Education - Channel 5 Belize

B.N.T.U. Elects New National President, Nadia Caliz

Close to six hundred members of the Belize National Teachers’ Union turned out on Thursday in Belmopan to elect a new national president. This is only a small percentage of the entire membership. Notwithstanding the turnout, a new president was elected. She is career teacher, Nadia Caliz. This was Caliz’s first time running for president of the union. She bested Ifasina Efunyemi. So, what is the first order of business for the newly elected president? News Five’s Paul Lopez reports.

Paul Lopez, Reporting

The Belize National Teacher Union has a new president.

Nadia Caliz, Newly Elected President, B.N.T.U.

“I have been paying attention to the direction our union has been taking and that is not the direction of the union I joined and I believe that those of us who are stalwarts who understand what BNTU represents for this country, we need it to come back and put us back on the platform where we were.”

Nadia Caliz has spent the last thirty years of her life in service to the nation’s children as a teacher. Caliz ran her campaign on job security, improved benefits, institutional strengthening and rebuilding the BNTU brand. Caliz went up against Ifasina Efunyemi, also a career teacher, but no stranger to the BNTU election process. Efunyemi was a candidate in 2023. We heard from her a day ahead of the elections.

Ifasina Efunyemi, Member, B.N.T.U.

“I know and have a lot of faith in the members of the BNTU. At the end of the day, the members they get the leaders they deserve. It is just like democracy overall. People get the leaders they deserve because they get the leaders they choose, and even if they don’t make themselves available and are not present for choosing, they are still left with the person chosen by whoever goes and make that decision on their behalf.”

According to the official count, after the votes were counted on Thursday evening, a total of five hundred and sixty members showed up to vote at the union’s fifty-fourth convention in Belmopan. According to Efunyemi, this is only eighteen percent of the union’s membership. Notwithstanding the low turnout, Caliz defeated Efunyemi. She secured four hundred and forty-five votes, a commanding victory.

Nadia Caliz

“I am looking at job security, better benefits. I am also looking at institutional strengthening and an improved BNTU brand. I am quite certain if you hear certain things about our union they are not things you like to hear. And I don’t like to hear it. So we have to come back to where we were and better and that is the key. Under institutional strengthening it is not just about teachers themselves, but the institution called BNTU. We have look at it. Our union is a continuation, new members come, old ones leave. What do we need to do, we have hear their concerns, address their concerns. It cant just be about the old methodologies and ideas and concepts. We have to merge them. That is the only way we can survive overtime.”

The Belize National Teachers’ Union or the “green machine”, one of the nation’s most formidable trade unions went through a tumultuous period, after former President Ruth Shoman was elected in April 2023. And things only continued downhill in the months that followed, leading to Shoman’s resignation. First Vice-President, Jorge Mejia was then appointed as the interim president. We spoke with him ahead of the election.

Paul Lopez

“Taking up this position as acting president, what has that role and honor has been like for you?”

Jorge Mejia, Former Interim-President, B.N.T.U.

“It is good experience. I am learning from it. And, that might help me afterwards in the leadership position that I am holding. For now, I am ok.”

But, the BNTU certainly has not been as active as it once was under the leadership of former President, Elena Smith. Except for one press conference the day before the March sixth municipal election, the union has, for the most part, steered clear of voicing its position on public issues. Newly elected President, Nadia Caliz hopes to restore the union to its glory days.

Nadia Caliz

“Being a member for thirty years and serving as rep, school rep, branch president, being in the forefront for many demonstrations, hey I have the experience and I said let me come forward, let me come forward and offer myself and see if they will accept me as their president.”

Caliz has been very outspoken about the plight of teachers over the years. In October 2016, the Union went on strike for fifteen days to improve working and living conditions for teachers. The union suspended its strike action after the central government agreed to its demand. There were then talks about withholding certain payments from educators who participated in the industrial action. Caliz, at the time a member of the council of management in Stann Creek, spoke out against the then government.

