MEYCAUAYAN NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL

CC CC
CAMALIG, CITY OF MEYCAUAYAN, BULACAN

KOREAN FANDOM AMONG SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS AT

MEYCAUAYAN NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL

A Qualitative Exploratory Study Presented to the Faculty of Senior High School Department of
Meycauayan National High School

In Partial Fulfillment for the Requirements in the Research Congress

SUBMITTED TO: DR. ARIEL P. VILLAR PH. D.

SUBMITTED BY:

BALMORES, ALEXANDER JR.

BALIAO, CHARLES DAREM S.

BARON, SONNY

MANAGALINDAN, JAYRON CHRISTIAN

PURA, JEROME

RICAFRANCA, FITZ GERALD JEROME

RIVERA, ARIEL

TERMULO, ALYSSA

October 2017
Korean Fandom Among Senior High School Students at Meycauayan
National High School

Table of Contents

Abstract............................................................................................................................3

Introduction.......................................................................................................................5

Statement of the Problem.................................................................................................6

Review of Related Literature.............................................................................................7

Methodology..................................................................................................................10

Conceptual Framework.....................................................................................................11

Results and Discussion........................................................................................................12

Conclusion..........................................................................................................................17

Recommendation...............................................................................................................17

References........................................................................................................................19

Acknowledgement............................................................................................................20

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Korean Fandom Among Senior High School Students at Meycauayan
National High School

KOREAN FANDOM AMONG SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS AT

MEYCAUAYAN NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL

Author

Balmores, Alexander jr.

Baliao, Charles Darem s.
Baron, Sonny
Managalindan,Jayron Christian
Pura, Jerome
Ricafranca, Fitz Gerald Jerome
Rivera, Ariel
Termulo, Alyssa

*Meycauayan National High School

Abstract:

An increasing number of consumers and fans of Korean mainstream medias and the artists itself

not only in South Korean also across the globe, became a hot topic especially its direct effects on the

fans, their daily habits, social relationships as well as their behaviours. The purpose of this qualitative

exploratory study was to explore the experiences of Senior High Shool students of Meycauayan

National High School regarding Korean Fandom using semi-structured personal interview in a

simultaneous data gathering procedure. Themes and categories was revealed in the study such as

Dreams and Desire, Appreciation of Korean Mainstream Media, Feelings, Established a Social

Interaction between Fans, and Ideal as a response to the central question: What are the experiences

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Korean Fandom Among Senior High School Students at Meycauayan
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of senior high school students regarding korean fandom?.The findings also suggested a variety of

reasons regarding the apreciation of k-dramas and music including how do they feel while consuming, as

well as its triumph on stating the experience of the fans regarding on establishing relationships with

one another.It also appears in the researh the desires and dreams of being a fan. This study aimed to

contribute a body of knowledge and a deeper understanding about the experiences of the fans to

korean mainstream medias and to present practical , theoretical applications and recommendations for

the future researches.

Keywords: Korean Fandom, Korean Mainstream Media, Korean Dramas, Korean Popular Music

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Korean Fandom Among Senior High School Students at Meycauayan
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INTRODUCTION

South Korea has came to make its own mark not only in their home country but also across the

globe breaking cultural, religion, traditional and linguistic barriers. Hallyu, which means "Korean wave"

refers to the unexpected phenomenon of captivating the fans and viewer's interest in Korean culture,

dramas and music. This korean-pop music, Korean culture and dramas became a global fad, catching

the attention of all ages all around the world which became a part of people,especially those fan's lives.

The concept of Korean fandom is becoming a hot topic especially its direct result on the fans, as well as

its affect on their habits and behavior.

