The Hotchkiss Learning Center (HLC) has joined the world's largest volunteer effort to clean up our oceans by participating in Ocean Conservancy's International Coastal Cleanup (ICC) Day . In last year's ICC, close to 800,000 volunteers around the world collected more than 18 million pounds of trash.

The HLC campus is located on the banks of the Cantilan River, just a kilometer away from the coastline. Directly facing the Pacific Ocean, the school and its students witness, on a daily basis, the amount of ocean trash that pollutes our waterways, mangrove ecosystems, and beaches. As part of the school's mission to help raise the local community's awareness on environmental issues such as water pollution, the HLC has joined this massive global effort. While HLC students have been regularly doing beach cleanups through the school's Eco-Scouting program, this year the school pledged to join this worldwide effort upon the suggestion of Anna Dawson of the Plastic Free Philippines project. (Check out Anna's quest to raise awareness and to clean up our coastlines in the Philippines as she embarks on a 2,000-kilometer bamboo bike ride from the Visayas to Northern Luzon! Visit the Plastic Free Philippines page on Facebook.)

The International Coastal Cleanup Day is on Sept. 17, 2016. The school's activities, however, will not be limited to that day. The HLC is organizing three separate beach cleanups on the following dates: Sept. 7, 10, and 17. Other activities will include a photo exhibit featuring the underwater photography of scuba diver Joepi Paloma and a mural painting activity by the students.

Join us!

On August 30, 2014 Saturday, the first group of HLC Eco-scouts visited Bill's Sanctuary at Inijakan, one of the school's Outdoor Teaching Labs. At the island teaching lab, the eco-scouts learned all about the major components of marine ecology and how eco-scouts can help preserve the fragile marine eco-systems of Cantilan. While at the primary Outdoor Teaching Lab of HLC, the students learned how to identify the various types of seagrass, fish, and coral reef. 

As part of the school's Eco-scouting program, the HLC eco-scouts conduct regular coastal clean-ups in the nearby beach (Baybay Dos). The eco-scouts are grouped according to the following patrol groups: River, Mangrove, Forest, Ocean, Kalaw.

Working together with our adopted community in Purok Uno in Bgy. Magosilom, the eco-scouts regularly pick up and collect large amounts of garbage along the beach in Balwarte. On average, they collect about 5 sacks of mostly rubbish items such as plastic bottles and sachets, snack packets (potato chip packs and such), plastic bags, glass bottles, and disposable diapers. The amount of trash the students have collected so far should come as a solid wake-up call to the local government.

It is our hope that we can help increase the awareness of the local communities of the values of proper trash disposal and recycling. If we all do our bit when it comes to managing our own household waste and making sure that we understand the impact of our activities on the environment, Cantilan would surely be a cleaner town.  

As part of the holistic development of HLC students, swimming lessons are incorporated into their physical education classes. No, HLC doesn't have a pool. It has something even better - a river right outside the school! 

Safety first

Naturally, the school has taken many precautions when it comes to the safety of its students. During supervised swimming classes, the school nurse - certified in delivering first aid and CPR techniques - and the P.E. teachers are always on hand. Students who are still learning how to swim can opt to have lifejackets OR hang on to the recycled plastic-bottle rafts that they made in their TLE class. Additionally, students who only have basic swimming skills are only allowed to swim within the confines of the dry dock. 

Every other Wednesday, when the weather is fine and the tide high, you can see HLC students learning how to swim or kayak during their P.E. class. Pretty soon, they'll be starting their surfing classes!

Do you know how much sugar is in a liter of cola/soda/softdrinks? How much sugar should a young person be allowed to eat/drink on a daily basis? Do you know the answer to these questions?

In the 2014 celebration of Nutrition Month in July, HLC's School Administrator and science teachers demonstrated through a simple experiment the average sugar content of a liter of cola. To heighten the students' and parents' awareness of the negative effects of excessive amounts of sugar in children's diets, the school's nurse and science teacher explained how sugar is a contributing factor to many diseases including obesity, diabetes, tooth decay, and high blood pressure, and has many harmful effects on the health of growing children. According to research, the recommended maximum allowable daily intake of sugar for children ages 3 to 8 should be 3 teaspoons. For teenagers, the maximum amount of sugar added to their daily diet should be 5 to 8 teaspoons. The truth is, however, that most Filipino children, teenagers, and adults consume at least twice the recommended allowable intake.

To demonstrate the levels of sugar content in a liter of soda, the science teacher and the School Administrator boiled a liter of Coca-Cola in front of the curious students (see photos below). Everyone took a stab at how many teaspoons of sugar could be found in a bottle of Coke. Most guessed 2 or 1. In actuality, a liter of Coke has 108 grams of sugar and adds 400 calories from sugar to your diet. That's equivalent to 25 teaspoons of sugar! A 12-oz serving of Coke has 9 1/3 teaspoons of sugar. Imagine what that looks like. Unfortunately, soft drinks are a very common staple in the Filipino diet - you can find it served during merienda, lunch, and dinner. 

So, what were the results of the experiment? Cola is basically made up of carbonated water, high-fructose corn syrup or sugar, caffeine, phosphoric acid, and artificial coloring and flavor. If you boil down this liquid, naturally, the water evaporates and what remains is a sticky, dark substance composed of the burned sugars and other chemicals. (See image on the right.) This substance hardens immediately after you take it off the heat. If you want to replicate this experiment, use disposable equipment as you will be unable to clean the hardened substance off. Now, imagine what that does to your stomach.  

All soft drinks, whether regular or diet, have little or no nutritional value and contain plenty of additives, such as caffeine or phosphoric acid, which could potentially cause health problems.

HLC eco-scouts learned all there was to know about birdwatching back in July with the help of volunteers Camille Concepcion and Medel Silvosa. Keen observation, curiosity, and a pair of binoculars are the key tools of the trade which the students had in spades.

Their amazing volunteer teachers taught them all about which tell-tale bird characteristics they should look for. For starters, the students were taught to observe and describe the location of the bird, how it was vocalising, the shape of the beak, the color of the bird's head, wings, back, tail, and the length of their tails. The students were so excited to learn about birdwatching and felt very lucky to have our volunteer teachers visit them. 

We hope to continue our birdwatching activities as often as possible during our Outdoor Teaching Lab sessions but, we do need your help. To be more effective, the school needs more bird guide books and binoculars. If you would like to help us be more effective in teaching the appreciation of wild birds, please consider donating guide books or binoculars. You may contact us at [email protected] for more information on donating.

Congratulations to High School Class 2014 and Grade 6 graduates!

Congratulations to all the students of Class 2014! Everybody got their university and college entrance exam results this week. We're proud to announce that our seniors will go on to pursue their baccalaureate degrees in the University of the Philippines (Diliman), De La Salle University, University of Cebu, Central Mindanao University, and other prestigious colleges.

HLC students, teachers, and parents kicked off United Nations Day on Oct. 23, 2013 with a parade showing off all the kids' national costumes, representing all the continents. In the brief program that followed, the School Administrator and the Managing Directress both highlighted the importance of celebrating diversity in cultures, fostering understanding, and building friendships between countries.