High School Global Trailblazers

Filipino high school students recognized by Harvard for being ‘Global Trailblazers’


Manila Bulletin
27November 2018


Harvard Social Innovation Collaborative’s “Village to Raise a Child” (VTRAC) program recently recognized five high school students from the Philippines for being Global Trailblazers.

(logo courtesy of www.harvardsic.org)

Meriam-Webster dictionary defines a trailblazer as a person who makes, does, or discovers something new and makes it acceptable or popular.

The winning Filipino students who bagged the prestigious recognition are Julia Ongchoco, and a group composed of Camille Esteban, Maxine Kho, Alexa Loste and Patricia Sioco.  The said students all come from Immaculate Conception Academy in San Juan City.

Ongchoco was chosen for being the founder of GiveLife which is an online platform that connects donors with potential recipients of medical assistance.

The winning group on the other hand was able to make an organic fire retardant out of  baking soda and banana peel ash.

The VTRAC program is a program by Harvard University that has been in existence for 8 years now and is aimed at nurturing “social entrepreneurs” worldwide.

The students who have been named Global Trailblazers are selected through a global competition for any enrolled high school student at the time of the contest.

After being selected the students pitched their projects in the Igniting Innovation Summit held on Oct. 28.

The said summit is an undergraduate conference on social innovation that is held yearly at Harvard’s campus.

Organizers of the competition then evaluate the entries and eventually trim down the list to 15 finalists who will make up a shortlist that will then be interviewed via Skype.