A survey conducted revealed that most of the fans of K-pop, drama and culture were female

proven by the gender ratio of the random survey conducted online and offline (Anzalon, 2011). In

addition, She found out that Filipino teens where very active consumer of K-pop that made it a part of

their daily schedule.The internet also played a crucial role in the respondents consumption as it was

used as a tool to view various K-pop content in websites like YouTube, and in terms of news ,blog sites

like allkpop and I-flix and also to socialize with fellow fans,both locally and internationally. It was also

found out that the Hangul, the korean language itself, is not a hindrance nor barrier in liking Korean

music and artists. In fact, almost all of the respondents were already learning the said language.

The number one reason why K-pop fandom became prominent and widespread are mainly

because of the artist's hair style, fashionable clothes, trendy shoes, coal eyeliners and eccentric shacks

that made an impact to Filipino Teenager as well as adults. (Dimatamday, 2013). This was also same to

the study conducted by Otmazginand and Lyan in the year 2013 who found out that viewers and fans of

Korean culture, Dramas and Pop music are strongly devoted to their idols because of their high-class

fashion which they had described as "pure","naive","ideal" and "high quality ". In addition, The fans said

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Korean Fandom Among Senior High School Students at Meycauayan
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that K-pop idols are "good to dance".However, Otmazginand and Lyan found out that those people who

surrounded a K-pop fan,especially parents and their friends seems to be generally unsupportive to their

Hallyu Fandom (Otmazginand & Lyan,2013).

As recent as 2017,however, no substantive research has been done to define and explore the

experience of the fans to Korean culture , dramas and pop music as well as their emotions. Research has

also failed to understand the behaviors and daily habits of these fans that experience "korean wave" or

Hallyu.

This current study in a qualitative exploratory research approach with the use of semi-structured

Interviews documents the SHS students studying at Meycauayan National High School regarding on their

experiences of being a fan of Korean drama, culture and music. This research study would like to focus

on two main goals:to explore the experiences of these fans and to understand their behavior as well as

their emotions when watching, viewing or following any of these korean media content.

Statement of the Problem:

The researchers formulated the central question:

What are the experiences of senior high school students of Meycauayan National High School regarding

korean fandom?

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Korean Fandom Among Senior High School Students at Meycauayan
National High School

Review of Related Literature:

To further understood the behaviors, experience and the factors affecting Korean mainstream

media Appreciation, especially the Korean drama and Korean popular music , different related literature

and studies both local and foreign was presented in this section of the research paper. The review of

related literature and study will highlight the significance of others work that plays a crucial role in

increasing the understanding about the subject of the study.

A study conducted by Shim in (year) asserts that the dominance and prevailance of american

media in the globalization is an unjustified claim, paving a way for South korea to be able to add twists

and local tastes on their own media industry. He further added that the success of Hallyu or korean

wave is because of its cultural hybridization which occurs as local cultural agent and actors interact and

negotiate with global forms, being the reason why korea were able to come up with a media content

that were a"hybridization of well-embraced foreign styles"where the theme is its own culture.

As Shim argued that the triumphant of Hallyu is because of its media that came from the

emergence of vast cultures, Ryoo on the other hand, continue and focused on the formation process of

korean popular music and the identification of specific cultures that build up its foundation. He claim

that koreans appreciated and study japanese and western media content in order to produce their own

media texts. He believed that the ability of South Korea to translate western ideas to very identifiable

asian content is the reason why they manage to penetrate the Asian market. Even the Philippines

already rode the Korean wave, and as the years pass Korean dramas are not the only Korean media

content who dominates Western countries and Asia, also the Korean popular music had slowly made

way to mainstream media and a lot of Filipino teenagers became fan of Korea's new music

industry.(Ryoo, 2012)

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Korean Fandom Among Senior High School Students at Meycauayan
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It was the same to the early work by (Ju, 2013) which emphasizes that "norms of beauty", mannerisms,

style in clothing, and the sense of asianness, known as the "cultural proximity" embodies factors that are

widely understood by Asians. She added that Korean TV Dramas became a trend to East Asian audiences

because of the reason that the culture is much closer than those in American Dramas. It was further

supported by his findings that similarity in culture contributed to the openness of Asians to Korean

media products.