Nadia Caliz, Newly Elected President, B.N.T.U. (File: Oct 31st, 2016)

“The way we view this agreement over what the strike fund should be spent on and not spent on, we see it clearly as another form of trying to hold a rope over our membership’s neck, making it look as if though we are not concerned about them, making it look like oh I have the money, if unu ever think about going no strike again, mek ah show unu weh the happen, weh ah wah do to unu. Ah nuh wah pay unu. And, we want our membership to understand clearly, that is not the way for anybody to treat you.”

Reporting for News Five, I am Paul Lopez.

Education Minister Says He Will Work with New B.N.T.U. President

Nadia Martin-Caliz was chosen, by a convincing margin on Thursday, by members of the Belize National Teachers’ Union as their new National President. Martin-Caliz said after her re-election that she wants to shift the direction from where the B.N.T.U was going. She campaigned for the presidency on the platform of job security and better benefits for teachers, among other things. And today, Minister of Education, Francis Fonseca told us that he looks forward to working with President Caliz for the betterment of the education system in Belize.

Francis Fonseca, Minister of Education

“As Minister of Education, I have always tried to have a very good, respectful working relationship with the BNTU regardless of who was in office. I expect that to be the case here with the newly-elected president, Mrs Caliz. I know she has been a long-standing member of the B.N.T.U., has held many positions in the B.N.T.U, has been at the forefront of the advocacy on behalf of the B.N.T.U., so it’s someone who I have great respect for and I look forward to working with her and her team, who were elected last year to advance what I view as shared goals and objectives for education. Some people tend to believe that the B.N.T.U and the Ministry of Education are at odds, that we are in different places. Yes, we have different responsibilities and roles, but I have always said to my colleagues and friends in the B.N.T.U that I believe there is more that we share in terms of what we want to achieve for education in Belize, than what separates us. So I look forward to working with the new president in a spirit of respect, and dialogue and engagement. So my doors are open and I think as long as we have that mutual respect and, commitment to dialogue, I think we will have a good working relationship. It doesn’t mean we won’t have differences of opinion., but I think we both have a commitment to ensuring that we have a good education system that serves the needs of our teachers, serves the needs of our students, serves the needs of our families and ultimately serves the needs of our country Belize.”

Nadia Caliz is New B.N.T.U. National President

The Belize National Teachers’ Union held its bi-election to elect a new national president. Voting began at around two-thirty this afternoon and was completed by four-thirty. Following the counting, Nadia Caliz emerged as victor, besting Ifasini Efuneymi. We spoke with Caliz about her candidature.

Nadia Caliz, President Candidate, B.N.T.U.

“I have been paying attention to the direction our union has been taking and that is not the direction our union should be going and I believe that those of us who are stalwarts understand what BNTU represents to this country. We need it to come back and put us back on the platform where we were. And, being a member for thirty years and serving as rep, school rep, vice president, member of council , being in the forefront of many demonstrations, I have the experience. So I said, let me come forward. I said let me come forward and offer myself and see if they would accept me as their president. So I am waiting to see the results and if that is it then we are ready.”

B.N.T.U. Holds 54th Annual Convention

The Belize National Teachers’ Union is gearing up to conduct a bi-election to elect a national president. Jorge Mejia was appointed acting president in September of last year following Ruth Shoman’s controversial resignation. The election of a new national president is scheduled for Wednesday in Belmopan. Today, B.N.T.U. members gathered at the Our Lady of Guadalupe High School compound for their fifty-fourth annual convention. There, we spoke with Mejia about the activities scheduled for the two-day event.

Jorge Mejia, Acting President, B.N.T.U.

“First of all we are having our fifty-fourth annual convention, BNTU, and then today we are conducting the business of the union. And, at the moment we will be reviewing our constitution which is important to our members. Tomorrow it will be crucial, we will be having an election, a bi-election for our president. It is important for our members to come tomorrow to exercise thier democratic right to elect the next national president of BNTU.”

Paul Lopez

“How do we ensure transparency and fairness in the process, because while it is a union election, the union collaborates strongly with the public.”

Jorge Mejia

“We have an excellent team which is the election committee that oversees the entire process. And so tomorrow if you want to know, you can come tomorrow and you will get the result after the election.”

Paul Lopez

“How important is it to have your members come out and vote?”

