The Philippine Science High School (or Pisay for short) is well-known for being one of the best schools in the country. This is in no small part due to the admission to the school being extremely competitive. With over 20,000 applications each year, only 5% of the examinees (who must belong to the top ten percent of their class and have a final grade of 85 or higher in their Math and Science subjects) pass the exam. Here at Eastbridge, we are incredibly proud of our history of producing Pisay passers almost every year. This year’s exam passer is none other than our very own Jayden Pondoc.

             During his time here at Eastbridge, Jayden has proven himself every bit the capable student both in his academics and extracurriculars. A consistent honor student and a capable dancer, he has always shown good work ethic in and out of the classroom. Though he counts Math as his best and favorite subject, he attributes his excellence in his studies to maintaining his focus at all times. He says he is the type of student to always be prepared—constantly reviewing his lessons and focusing on topics he originally found difficult to understand. “You need to keep adding to your knowledge.” he quotes. This attitude to learning has helped him greatly in securing the regional math competition championship with his teammates.

His experience with the Pisay entrance exam he says was “difficult but manageable” with about an hour given for each section of the test. Apart from hours of serious study a week before the exam, his math training under Teacher Rolyn, our interim school principal, helped a lot. Using Singaporean math along with his characteristic firm but focused approach, Teacher Rolyn trains his students to think quickly, critically, and to tackle problems using creative solutions. Beyond the academics however, what Jayden appreciates the most about Eastbridge is its multi-disciplinary leanings. “I like how they hold many events for the students and how they teach them a lot of things to help them become more developed in different ways.” he says. He also shows a great fondness for the school’s spiritual instruction. “I became closer to God, more spiritual, and more hardworking [during my time here].” he adds.

In the future, Jayden dreams of becoming a computer engineer like his dad. He hopes to be successful so that he can help his sister with her academics and be financially stable enough so his parents would no longer have to work to pay the bills. With his sense of hard work and selflessness, we know that Jayden would go a long way in life.  

P.S.
In one of the meetings of parents with the Eastbridge Administrators, Jayden's mother expressed the desire for Jayden to stay at Eastbridge if only Eastbridge had a high school.

(Photo credit: Rolyn Perez)