Even the Philippines already rode the Korean wave, and as the years pass Korean dramas are not

the only Korean media content who dominates Western countries and Asia, also the Korean popular

music had slowly made way to mainstream media and a lot of Filipino teenagers became fan of Korea's

new music industry

In another study conducted by (Lee, 2011), he asserts that familiar cultural constructs including

high-quality production and moral values contributed to the appreciation of Korean dramas. His

Qualitative study was able to interview Japanese fans of Korean drama "Winter Sonata" proving that

"cultural factors" influence audience perceptions. He also found out that the physical appearance of the

actors contributed to Korean dramas appeal.It was further supported by the findings of Dobo Shim in

the year 2006 implying that culture plays a big role in Hallyu across the globe for the reason that Korean

Wave was the result of Korea's struggle to protect their culture from foreign influences especially at the

Time when their market Washington opened to foreign pop culture (the Japanese to be precise) for the

first time.

However, It was contradicted by (Russel, 2008) who justified that Korean pop culture is merely a

output of globalization and there is nothing Korean about the spreading of it abroad, And it just

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Korean Fandom Among Senior High School Students at Meycauayan
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happened that Korea is one of the first to pick up the trend.

Another study focuses on the role of technology, especially the internet on korean mainstream media

consumption. According to Chan et. al (2014) context, the economy and technology in East Asia

especially the structural changes that take place on it surely had facilitated global and intra-regional

flows of cultural media products in the region. On the other hand, A study conducted by (Andrejevic,

2015) found out that fans of certain television shows utilized the internet to produce feedback on the

latest episodes, meaning that there is a factor of media consumption and usage to gratify a need for

feedback. He claim that this site has the potential to serve as an instant focus group, as one respondent

put it. In addition, he states that it websites helps draw viewers to a certain show and allows the to build

up social and information capital that increases their commitment to viewing

Another study conducted by C.M. Martinez explores the online behaviors of Super Junior Fans

and the role of the internet in the formation of fan culture in cyberspace using in-depth interviews as

snowball sampling was conducted. He found out several themes that arise such as :"imagined world",

"false intimacy", "happiness", and "ownership". Alanzalon also supported his findings in 2011 showing

that internet was used as a tool to acquire free kpop content in websites like YouTube. In addition, for

the fans to be updated on the news about their idols, blog sites like ALLKPOP was used and also to

socialized with fellow fans both locally and internationally. She also suggest that most of the fans used

cable channels such as MYX, KBS World and Arirang as venues to watch korean videos.

In addition Xiaochang Li(2009) with his thesis adviser Henry Jenkins offers an review of how

audience and fandom of East asian dramas affects by technology and social media. Li offers a

description on how the creation and raise fandoms besed on Korean dramas affected by online activities

and consumption which play important roles

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Korean Fandom Among Senior High School Students at Meycauayan
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At the same study by Alanzalon, research also looked into the visual cultural offerings including

the artist's physical appearance, and the visual qualities if music videos as 104 of her respondents said

that the artist's appearance positively affect their liking. More often, the face, hairstyle as well as the

fashion and style of the Korean idols attracted the respondents and interviewees. She also explain that

the overall concept and the choreography of the songs and korean music videos are to be well-

produced.

In terms of the Effects of korean media content on the fans, Alanzalon was also able to argue

that the respondent's daily schedule was consisted of listening to korean music and watching korean

videos on their laptop and computers. Again, the same was also discovered by (Dimatanday, 2013)

stating that there is no doubt that kpop fever is all over the Philippines, with its consistent sales of kpop

albums and concert tickets. He also justify that Filipino is definitely invaded by korean culture, for the

reason that even the culture of Korea, and how they talk are searched and imitated by the fellow fans.

