University of Mindanao welcomes SIKAT

The warm welcome was further extendend into the Sikat motorcade, with a live band trailing the Sikat trailer in a bus as it made its way around Davao City, lending a lively and festive atmosphere to the whole motorcade. The motorcade started and ended in the University of Mindanao campus. Three buses trailed behind the Sikat motorcade, carrying more than a hundred students and faculty participating in the motorcade.
 
After the motorcade, the students and faculty of UM were regaled by the run Sikat made around the campus. With its sleek aerodynamic design, futuristic appearance and smooth drive, the UM crowd were more than amazed to see Filipino talent and ingenuity at work.
 
Honouring the event was President Guillermo P. Torres, Jr., who delivered the welcome address and at the same time expressed pride in being an alumnus of De La Salle University Manila (DLSU-M). With him were Dr. Pedro San Jose, UM’s Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs, Dr. Eugenio Guhao, Jr., Senior Vice President for Academic Planning and Services and Ms. Maria Julieta Torres, Vice President for Institutional Affairs. Also present were Ms. Susan Labotap from CHED and Engineer Jac Catalan from DLSU-M, who led the ribbon cutting ceremony that signaled the start of the Sikat Roadshow Exhibit.

University of Mindanao was formally made a part of the Sikat Solar Car Journey with the symbolic patching of the UM logo onto the Sikat Logo Wall by UM’s President Torres and DLSU-M’s Engr. Jac Catalan. “I sincerely hope that we will have more linkages and collaborations in the future between our two prestigious institutions”, remarked Torres. Afterwards, the crowd was tremendously entertained with the intermission of the UM Chorale, conducted by Prof. Peter Ian Buaya, Faculty of UM’s Education Department. With their angelic melodies, well-modulated voice and superb vocal coordination, the crowd was left with nothing to do but applaud.
 
The festive atmosphere carried on into UM’s mini auditorium, where Team Sikat was greeted by a compelling folk dance performance by the UM Makabayans. Later, the team went on with their modular presentations, explaining the nitty-gritty details of the Sikat Solar Car. As soon as the Team wrapped up their module presentation, the UM Makabayans sprung another lively dance number. An outsider would think that the Kagayawan Festival is going on full swing inside the auditorium.
 
After the programme, the students and visitors of the exhibit get to learn about Shell’s initiative towards renewable energy through their audiovisual presentations. They also learned about Sunpower’s highly efficient solar cells through the Sunpower presentation and the benefits and power of solar cell technology. Shell and Sunpower, together with Ford, First Gen, Motolite and De La Salle University-Manila, makes up the Philippine Solar Challenge Society.
 
Overall, everyone can feel the sweat and blood the people from University of Mindanao put into the preparations for the Sikat Roadshow Exhibit. More than anything else, their efforts in supporting Sikat and the dream it carries went beyond what was expected from them, and was nothing less than inspiring. Passion can be felt in the atmosphere, both from the support extended by UM and from Team Sikat who tirelessly worked hard to make this shared dream into reality. [Zette Gabinete, Infinit 1]