Jorge Mejia

“Very, because it is their right to exercise because the person they choose will lead us for the future.”

Two Teachers On The Ballot For B.N.T.U. Presidency

As you heard, the Belize National Teachers’ Union will be electing a new national president on Thursday. Two members are vying for the position. They are Ifasina Efunyemi and Nadia Caliz. We sought to speak with both candidates today in Belmopan. Caliz denied our request for an interview but says she has nothing to hide and will grant an interview after Thursday’s election. Efunyemi, on the other hand, was willing to speak. She is one of the three candidates who lost to Ruth Shoman in April 2023. This bi-election gives her another chance at the presidency, and she says that she is feeling very confident this time around.

Ifasina Efunyemi, President Candidate, B.N.T.U.

“I am feeling very confident. I am feeling very calm. I know and have a lot of confidence in the members of the BNTU. At the end of the day the m3mbers they get the leaders they deserve it is just like democracy overall, people get the leaders they deserve because they get the leaders they choose and even if they don’t make themselves available and are present for choosing they still end up with whoever is chosen by those who go and make that decision on thier behalf so I would like to appeal to members to be fully present. It is.important that we are here. We claim to be Defenders of democracy. We are key in this democracy in Belize. We establish a balance in our democracy and our hold our leaders accountable. This is why we saw to it that the UN Convention against Corruption is signed and that we have a thirteenth senator. The BNTU was a big part of those things happening. So to whom much is given much is required but we have to be fully present. It cannot be the minority that makes the decision. However if you forfeit your right, your voice, it will be the minority that makes the decision.”

B.N.T.U. President Candidate Says Minister Fonseca is “Politricking”

We also asked candidate Ifasina Efunyemi for her thoughts on comments Education Minister Francis Fonseca made two weeks ago against the union’s executive inside the National Assembly. In his remarks, Minister Fonesca said that there are still a few U.D.P.’s who want to create mischief before the municipal elections. He was referring to the B.N.T.U.’s press conference on March fifth in Belmopan. Acting-President, Jorge Mejia declined to comment, but Efunyemi says that Minister Fonseca is doing what politicians do: misleading and disseminating misinformation. Here is how she puts it:

Ifasina Efunyemi, President Candidate, B.N.T.U.

“The Minister was being a political and he was doing what politicians do, “politrickians”, that is why there is that coining of the term because when they are playing that game the whole point is to mislead by giving misinformation. The conference that happened the day before was led by the council of management of the Belize Teachers Union. And, while our political affiliation is our constitutional right, the BNTU is not a political party and has to fight fervently to ensure that none of the parties, so that partisan politics undermines the strength of the union, which is our struggle right now because we have members who have their alliance with their different parties but their allegiances happens to be to their political parties.If that is the case that is where we will have some problems with our union.”

Rotarians Donate Playground to All Saints Primary School

Over the last four days, Rotarians have been toiling in the sweltering heat to upgrade the playground for the students at All Saints’ Anglican Primary School in Belize City. The playground was completed and opened for play today. News Five’s Paul Lopez has the story.

Paul Lopez, Reporting

All Saints’ Anglican Primary School in Belize City has a new playground. And, although students are out on holiday, some of them were present for its grand opening.

Maria Price, District Governor, Rotary District 4250

“With the Emmanuel Foundation, today Belize City has had fourteen playgrounds put in, this being the fourteenth one. So thank you very much for coming here and really doing such a great job for our children, our schools and our communities.”

Members of the Vegreville Rotary Interact Club in Canada were also present for the official opening of the playground. This is the ninth time that these clubs have collaborated with the Rotary Club of Belize to rehabilitate a playground.

Greg Senko, Rotary Club of Vegreville

“We are very grateful and privileged to come to such a beautiful country. I would like to thank the interact club for going beyond the call of duty. Yesterday in the heat, it was a pretty crazy event. And also, super big thank you to Cisco for providing the party and all the other help you have given us.”

Rylee Heisler, Interact Club of Vegreville

“A special shoutout to all the amazing students I worked with. We all united with a common goal, to build a playground and to bring joy to this community. Our hard work, teamwork and positive spirits kept us motivated to keep us going. Today we laughed, worked and made a lasting impact. I am grateful for every one of you.”