The following related literatures was able to discuss the use of technology, specifically the

gadgets and internet, and also the role of culture on the appreciation of Korean Mainstream Media

Content including Korean dramas and popular musics. Recent researches was also successful in

explaining some effects of this media content to the daily habits of this fans.

Methodology:

The study trends on a qualitative exploratory research design utilizing 3 senior high school

students using semi structured personal interviews through voice recording in an interative or

simultanous data gathering procedure. The researcher codes data to form categories and later reduces

the data into themes to explain the live experience of the participants regarding korean fandom in both

graphical and verbal form.

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Korean Fandom Among Senior High School Students at Meycauayan
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Figure I. Conceptual Framework

Themetic Analysis were employed in this qualitative research study as they describe themes

such as Dreams and Desire, Appreciation of Korean Mainstream Media, Feelings, Established a

Social Interaction between Fans, and Ideal at the same time explore and understand of a central

phenomenon.

The study utilized 3 respondents : Two Accountancy, Business, and Mangement-Students and

one Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Strand-Student, all in the same year level, Grade

11.

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Korean Fandom Among Senior High School Students at Meycauayan
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Results and Discussion:

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Korean Fandom Among Senior High School Students at Meycauayan
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Figure II. Diagram of the Themes, Categories, and Subcategories that was unravelled in the

Study

Appreciation of Korean Mainstream Media

In this study, participants discussed the appreciation of fans to korean mainstream

media. The main reasons of liking this media content are mainly because of the "High

Performance Level" of the korean idols. It was described by the respondents that K- idols are

"talented" in terms of dancing, singing and acting. This findings was further supported by

(Dimatanday, 2013) that Kpop idols are good to dance and korean media contents are in "high

quality".

In addition, the rich content and uniqueness of storyline and the unpredictable plots of

k-drama, as well as the goodness and beauty of the korean popular music are the said causes by

the participants why they appreciated these media contents. The physical appearance of the

actors and the idols also contributed to the fondness of the fellow fans as they had stated:

"Nagstart akong maging fan ng kpop simula nung grade 3 ako. Nakakita kasi ako ng

gwapong lalaki sa MYX, ang gaganda at ang guguwapo nila." Alexa Veronica Arellon (11-

ABM)

This was supported by Alanzalon and Lee in year 2011 who asserts that physical

appearance as well as the face, hairstyles and fashion of the korean idols attracted the fans,

especially the respondents and the interviewees.(Alanzalon&Lee, 2011)

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Korean Fandom Among Senior High School Students at Meycauayan
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Lastly, the usage of good visual effects, editing of music videos and the

appropriateness of the contents to the visuals was claimed by the interviewees as a factor to

appreciate k-dramas and pop music, similar to the findings of Alanzalon also in the year 2011

where she claimed that the visual qualities of the music videos and overall concept of

choreography of the songs, as well as the visual cultural offerings are to be well-produced.It

was supported by the statement:

"Kapag nanonood ako ng music videos ng korean idols, yung kung pano yung concept ng

bawat MV yung kung ano yung dapat na kulay tapos tugma siya sa content ng kanta. Sa k-

drama, kunyari yung sa goblin, yung effects ang cool, tapos parang doon talaga humatak sila

ng viewers, tsaka sa legend of the blue sea, parang hindi talaga halata na peke talaga yung

buntot ni Shim Cheong."-Lei Anne Magat(11 STEM)

DREAMS AND DESIRE

The study also shows participants view and desires as a fan of korean mainstream

media and the artists involved (actors, or k-pop i dols) such as "False Intimacy" or the act of

imagining that they are in a relationship with their favorite idols. Also, participants illustrate

their dreams of traveling to Korea, seeing their korean idols and being one of the korean

idols as well as quoted:

"Yun yung mangangarap ka na sana makapunta sa Korea, makita mo idol mo tapos

maiisip mo na Isa ka na ring kpop idol." Elaine Joyce Lebite(11-ABM)

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Korean Fandom Among Senior High School Students at Meycauayan
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This findings was further supported by (C.M. Martinez, 2016) who found out several

themes such as "imagined world", "false intimacy", "happiness" and "ownership"which point

out the imaginations of having k-idol as their imagined boyfriend, girlfriend, husband and wife.

