Perfecting championship habit: Eng’g whiz advances to nationals

Rusty V. Lapus  won  the Regional Civil Engineering Students Quiz (Region VII) on Saturday, September 17, at Sacred Heart Convention Center, Cebu City. Rail Patrick Estan who  emerged as 1st runner up will join nationals as well.

Rusty Lapus and Patrick Estan

A fifth year Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering student who began joining in his third year, Lapus championed the  quiz show last month, the regionals on Saturday, and now he is on his way to becoming the national winner.

“Before the final question, I felt I need to win, then I asked God for guidance . After the answer was revealed, I immediately stood up. The last question was one of those mentioned in one of my classes. So, (before it was revealed) I felt I had the edge.I received 10,000 from the competition and 2,000 from the PTA of CTU. I thank God for everything He gave me.”

Rusty Lapus

Once again CTU will represent Region VII for the 35th National Civil Engineering Quiz Show (NCEQS) on November 17 through 19 at the SMX Davao Convention Center, Davao City.

“We’ll go to Davao on November 15, and I’m excited to compete.I love the competition. I hope to meet the quizzer from FEU because, like me, he is passionate in what he does.”

On the other hand, Estan who started in his 4th year  expressed that  Engr. Mayor is the reason why he is now a member of the team, as he was the one who invited him to be trained with the rest of the quizzers. He also spoke about how he ended up as first runner up and not the champion.

“Maybe Rusty prepared more than I did, but overall, it was exciting.  I was tense and  afraid that  I would never win. I thank God, my trainers and my family. Everything paid off; I usually train for  four hours per week.”

Coaches and trainers who have been working with Lapus and Estan are  Engr. Jeonel S. Lumbab, Engr. Alex Mayor Jr., Engr. Jejomar Ugsimar Duque, Engr. JannyDoo Capillanes, Engr. Ramil Sigue, Engr Dovann Omandac Arrabis, and Engr. Dave Kerwin Bolarin, and Engr.Jayson Logronio. Engr. Lumbab is grateful for the help everyone had put up.

“It is simply the way we practice and how we advocate for excellence in everything that we do in honor of the school. We ask our alumni to come back to train. Time, money, and effort were spent. It is not only for me but for the entire group… . I compare it to sports. The alumni are the ones who breathe life into the organization.”

 

House of champions pushed Lapus and Estan  to the nationals, as their trainers were PICE title holders themselves: Duque in 2009 through 2011,  Bolarin in March 2012, Arrabis in July 2013, Sigue in March 2013, and Capillanes in March 2014.

“Winning is about these students who are so competitive. It’s totally a student factor. As a reward for their hardwork, we personally endorse them to review centers who’ll prepare them for the board examination. Lapus has already been endorsed to one.”

The College of Engineering has had quite a number of winnings this month. Engr. Lumbab believed in sacrifice as key to helping the institution and honing the students more importantly.

The group is set to train once again, this time, more serious, as they hope to take victory in one of the country’s metros.

Other participating schools were University of Cebu-Main (UC-Main) whose representative was  2nd runner up, University of San Carlos (USC), University of the Visayas (UV), University of San Jose Recoletos (USJ-R), and Cebu Institute of Technology-University (CIT-U). (UPO)