A little over six hundred students are enrolled at All Saints’ Anglican Primary School. The Rotary Club of Belize undertakes these kinds of creative educational initiatives as a part of its annual service projects, which also include feeding and literacy programmes.

Maria Price

“For the teachers, the students and community for all saints, this playground is a gift, a gift that has been donated by not only the Canadian people but the Rotary Clubs, the interact clubs who come here every year to do these projects and get such good feedback from us. So I hope from the local community wise that you take care of the playground. We found that playgrounds enhance attendance at schools, enhance education for children because they wish to come to school.”

Collin Estrada, Principal, All Saints Anglican School

“I pledge that the playground will be a safe space for our students, that it will be a place of friendship and comradery for our students. That is our pledge. On behalf of everyone, I would want to thank the Rotary Club of Belize, the Rotary Club of Canada, the Vegreville interacts who have been here. They have had a change in temperature whereby it is minus forty right now and it is snowing when they left home and they came to this blistering sun hot and they have done so without complaint, so let us give them a round of applause.”

Reporting for News Five, I am Paul Lopez.

Sixteen-Year-Old Belizean Accepted to Yale Program

A sixteen-year-old student from Belize High School has been accepted to the Young Global Scholar Program at Yale University. Yale is an Ivy league university ranked among the top ten best colleges in America. Sandra Lindo was selected, among a few others, from a pool of ten thousand applicants to participate in the two-week summer academic enrichment program for high school students. In tonight’s episode of Belize on Reel, we spoke with Sandra to learn more about her journey to this achievement. Here’s News Five’s Britney Gordon with that story.

Sandra Lindo, Belize High School Student

“So I hurriedly opened it, and when I opened it, I started crying, and I made sure to hurriedly call my mom. And she’s like, what happened? And I was like, I got accepted, and she’s like, oh my god! And she’s so happy, and she’s like, doing like, what all moms do, and she started posting it, and my dad started posting it. And I don’t know, I just felt so happy, and I felt so proud to like, achieve this dream, and to have like, my biggest supporters by my side.”

Britney Gordon, Reporting

Ten thousand applicants from one hundred and fifty countries, that’s how many students sixteen-year-old Sandra Lindo was up against for a chance to participate in the Young Global Scholar Program at Yale University. A spot that she would later secure, despite the odds. This program offers sessions on various topics, such as literature, science, politics, and law. Sandra, a third form humanities major at Belize High School, decided to apply to the law program.

Sandra Lindo

“I currently got accepted to Yale Young Global Scholar, which is a summer program at Yale in New Haven, Connecticut. Okay. And there’s four categories, but my, the one that stood out to me the most is politics, law, and economics, as it’s something that I want to do in the future and I thought that this would be a great experience, because in my freshman and sophomore year, I did some dual credit courses, and I did criminal justice, and that really solidified my dream and saying yeah, I really want to become a lawyer.”

Sandra recently participated in the HACIA program which is the Harvard Association for Cultivation of Inter-American Democracy. It is a debate conference that serves as an opportunity for youths to come together and create solutions to real world problems.

Sandra Lindo

“HACIA, I think, is like a really great program that we have here, because it’s with Harvard and it’s the summit, and there’s like different committees based on what you like. So I know PAHO is based on like medical, you had CELAC, which is based on like issues that are happening, and I knew they were doing like poverty for women, like reproduction care, but I chose court, and I did court last year as well, and it’s just to help learn the foundation of what it’s like to be in a court, and the simulation of it, so you have the judge, you have the plaintiff, and the defense. And I think that’s a really great experience because we not only learn, but we also have fun as well.”

She said that although it was difficult at times, through the support of her mentors and peers, she was able to successfully complete the HACIA events, which she believes will influence her future success at the Young Global Scholars Program.

Sandra Lindo

“There were countless days where we’re working on these papers, getting all the research, all the notes, and I feel like that’s really going to help me with this program, because it’s going to keep me organized, and I’m going to, have an understanding of what the law is, thanks to this program and I was like, I really enjoyed it because I had to do judge a day. I had to do defense, and it really gave me an opportunity to give my strong points and say yeah, I really believe that this slate has the right, and as a judge, I had to listen to both sides, and it really helped to like, become me like which side do I want to take, and it was a hard decision overall.”

