Just barely a month ago, I was tasked to judge a public speaking competition’s semifinal to help screen the 18 applicants. The prize at the end was huge – it was the right to represent the Philippines at the English Speaking Union International Public Speaking Competition held in London. We are no strangers to the prestige that this competition brings. Back in 2004, after wowing judges of her musings on the Filipino diaspora, Speech Communication major Patricia Evangelista was catapulted to national consciousness. She is now one of the more prominent young media personalities appearing in the Philippine Daily Inquirer’s Opinion page and various shows for the ABS-CBN News Network. With great education, matching chutzpah and the exposure that made her a household name, Patricia Evangelista is now being heard on various media – something that is arguably rare for somebody her age.

Clearly, it’s easy why high school students and college students in their late teens would like to try their luck in the competition. The payoff is tremendous. Despite the lack of monetary compensation, the privilege of representing one’s country to an international tilt can be considered as a great reward on its own. The opportunity to be heard by people of diverse backgrounds and to have one’s thoughts published on the dailies makes the attempt even more appealing. Though not as life-changing as a win in Pinoy Big Brother Teen Edition or Pinoy Idol, the contest does give a single high school student the shot to be recognized as better than most and the rightful representative for a prestigious competition.

All contestants had five minutes. Five minutes to talk about anything that they could possibly link this year’s theme “New Horizons, New Frontiers”. After delivering their speeches, they will be grilled by a panel who would launch questions relevant to content of their pieces. Predictably, most contestants chose the abstract path of self-improvement as their line of attack. Someone went ahead with a unabashed endorsement of his political dynasty while another tackled the always-relevant topic of pre-marital sex.

The one who stood out – at least for me — was the speech of one 16 year-old high school student from Philippine Science. He boldly chose to talk about the progress research in the Philippines. It was risky in the sense that not all could really relate to his chosen topic. Not all schools in the country have adequate research curricula, Filipino’s are not really that big into the sciences either. But despite these odds, he took the challenge and somehow inspired the judges and the audience perhaps, that the new horizons that await us past studies on fish mucus and foot fungus are reason for us to be more optimistic and more importantly, to be more driven to succeed in other fields.

Just a few days ago, Gian Karlo Dapul delivered the same speech in London and won the competition. We have not learned about it from most mainstream media outfits. Maybe they have bigger fish to fry. It’s sad that a country that goes crazy for every one-quarter Filipino big shot could not even afford half the distinction to somebody like Gian.

Gian is a sixteen year old incoming senior at the Diliman Campus of the Philippine Science High School. Reflect on that. What were you doing when you were sixteen? Chances are, you’ll be like the most of us – not having any international title on your belt. What he has done is truly worth commending and emulating. He may be younger than most of us, but he chose to dream big and took risks. Thanks to the choices he made, we have another champion and the field of research gets a brand new spokesperson in the form of a lanky bespectacled young man.

I guess this how Kuya Germs feels, huh? Last month, Gian was just one of the almost two dozen aspirants for the competition. He asked me for tips after he learned that he succeeded in advancing to the Philippine finals. I told him – that was good, but you’ve got to do better than that if you want to win. After I said that, he seemed to retreat and told me that he wasn’t looking to win at all.

One month later, he’s hailed champion.

NEW! Here’s the video of the Finals.

A copy of Fish Mucus and Foot Fungus may be found here. Congratulations, Gian. I’ve only met you once but I’m very proud off you.

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