And we made it!

Yes! We got the 2nd place and we are heading to the Nationals in Manila by November 2017. And to add, a chance to meet Filipino steemians in Manila.

It was a heart-pounding competition and we were all nervous all through the whole program. I looked on to some faces, other competitors, and they're also in tension and the anxiety was very clear on their straight faces. While our team, we're all smiling when we arrived at the venue.

The UCLM Team

We still have several minutes to prepare ourselves when we're at the venue. We were able to grab small snacks just to fill up a little food to our empty stomach and to our non-empty brain. I scanned some important notes and review some formulas. And to be honest, I only read few of them lately and took a very quick and forcible memorization about all engineering subjects. My mind won't absorb everything I am reading that time. It was just about Oscillators that I was able to pile up in my brain. All these formulas about Hartley oscillator, Collpits, Clapp, RC Resonant and Crystal oscillators were the ones that I can manage to familiarize but none of them appeared during the 3 rounds competition. I simply rely on some stocked knowledge I still have and believed it was there all the time.

And the moment of truth started

Round 1

During round one, an easy round (but for me, no round was easy), Hive account@japh, Hive account@leyram12 and Hive account@jojimar took the seat for the first 3 participants while me, Hive account@jassennessaj and Hive account@carpieeew set aside at the benches. I felt the intensity growing in our area. We were cheering for them and praying for every question being flashed and asked that they can answer it correctly and confidently. The first question was a miss. Hive account@carpieeew and I got it correctly at the bench but hey take a look at this:
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After round 1, we were ahead together with CTU from any other participating schools. Our team, UCLM got 40 points for this "easy" round.

Round 2

It was this round, the average round that we felt the pressure to get back into the race and take the lead back in our hands. It was Hive account@jassennessaj, Hive account@japh and Hive account@carpieeew at the hot seat at this round while the others were on their respective chairs cheering and again refreshing up minds, including me. I'm still sitting and waiting for my turn in Round 3, the difficult round.
The scores sheet showed the proof of our misery. They managed to answer only one question worth 15 points, a Problem Solving question.
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And we are down second together with the CIT-U and USC while the CTU climbed up to the top with outstanding 80 points. We are still very optimistic though.

Round 3

Okay my turn now. Before we started round 3, we discussed things seriously with Hive account@jassennessaj and Hive account@japh. We must answer atleast 3 Problem Solving questions correctly worth 45 points. And thank God, we were able to answer 2 Problem Solving questions worth 30 points (last two questions) and two Objective Type questions worth 10 points.
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Making us the first runner up for the competition. CTU being the champion, a second time champion with last year's championship and CIT-U as the 2nd runner up.
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We won 2000PHP cash prize and a trophy and a fun and memorable experience, a one time rare experience that we'll carry all through our life.

We are heading to the Nationals and we need your support!

This really added up to our total happiness. Upon declaring the winners, the champion and the 1st runner up will be qualified for the National ECE quiz show on November 2017 at Manila, Phils. We were so happy and excited but only the champion will have the benefit to bring all their participants to the show while the 1st runner up only have to bring 3 members. We were six at the competition: me, Hive account@jassennessaj, Hive account@japh, Hive account@leyram12, Hive account@carpieeew, and Hive account@jojimar and I want all of us to go to Manila and represent our dearest school. That is why I am writing this post to provide support to our team.

So, any amount of SBD rewards that this post will generate will be added to our funds (the 2000PHP cash prize is our starting) to get us through the show. The Cebu Chapter for ECE is cutting budget for the support of participating teams but I dont want that reason to hinder us from achieving our goal. With the empowerment of Hive account@sndbox and steemit, we will be there--to the Nationals we go!