IDEAL

The participants discussed their ideal self as a fan. Imitation of korean Idol's attitude,

fashionable clothes and way of living such as knowing the korean culture and tradition. They

was also able to learn the korean languagewhich becomes the reason why hangul, the korean

language itself is not a barrier to appreciate korean dramas and popular music . Participant

said:

"di nila alam natututunan na rin ko na rin yung mga language nila, ugali nila at tradisyon nila."-

Alexa Veronica Arellon( 11-ABM)

This was similar to the findings of (Dimatanday, 2013) who had justified that Filipinos

are definitely invaded by korean culture, for the reason that even the culture of Korea and how

they talk are searched and imitated by the fans.

FEELINGS

Respondents explained the feelings and emotions they experienced while consuming

and watching korean dramas and popular music. They said that they feel "cloud 9" when

listening kpop music or watching korean dramas. Other emotions such as "Enthusiasm",

"Excitement" and "Mixed Emotions"appeared in the study as supported by their statement:

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Korean Fandom Among Senior High School Students at Meycauayan
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"masaya, malungkot, halo-halo na";"masaya tapos kinikilig"; and

"kahit gaano pa kalayo yung kpop music na yan, pag naririnig naeexcite na ko, hindi na

ko mapakali tapos napapatalon ako sa saya e.-Alexa Veronica Arellon(11-ABM)

SOCIAL INTERACTION BETWEEN FANS

The participants described their experiences with other people, as well as their fellow

fans.It was revealed that they often get rejection to other people as supported bythe

statement:

Kadalasan sa school kapag sinasabi kong ganito "Uy, ang gwapo ni ganito. Uy ang

ganda ni ganito. Tas sinasabi nila, " ay ang panget panget niyan eh". Di mo naman

naiintindihan yan - Alexa Veronica Arellon(11-ABM)

However, looking in a positive aproach, the participant was able to tell their capability of

influencing others to became a fan. They also discuss that they meet friends online through the

aid of the internet where they feel "Socially connected with other fans". They also established a

mutual connection and feelings to each other as they talked about their favorite korean

artists , music or drama, as well as they consume this mainstream medias together. The "Sense

of Belongingness" of a fan was also described as quoted:

"Ang sarap sa feeling kapag nag-oonline ako, kasundo ko yung mga taong mahilig din sa

korean. Naiintindihan nila yung struggles ko, ganito ganyan."- Alexa Veronica Arellon(11-ABM)

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Korean Fandom Among Senior High School Students at Meycauayan
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However, respondents was also able to state the conflicts that happens between their

fellow fans as misunderstanding between the old and new fans occurs. "Fan War" also

happens between to or more groups as stated by the participant:

" Minsan may conflict na nagyayari, kunyari dalawang magkaibang fandom yung

sinalihan kunyari EXO at BTS. Doon sa dalawang fandom na yun, alam naman namin na may

conflict talaga."-Lei Anne Magat(11-STEM)

Conclusion:

The researchers was able to unravel the different themes and categories, as well as the

trends that appeared in the study through thematic analysis and therefore concluded that fans

appreciate korean mainstream medias specifically the korean dramas and popular music mainly

because of High Performance Level of the korean artists as well as their looks, physical

appearance,and talents contributed to the liking of these medias. The rich content of the K-

dramas storyline and popular musics lyrics, uniqueness of the plot and good visual effects of

the videos was also found out to be a major reason. Social Interactions between fans also

appeared in the study describing the mutual feelings and social connection between

fans.However, it was also found out that Fan Wars occur between two fangroups or either the

old and the new fans of a k-drama or kpop groups. The researchers also conclude that

participant fans established different emotions as well as their dreams and the act of imitating

the tradition, and their Idols attitude.

