About 3,000 students from the highest-need,  senior-ready public  highschools in Metro Manila are now learning science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)with the help of brand new equipment received recently from the Caltex Fuel Your School (FYS) program of Chevron Philippines Inc. (CPI), marketer of high-quality brand of Caltex fuels and lubricants.

A global Chevron social investment program that was first introduced in the country this year,Caltex FYS involved motorists and the public who supported the said campaign during the donation period where in every 4-liter fuel purchase in any of the 153 Caltex stations in Metro Manila, Rizal, and Cavite generated one peso donation to fund the projects.

Chevron aims to reach a P5M donation fund or at least P150,000 per target beneficiary school.This amount was met during the fuel-up drive and social media campaign from June 15 to July 15, 2015.This  funded  the  28  STEM classroom proposals  that  were  shortlisted  by  program  partner  AmericanChamber Foundation as submitted by 27 of the 33 schools pre-selected by DepEd as schools most in need of support in Metro MManila.  

To help spread awareness and thus enable more people to donate and like the projects posted inthe FYS website, the Caltex campaign also ran a Facebook component, prompting several of the schools to devise gimmicks and strategies to rack up votes. Caloocan National Science and Technology HighSchool, the smallest school among the shortlisted schools in terms of student population, emerged as the victor after getting the most number of votes. Teacher/project proponent Fel Rose Ignacio despite their relatively small school population campaigned to the students through a daily “Facebook voting hour”and had the students view the instructional video she and her co-teachers created exclusively for Caltex FYS. She recalled, “We uploaded this video and shared the link to the dedicated Facebook page in which all of our students were members, then they utilized the ‘web-of-mouth’ strategy and shared with their network.”

Also in the top three based on the Facebook voting rank are Culiat High School in Quezon Cityand Pasay City East  High School.  All  three schools received a new laptop each as a bonus prize  in addition to the STEM materials they asked for,  for the untiring but fruitful campaigning both in social media and fuel-up drive.

Motorists and the social media community played a significant role in the Caltex FYS program. Entrepreneur Mich Mori said, “I supported the campaign because I wanted to do my part in helping these kids have a bright future. Who would’ve thought that a portion of my weekly gas expense can turn intosomething  beneficial?”  Blogger  Andy Nieva  meanwhile  relayed,  “When  you see,  read,  and  like  the [Caltex FYS] projects on Facebook, you somehow turn a leisure [activity] into valuable support for the beneficiary children. In this little way, I fueled up the dreams of these students to become a reality.

”According  to  Olivia  Dagdag,  the  principal  of  Camp Gen.  Emilio  Aguinaldo  High School  inQuezon City, “I set the direction of our school and that is to achieve our Caltex FYS project. Unity is the key to success. That is why I believe the Caltex FYS program became successful not only because of our school initiative, but also with the collaboration of the motorists, the community, and the private sector.” 

Raissa Bautista, manager for CPI’s Policy, Government, and Public Affairs, explained that the company believes that “Education is the greatest equalizer. The combination of quality school equipment provided  by  Caltex  FYS,  passionate  teachers,  and  motivated  students  will  make  education  a  very powerful tool for economic growth and sustainability.” Caltex  Fuel  Your  School  is  part  of  CPI’s  Energy  for  Learning  Initiative  which  supports educational programs that create opportunities for individuals to acquire new knowledge, gain new skills, and  be  exposed  to  different  ways  of  thinking.  To  find  out  more  about  the  STEM  projects  of  the beneficiary schools, go to http://www.CaltexFuelYourSchoolPH.com.