Sandra’s teacher, Judy Carillo, was not only a mentor at the HACIA program, but also a great support to Sandra during her application process, encouraging her, as well as writing a recommendation letter. According to Carillo, she had no qualms about writing a recommendation for Sandra since she has always been a hardworking and dedicated student, who she believes will be a great ambassador for Belize.

Judy Carillo, Sandra’s Teacher

“So last year Sandra approached me and asked me if I can complete her recommendation form for this program and I have always admired Sandra because despite the challenges she has gone through she has always remained consistent and determined to engage in any activity that will contribute to the career she wants to pursue in the future. And I did so happily and with the hope that she would be accepted because I know it’s a great opportunity for her to develop her leadership skills but also get more exposure into what it takes to be part of that career that she wants to pursue.”

Sandra’s Mother, Souad Barrow recalled what it was like receiving that call from her daughter, informing her that she’s been accepted to the program.

Souad Barrow, Sandra’s Mother

“Overjoyed and proud would be an understatement to say, I started crying immediately. I think Sandra did as well. And then we just cried on the phone for a bit. They’re all saying that fisha man noh say ih fish stink. I have nothing but pure joy to speak about how wonderful a child Sandra is. “Her empathy and love for her community, her family, and especially her little brother, always amaze me. Sandra will come and say, Mom, I have an idea and I go, Oh, here we go again. And it would be a cleanup program or she did a fundraising with her sister and brother fundraising for Christmas to raise toys and food for the children’s home, Liberty Children’s Home. This is the third time she’s done an event like that. She does clean up. She does everything under her sun. Sometimes I say, take a break.”

Barrow said that her daughter has always had law influencing her life, as both parents, and several family members are lawyers.

Souad Barrow

“She is a lover of the arts. She’s a lover of Belize. And she comes from a long line of law influenced people. She has grown up around lawyers. She’s seen her dad go study. I’ve studied from here, long distance. She’s been with Honorable Senior Counsel Dean Lindo, who has been a role model for her. And she always says the term touch your brother light and watch the field because of him. So she’ll watch and say I think I want to do this and think is not, not in her vocab. She goes straight on, head on.”

Sandra hopes that she can attend Yale as a student one day but is open to keep trying for other schools as well. She said that Belizeans should apply for more programs like this because anyone can achieve it if they don’t give up.

Sandra Lindo

“Dreaming is not only about believing but achieving and I felt so proud of myself that I’m like one out of ten thousand out of one hundred fifty countries. And I feel as a Belizean, I’m very proud, because I’m like, not many of us have this opportunity, and I’m happy to like, put us on the map more, and further our things. But I feel like everyone has a chance, like if they have this dream, they should go for it, and they should achieve what they want.”

Britney Gordon for News Five.

Belizean Teachers Receive Training Through NASA

Teachers from all over Belize are participating in a program sponsored by NASA. The three-day workshop is part of the Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment Program, or GLOBE, which seeks to connect teachers, students, scientists and citizen scientist all around the world to better understand, sustain and benefit the environment. We attended the workshop today to see what kind of activities were taking place there.

Britney Gordon, Reporting

The Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment, or GLOBE project, is an international program sponsored by NASA, the US Department of State, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the National Science Foundation to promote citizen science around the four spheres of Earth. The program currently exists in one hundred and twenty-nine countries globally and nineteen in the Latin American region. The goal for Belize is to train teachers and spread the program throughout the country and help teachers to implement this program within their classrooms and their students.

Juan Felipe Restrepo, Mentor, GLOBE

“GLOBE is a program that is all around the world. This is sponsored by NASA, Department of the States of the United States, NOAA, and the National Science Foundation of the United States. What they promote is citizen science around the four spheres of a pedosphere, a hydrosphere and biosphere in each of those spheres. Scientists have designed have created protocols, very precise and rigorous protocols that are the citizens follow. So, our data is accurate enough to be used by them. That gives a very powerful tool for teachers because it’s called authenticity. They are going to tell the students that they are solving real problems with real tools. So, what we are doing in these three days is teaching them how to use those protocols, make the measurements, and we are trying to replicate in a way what we expect them to do in their classes.”

