As is in past years, the College of Arts and Sciences won the overall championship in the MMSU Culture and the Arts festival staged on Sept. 29-30, but this year’s edition saw more colleges proving their mettle, and snatching many events CAS previously dominated in.
    
While the CAS Wizards was victorious over seven other colleges, its record of five gold medals was closely followed by the College of Engineering which copped four golds, the College of Industrial Technology with three, and the College of Teacher Education with two.

In the point system, however, CAS’ 131 points was way ahead of COE’s 90 points. CTE, CIT, CBEA, CHS, CAFSD, and CASAT came tailing behind with total scores of 81, 73, 51, 25, 14, and 3, respectively.

The Wizards proved their superiority in duet, kundiman, pagkukuwento, dagliang talumpati and in the final selection for Miss PASUC where Edessa Danna Salacup, a third year BA Communication student, won the crown.

On the other hand, the COE Maroons were unbeatable in pop solo, quiz bowl, battle of the bands, and in the final selection for Mr. PASUC where John M. Jacobe, a second year BS Civil Engineering was the top pick.

The other colleges which won first places are: CTE Rabbis (essay writing, pagsulat ng sanaysay, and radio drama), CIT Red Lions (on-the-spot painting, instrumental solo, and hip hop danding), and CBEA Eagles (storytelling and extemporaneous speaking).

The CHS Knights won second place in pagsulat ng sanaysay, while CAFSD Hybrids’ bet for Miss PASUC won third. The Hybids also placed third in the radio drama presentation.

“This is a very good development,” chorused Prof. Arsenio T. Gallego, director of the Center for Human Studies and Dr. Ma. Victoria Domingo, chief of cultural affairs. Noting that excellence in the arts has become more inclusive and that most teams have leveled up their game, they expressed hopes that MMSU’s artists will continue to bring home various recognitions from regional and national tilts.

The champions will compete in the  PASUC-I Culture and the Arts Festival, which MMSU has dominated in the past twelve years. It will be held this year on Oct. 29-30 at the DMMMSU (Agoo Campus).

In 2012, MMSU led the regional delegation in bagging the national overall championship in the PASUC Cultural Festival held in Metro Manila. (By Herdy La. Yumul and Reynaldo E. Andres)