SU Aggies win in nat’l pitching competition
Eureka C. Montero, Dominic B. Tecson, and Kirsteen Queen A. Dave (from left to right) pose with their adviser, Asst. Prof. Rehel A. Diaz.
Silliman University College of Agriculture’s junior Agronomy students, Kirsteen Queen A. Dave, Dominic B. Tecson, and Eureka C. Montero, were among the winners at the Project Niche 3.0 Pitching Competition on April 27, 2024 held via Zoom.
Their pitched project, “Sustainable Urban Gardening Revitalizing Openly Available Wastes (SU GROW),” was chosen as one of the winning projects during the Top 10 Final Defense for Advocacy Pitch nationwide.
Under the guidance of Asst. Prof. Rehel A. Diaz, the team of Dave, Tecon, and Montero conceptualized and presented their project, which endeavors to promote and establish the implementation of sustainable urban gardening that incorporates the utilization of wastes to make food more available, accessible, utilizable, and stable while minimizing ecological footprints in Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental, Philippines.
The winning teams in the competition will receive a seed grant for their project implementation. They will also be oriented about Climate Reality Philippines’ Klima Pandayan program.
The Project Niche Pitching Competition provides a platform for advocates to pitch projects that address climate and environmental problems.
Project Niche is the youth empowerment campaign and project incubator of the Climate Reality Project Philippines, a nonprofit organization whose mission is “to empower a global cultural movement demanding immediate action on the climate crisis using cutting-edge education and communications strategies to demonstrate the urgency and solvability of the climate crisis.”
Project Niche aims to help budding young climate advocates who are currently taking their secondary and tertiary studies to initiate plans to solve climate and environmental problems in their communities.
The pitching competition was organized in partnership with the Rotary Club of Makati San Lorenzo, Rotary Club of Tai Po, Rotary International District 3830, and Rotary D3450 Preserve Planet Earth, and with support from Child Psychoecology Foundation. It gave young advocates a platform to think about solutions on four (4) thematic areas for climate action— just energy transition, sustainable urban mobility, zero-waste solutions and practices, and food security.