The program is still in its early stages in Belize, but ultimately seeks to provide educators with the tools needed to foster an environment for hands-on learning in the classroom that encourages students to participate in science throughout their daily lives. It’s accurate, reliable and suitable for investigation projects. Academic Coordinator at the Ministry of Education, Carlos Quiroz explained how the project is developing in Belize.

Carlos Quiroz, Academic Coordinator at the Ministry of Education

“So what is happening right now is that we’re in our first phase of getting teachers trained in implementing the GLOBE program. It’s not fully spread across all schools just yet. What we’re doing is we’re piloting it with some teachers from schools across Belize and we’re because one of the good things about globe is that you can tailor it to your local needs. And so, they will, working with them, they will give us insight into how it can fit within the Belizean context. So, taking a new curriculum and mapping it with the GLOBE content and the GLOBE’S activities and see which part of GLOBE can be implemented in which section of the curriculum.”

As a part of today’s activities, teachers were tasked with taking measurements of various components of the environment and comparing them to different areas every hour. Participants used the Global server app to track their observations in the NASA database in real time. Teachers also were given a profile on the Globe Program website to keep a record of their data. This training is concentrated on atmosphere and biosphere protocols designed by scientists that assure that the data that collected are accurate. We spoke with a participant from Cayo to hear what she has taken away from the program so far.

Lianne Herrera-Awe, Education Officer

“So as an education officer, we are responsible to provide support and monitoring to teachers. And so, from that vantage point, I’m able to have teachers here with us. Interact with the environment and have students become active participants rather than passive observers. We’re walking away from chalk and talk in the classroom because that is not the way for our children to learn. They get a chance to interact with these things rather than just reading it from a textbook or just getting theoretical knowledge of what it is they should learn. We want for our students to be active participants and be of their learning. And so, this is not tailored to any one textbook or curriculum, but it is set up in such a way where anyone can take it up and own it and learn from it and there’s no right or wrong way to dig in the sand and gather data.”

The project coordinators said that GLOBE exists not only to educate, but to allow for people to care about their environment and give back to the community using the knowledge they acquire.

Mariana Savino, Regional Coordinator for the Latin American & Caribbean, GLOBE

“The goal for Belize is to train teachers and spread the program throughout the country and help teachers to implement this program within their classrooms and their students. And the GLO program is a science education program that connects teachers, students, scientists and citizen science all around the world to better understand, sustain and benefit the environment. So the goal is to know more about the environment and encourage people, students and teachers to protect the environment and be aware of the climate change and all the things that damage the earth.”

Britney Gordon for News Five.

How To Grow Food On Mars

Over the past few weeks, we’ve been highlighting schools nationwide that exemplify the ethos of the Ministry of Education’s More Campaign. This week took us on a trip to Belize River Valley, where King’s College has captured our attention. We discovered a testament to creativity and innovation. Students set out to demonstrate a solution that the world has been discussing, a doomsday event. An out-of-this-world alternative where civilization can exist. Is Mars habitable? Would we be able to produce food on this planet? These are just some of the questions for which we are still gathering scientific evidence to support the future likelihood of life beyond Earth. It takes in-depth research, and we never expected to get some answers from a class of students at King’s College. Illustrating their ingenuity and forward-thinking mindset, lets just say… their presentation was “out of this world’. Sabreena Daly tells us more.

Voice of: Martian King, Student Narrator
“In the not so distant future, humanity had set its sights on the ultimate frontier– Mars. As Earth’s resources dwindled and the need for a backup plan became more urgent, a remarkable plan was set in motion to make the red planet habitable.”

Amid global discussions on the fate of our planet, there emerges a visionary solution—an otherworldly alternative where humanity could potentially thrive: Mars. Is Mars truly habitable? Can we sustainably produce food on its surface? These are just a few inquiries driving our quest for scientific understanding, as we explore the prospect of life beyond Earth. Such endeavors demand extensive research, yet unexpectedly, enlightening insights have emerged from an unlikely source, a group of students at King’s College.

