Ms. JANETH MORATA-FUENTES is a special science teacher at the Philippine Science High School-Eastern Visayas Campus in Palo, Leyte. She teaches Chemistry and handles Science &Technology Research. She graduated from the University of the Philippines (Diliman) with a degree of Bachelor of Science in Education (Chemistry). She took her Master of Education (Teaching and Curriculum Studies) at the University of Sydney (New South Wales, Australia) where she graduated with merit. She is currently a PhD (Chemistry Education) student at the UP Open University.
As a teacher, Janeth passionately mentors gifted students of Pisay. In recognition of her excellence in teaching, she was granted the Metrobank Foundation Outstanding Teacher Award in 2010 – the youngest teacher recipient of this career award. That same year, the PSHS Foundation’s Dr. Cleofe Bacungan Endowment Fund accorded her the honor of the Natatanging Guro (Natural Sciences Cluster) Award, in acknowledgment of her meritorious teaching service. She was also conferred the highest award for Civil Servants, the Presidential Lingkod Bayan Award in 2011 in recognition of her efforts to improve quality of life by conducting activities promoting science and technology research and advancing science education. She was awarded in 2012 by the Academy of Singapore Teachers (Ministry of Education) the Outstanding Educator in Residence placement, training Chemistry teachers and involving herself in consultancy work with school administrators and master teachers.
As a research teacher, she mentored students who were awarded grand prizes in the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, earning her a citation for Outstanding Contribution as Research Adviser. She also leads conduct of significant researches such as environmental studies of bodies of water in Leyte, exploration of natural products from marine sources and finding ways to mitigate harmful algal blooms.
Janeth is not just involved in teaching and research. Recently, she served as Project Leader of the PSHS System’s Curriculum Review and Materials Development Project which oversaw the development and revision of the PSHS curriculum to align it with the K-12 program of the government and meet its mission of providing a special science curriculum for gifted students. Aside from this, she also spearheaded the PSHS-Meralco National Science Fair for two years which later became the Philippine International Science Fair. The said fairs featured scientific studies from all PSHS campuses and from international participants. She also served as National Coordinator of the Upgrading Program: Learning Institute for Teachers, a nationwide program of PSHS which trained teachers in Science, Math and English in preparation for the rollout of the K-12 curriculum.
Janeth also busies herself with book writing projects and is co-author of a book in Integrated Science. She is also invited as resource person in various teacher trainings where she shares her expertise in teaching, curriculum development and pedagogy.
Despite these achievements, Janeth remains humble and grounded and is a most loyal friend to a select group of people. She often jokes that she will never win an award for exemplary mom but she might win one for trying very hard. She spends downtime with her children, Earendil and Earwen, who serves as balm to her often tired self and who has banned her from doing any cooking for them.