on the topics he had to focus on, but all credit goes to Carlo.  He did it on his own, working at his own pace.  He did not compete to win but he won anyway because he is a brilliant student,” says Engr. Pacquiao.

Carlo is guided by the principle that one must absorb as much knowledge as possible while still young. 

This only child immerses himself in books, puzzles and gadgets.  He digs math and physics and gets inspiration from the lives of Stephen Hawking, Richard Feynman, Albert Einstein, and John von Neumann.

Solving logical and mathematical problems is one of his hobbies.  He also loves biking, hanging out with friends, and indulging on burgers and ice cream.

“I love math and physics because they challenge the mind and stir my curiosity,” says Carlo who plans to specialize in “Matlab and Wolfram Mathematica”.

(Published 17 March 2011, Smart Communications, Inc.)