Gwendolin Correa, Teacher, King’s College
“Basically, the prompt was, how would we grow food on Mars? How can we make that a reality? And some research they did do, and it was very extensive because they had to learn about the food, food products, the energy source that they were going to do. How are they going to construct their greenhouse? In the end, they decided to do a film, a film to really engage other students and I would say viewers, because they didn’t want to do a regular PowerPoint presentation. They really wanted to make something entertaining, and this is where the film was born.”

This initiative stemmed from Pathlight International. Recognizing it as a valuable opportunity for exposure, Pedro Reyes, principal of King’s College, enthusiastically encouraged the students to take on the challenge.

Pedro Reyes, Principal, King’s College
“I introduced it to the teachers and asked, can we do this? They said definitely, let’s give it a try. It would be a wonderful experience and exposure for our students to learn. So, the teachers pulled a team of students, and the process of the project was really time consuming. Dedication, you know, the students spent a lot of time putting effort and interest into this project.”

Their sci-fi short film vividly portrays the futuristic tale of a scientist awakening from a comatose state in outer space. Upon regaining consciousness, he is greeted by his colleagues who share the many advancements made during his prolonged unconsciousness. The most profound revelation, they are now inhabitants of Mars. Ediel Reyes told us more.

Ediel Reyes, Student, King’s College
“It all came to the research. Each one of us had a certain part on my part about the structure of the greenhouse. You know, um, Making it good so that no, um, any contaminated oxygen or thing could affect us. And there were other parts that we’re talking about like. We talked about how long it would take to reach from Earth to Mars.That was basically a lot of information. Every evening we had to research a lot.”

Ithiel Reyes awakens from deep unconsciousness and learns of the developments.

Ithiel Reyes, Student, King’s College

“I was having a hard time understanding what my colleagues were talking about. Um, this information, the technology and all this stuff there, once you’re waking up from a coma, you’re lost, right? And you don’t have, um, understanding your loss, and it was a very hard time. Processing all of this.”

Johana Pineda, Student, King’s College
“So my role comes after the doctor. The doctor takes the coma boy to me and my role is to show him where we have our vegetables, the lettuce, the corn and we also had crickets.”

Yet, the question persists: can humanity adapt to inhabiting a world so markedly different from Earth, as we know it? The glaring differences in environmental conditions raise doubts about the human body’s resilience to such extremes. Nevertheless, it appears that the students have discovered an alternative.

Hayyim Torres, Teacher, King’s College

“The main film is just about a group of astronauts that went to Mars and they are going to be the first group to colonize Mars. They built an entire structure underground, not on the surface on Mars, but it is using lava tubes underground. With the research that we did, we actually found that there are gigantic lava tubes and all these structures, these greenhouses were built underground.”

Jenny Perez, Student, King’s College
“I introduced the The nuclear energy source and how it is the main function and for what we will use it for, which will use it for the electricity and to use the water from Mars to get water from there and also for oxygen.”

Abigail Pollard, Student, King’s College
“Well, my research is that Mars is kind of challenging to grow food on the planet because the soil is very toxic and it’s about 4 percent of the soil that is very toxic to humans. So basically we had to like put a greenhouse on the ground and Since the planet, it has a very thin atmosphere. So in the night, it gets really cold for plants.”

According to King’s College, they did not imagine that the final product would have turned out so well. The students took full advantage of tech support by teaming up with a video production agency. And after eight weeks of grueling research and practicing their lines, these young researchers turned actors, have a final product to be proud of. According to Gwendolin Correa, all they could want is that the students learn while working together.

Gwendolin Correa
“I have to say I’m immensely proud of them and their work because they showed that they could apply several skills, not only the research skills, which is very important, but they were also able to collaborate with each other and communicate effectively. Because, you know, when communication doesn’t exist, then some Students might not be willing to do their part, but everyone in our group was able to have a week to be a leader. And all of them showed that they could be leaders and they could lead.”

Looking on the Bright Side, I’m Sabreena Daly.