Recommendation:

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Korean Fandom Among Senior High School Students at Meycauayan
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The researchers enumerated some recommendations Which will help to improve or

continue the study. Those are follows:

1.Take a wider scope of the study, not only focusing on school grounds but generally in the

environment and the community itself.

2.The future researchers could not also limit their respondents into three, but rather increasing

the sample population or participant, those who are not teen agers or senior high school

students might be included.

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Bibliography:

Martinez, C.M.(2011), Fandom in Cyberspace: A case study on the culture and the online

behaviours of SJ United Philippines, unpublished undergraduate thesis. Retrieved from

http://iskwiki.upd.edu.ph.com

Otmazgin N. And Lyan I. (2003), Cross-Currents: East Asian History and Culture Review. The

Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Alanzalon S.K. (2011, April). KPOPPED! : UNDERSTANDING The Filipino Teens Consumption of

Korean Popular Music and Videos. University of the Philippines Diliman.

Shim D. (2012). The Growth of Korean Culture Industries and the Korean Wave

Dimatanday K. (2013, April). Understanding the Filipino Teens Consumption of K-POP Music and

Videos. Retrieved from http://dimatanday.blogspot.com

Pacis J.J.C (2012). Popping the KPOP Bubble: A Study on the World of KPOP Fandom as a Sub-

Culture, 13-14p. University of the Philippines Diliman

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Korean Fandom Among Senior High School Students at Meycauayan
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BIONOTES

BARON SONNY is a Senior High School student of Science Technology Engeenering and

Mathematics Strand at Meycauayan National High School; He currently lives in Camalig, City of

Meycauayan Bulacan;sonnyaron@yahoo.com;His research interests includes the sports and

talents.

BALMORES ALEXANDER is a Senior High School student of Science Technology Engeenering and

Mathematics Strand at Meycauayan National High School; He currently lives in Pajo, City of

Meycauayan Bulacan;balmoresalexander@gmail.com;His research interests includes the

animals and environment.

BALIAO CHARLES DAREM is a Senior High School student of Science Technology Engeenering

and Mathematics Strand at Meycauayan National High School; He currently lives in Camalig,

City of Meycauayan Bulacan;baliaocharlesdarem@yahoo.com;His research interests include the

Anger Management and Crafting.

MANGALINDAN JAYRON CHRISTIAN is a Senior High School student of Science Technology

Engeenering and Mathematics Strand at Meycauayan National High School; He currently lives in

Iba, City of Meycauayan Bulacan;jayronmangalindan@gmail.com .His research interests include

the tenangers behaviors, Time Management of Teens

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Korean Fandom Among Senior High School Students at Meycauayan
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PURA JEROME is a Senior High School student of Science Technology Engeenering and

Mathematics Strand at Meycauayan National High School; He currently lives in Lambakin,

Marilao Bulacan; Heojunki2001@gmail.com;His research interests includes directories and

cinematography.

RICAFRANCA,FITZ GERALD JEROME is a Senior High School student of Science Technology

Engeenering and Mathematics Strand at Meycauayan National High School; He currently lives in

Herritage , City of Meycauayan Bulacan;fizzyricafranca@gmail.com; His research interests

includes computer benefits and disadvantages.

RIVERA, ARIEL is a Senior High School student of Science Technology Engeenering and

Mathematics Strand at Meycauayan National High School; He currently lives in Bagbaguin, City

of Meycauayan Bulacan;riverariel23@yahoo.com;His research interests includes Mutual

Understanding and Non-verbal communication.

TEMULO ALYSSA is a Senior High School student of Science Technology Engeenering and

Mathematics Strand at Meycauayan National High School; He currently lives in Bahay Pari, City

of Meycauayan Bulacan;KimBookJoo65@yahoo.com;Her research intersts includes

Psychological health and aspect.

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