Four schools implementing the Aralinks Coding Education (ACE) program brought honor to the Philippines after emerging as among the winners of the annual AI Innovator Challenge organized by the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) and the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD).
Dominican School Manila student Alex Manungay proudly represents the Philippines as she presents ReSiklo, an ACE-powered innovation, before thousands of educators worldwide during the ISTE-ASCD Annual Conference held in Florida USA from June 28 to july 1, 2026. ;
Dominican School Manila (DSM) was one of the three top global winners; while St. Louis College in La Union, Makati Hope Christian School in Makati City, and Al Majd International School in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia were runners-up among hundreds of entries from more than 20 countries. Christ the King College in La Union was also named a finalist, alongside another team from Makati Hope Christian School.
Alexandra Manungay, Viktoria Binuya, and Jo Justin Ong showcase their ACE-powered innovation, ReSiklo.
As top winners, DSM students Jo Justin Ong, Alexandra Manungay and Viktoria Binuya presented their AI-powered application ‘ReSiklo’ before thousands of edtech leaders and educators worldwide during the ISTE-ASCD Conference held in Florida, USA, from June 28 to July 1, 2026.
‘ReSiklo’ harnesses artificial intelligence and augmented reality to identify different types of waste and recommend appropriate recycling or upcycling solutions. The app aims to address pressing environmental challenges such as flooding, climate change, and worsening pollution by helping communities manage waste more intelligently and responsibly.
ISTE CEO Richard E. Culatta (leftmost) and Phoenix Publishing House Assistant Vice President for Business Development Dr. Reuben Velarde (2nd from left) join the winners from Dominican School Manila for a photo op at the ISTE+ASCD Conference 2026 in Orlando, Florida.
The other award-winning ACE-powered projects include apps for disaster analysis, alerts, and response coordination; and food waste reduction system.
An educational technology program of Phoenix Publishing House, Inc., ACE is a cross-curriculum coding initiative designed to empower learners to be creative and ethical creators of technology, rather than mere users of it.
“The global recognition is an inspiring affirmation of ACE program’s goal,” said Dr. Reuben Velarde,Assistant Vice President for Business Development of Non-Print and Marketing. “ACE empowers learners to use coding and artificial intelligence to create meaningful solutions for their communities and contribute to humanity.”
The ReSiklo team of Dominican School Manila – Alexandra Manungay, Viktoria Binuya, and Jo Justin Ong — join fellow winners of the AI Innovator Challenge from the United Arab Emirates and the United States.
For developing ACE for Philippine schools, Velarde won the 21st Century Learning Award at the 2020 BETT-Asia Awards.
Through the ACE program, Phoenix Publishing House reaffirms its commitment to strengthening meaningful partnerships with schools to develop future-ready Filipino learners.
