UP ACM Wins International Competition: Beats First-world Universities
By Phillip Kimpo Jr. (http://corsarius.i.ph)
The Association for Computing Machinery - University of the Philippines Student Chapter (UP ACM) bested 750 chapters worldwide — many of them from the US — by winning the recently concluded Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) 2004-2005 Student Chapter Excellence Awards.
UP ACM, the first and only Filipino ACM chapter, bagged two out of the five categories, Best Community Service and Best Recruitment Program. UP ACM, which joined the contest for only the first time, won 500 US dollars for each award.
Founded in 1947, ACM is world’s oldest and largest educational and scientific computing society. ACM’s student chapters are spread worldwide over 500 colleges and universities.
The Chapter Excellence Awards are given yearly to the chapters with outstanding Activities, Website, Recruitment Program, Community Service, and School Service.
Last year’s batch of winners were five North American chapters. This year saw the Philippines barging into the prestigious circle, winning not only the usual single category, but two.
The other three winners were from the University of Kansas (Activities), University of Texas at Austin (Website), and Dalhousie University (School Service).
Community Service That Matters
While UP ACM was able to bag the Best Recruitment Program award through the phenomenal increase in its member population (jumping from roughly a dozen to 90 in just one semester), winning the Best Community Service award was entirely another matter.
With last year’s Best Community Service award won by a US chapter donating a batch of computers to a middle school, UP ACM decided to go on another track. It believed in the power of imparting knowledge, not material objects.
Thus UP ACM held a computer literacy outreach program for the children of Barangay UP Campus last April 2005 in one of the DCS’ computer laboratories. Sixty children from underprivileged families attended the two-day event. (See related article.)
By Phillip Kimpo Jr. (http://corsarius.i.ph)
The Association for Computing Machinery - University of the Philippines Student Chapter (UP ACM) bested 750 chapters worldwide — many of them from the US — by winning the recently concluded Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) 2004-2005 Student Chapter Excellence Awards.
UP ACM, the first and only Filipino ACM chapter, bagged two out of the five categories, Best Community Service and Best Recruitment Program. UP ACM, which joined the contest for only the first time, won 500 US dollars for each award.
Founded in 1947, ACM is world’s oldest and largest educational and scientific computing society. ACM’s student chapters are spread worldwide over 500 colleges and universities.
The Chapter Excellence Awards are given yearly to the chapters with outstanding Activities, Website, Recruitment Program, Community Service, and School Service.
Last year’s batch of winners were five North American chapters. This year saw the Philippines barging into the prestigious circle, winning not only the usual single category, but two.
The other three winners were from the University of Kansas (Activities), University of Texas at Austin (Website), and Dalhousie University (School Service).
Community Service That Matters
While UP ACM was able to bag the Best Recruitment Program award through the phenomenal increase in its member population (jumping from roughly a dozen to 90 in just one semester), winning the Best Community Service award was entirely another matter.
With last year’s Best Community Service award won by a US chapter donating a batch of computers to a middle school, UP ACM decided to go on another track. It believed in the power of imparting knowledge, not material objects.
Thus UP ACM held a computer literacy outreach program for the children of Barangay UP Campus last April 2005 in one of the DCS’ computer laboratories. Sixty children from underprivileged families attended the two-day event. (See related article.)