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Jose Iñigo Beltran and Carlos Sebastian Santos made a commitment to lead the world with the breadth and depth of their vast knowledge of history. That just happened at the 2023 International History Olympiad in Rome from July 23 to 30.

Proving that the Philippines can compete at the highest level, the dynamic duo took on 39 students in the Varsity Division, who were among 259 participants from leading schools and academies in 33 cities around the world. Both came away with a slew of medals that would make them leading contenders on the global stage.

KodeGo

KODEGO, Globe’s 917Ventures’ innovative online tech boot camp, is c harting a new course for Filipino women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by providing o pportunities addressing gender disparity in local employment.

T he country currently exhibits a 22-percent gender-based disparity in the STEM labor force—the largest in Southeast Asia, based on a study by professional n etworking platform LinkedIn. Although women make up 58.8 percent of employees in non-STEM fields, this figure dramatically falls to a mere 36.3 percent within t he STEM sectors.

KodeGo’s mission of democratizing education for all is proving to be instrumental in the said context, as it equalizes opportunities for women in these r apidly evolving and highly sought-after disciplines.

The online boot camp has a curriculum patterned after in-demand tech skills and soft skills sought by companies. Shortterm tech-related courses include “FullStack Web Development,” “UX Design,” and “WordPress Development.”

Seeing an ever-increasing number of women enrolling in its programs, KodeGo has hiked the quantity of boot camps it offers. Currently, women make up 26 percent of KodeGo’s student population, with a total of 572 as of June 2023. It is a testament to the growing female interest in traditionally male-dominated fields b ecause of KodeGo’s dedication to offering accessible, gender-neutral education.

KodeGo is deeply committed to addressing the glaring STEM gender-employment gaps in the country,” said Cristina Gervasio, KodeGo entrepreneur-inre sidence. “By providing quality training, we aim to empower Filipinos—no matter what their gender may be—so that they could be more competitive in the IT industry. We [see] a future where the tech w orld sees equal representation of genders, fostering innovation, diversity, and re silience.”

Recognizing that the most significant drop in female representation in the STEM labor force occurs between graduation and employment, KodeGo is boosting efforts to provide seamless transition for i ts graduates. By partnering with top-tier companies, it ensures graduates receive first-rate education and gain hands-on experience in real-world projects.

As an initiative under 917Ventures, KodeGo signifies the Globe Group’s ongoing commitment to improving the c aliber of Filipino software engineers and promoting gender equality in the tech sector. For more details about them and ways they are empowering women in STEM fields, visit www.kodego.ph and www.917ventures.com.

Their respective individual achievements included gold medals in “Roman History” and the “Knockout Varsity” event; silvers in “East Asian History,” “African & Middle Eastern History” and “Catholic History;” as well as bronzes in “Italian Military History” and “Popular Music History.”

As a tandem, Beltran and Santos finished third at the “Hextathlon” event, which consisted of six different types of quizzes. At the close of the tournament, the former won individual sixth place in the headline event: the “Varsity Division of the International History Bee”

Educators Speak

He added that for him, the big prize was the Roman History Bee, but with Sebastian, “it’s been fantastic to walk away with so many medals. It was also an incredible opportunity to make so many new friends among this amazing community from across the world. We felt we represented the Philippines well!”

For Sebastian, it was an overall “fun and fulfilling experience,” as he was “happy to have competed with the best history students from around the world. It’s also nice being able to make new friends who share the same interest.”