GCians triumphed with awards on a Start-up Challenge

Monday, October 9, 2023

Gordon College’s students from the College of Computer Studies (CCS) claimed two titles from joining the Philippine Start-up Challenge 8 Regional Pitching Competition at Bataan Peninsula State University on October 4, 2023.

The College of Computer Studies embarked the Pyro Logic Team into the competition, mentored by Mr. Arvin Shelby H. De Leon, and consists of three participants, namely Mark Janeil R. Villasis, Kanji Takahashi, and John Carlo D. Ramos. The team launched their start-up entry called “REMEDIO,” a gamified system that improves medication and supplements adherence by making it engaging and enjoyable, which aided them in claiming the Region 3 Championship title.

In an interview with The Forefront, 4th-year CCS Student Mark Janeil Villasis said it was a time-stopping moment when his team was announced as the Region 3 Champion.

“What we feel is a mix of happiness, surprise, nervousness, and most importantly, gratitude. Hindi talaga kami makapaniwala that time kasi yung kaba namin before kami magpresent and after namin magpitch is ramdam parin namin. Nawala lang lahat ng nasa isip namin nung tinawag na kami,” he said.

In line with this, the team obtained the Best Presenters Award for their performance throughout the presentation of their start-up, adding to the significance of the challenges they faced.

According to Villasis, “One of the challenges we faced in creating our startup pitch was how we can compress all necessary information about ‘REMEDIO’ into an appealing 5-minute pitch.” To address the problem, Villasis and his team conducted a trial-and-error with several practices to ensure the feasibility of presenting concise information in 5 minutes.

Prior to the competition, Villasis and his team proposed several project proposals to Mr. De Leon, their mentor and project adviser, until they decided to submit REMEDIO as their entry. The concept is motivated by the medication adherence of an elderly relative of Villasis.

“Napansin ko kasi na pag halimbawa may reward na inaano [ibinibigay] kay “papsie” (Elder), sumusunod agad siya or should I say na parang mas naeenjoy nya pag ganun,” he said. Villasis also added that while researching medication adherence, they found out that it is one of the most critical issues in today’s healthcare landscape, leading to the creation of REMEDIO, which was designed to make proper medication adherence recreational.

In terms of the process, the team spent the months of August and September researching the issues underlying the non-adherence to medication and painstakingly researched numerous related literature as the foundation of their work. After months of locating related studies and establishing their start-up idea, they consulted their instructor for approval by conducting initial pitch presentations.

During the competition, as first-timers, the team felt unease as they stepped out of their comfort zone and saw other representatives of the different campuses who passionately presented their groundbreaking entries, but they thought it was exciting and crucial for their growth, so they confronted the challenge.

“Ang nasa isip lang namin nun is i-grab yung opportunity and to do our best for the team, mentors, and the school,” Villasis said.

Villasis also said that the remarkable honors they took home for Gordon College and the entire CCS family are all backed by the guidance of God.

Moreover, the whole of Gordon College was granted the title of Most Number of Qualified Entries for submitting 30 entries in the competition. The competition acknowledges the following runner-ups:

•1st RUNNER-UP— LexAssist: LexAssist (Bataan Peninsula State University)

•2nd RUNNER-UP— Aerolink: Aerolink (Bataan Peninsula State University)

•3rd RUNNER-UP— CKreAtion: PawsPlacePH (Bulacan State University – Meneses Campus)

•4th RUNNER-UP— Junior UPRrise: Meconium (Bulacan State University-Main Campus)

•5th RUNNER-UP—APCAS TECH: PARA PO + (Asia Pacific College of Advanced Studies)

: Isiah Adorna Aquino | News Correspondent