Meet another pride of Bayambang — Maria Kizha Jillian Espejo.

Kizha won the Gold Award during the Malaysian International Young Inventors Olympiad in Penang, Malaysia on April 1-3, 2016. She won this award when she was in Grade 10 at the Philippine Science High School – Ilocos Region Campus in San Ildefonso, Ilocos Sur. She is now an incoming Grade 12 student there.

Her research study is titled, “Fruit extract of sampinit (Philippine wild raspberry, Rubus rosifolius) as reducing agent in induced hyperglycemia in mice (Mus musculus).” The result of her research points to the benefit of sampinit in lowering blood sugar in mice, and this apparently has implications in diabetes research. (She said she collected samples of sampinit all the way from Quezon.)

For her impressive feat, the young achiever was given a plaque of appreciation from the Office of the Mayor and Sangguniang Bayan. In her speech before municipal officials and employees after the Monday flag ceremony (June 19), Kisha — who is incidentally the daughter of Inirangan Punong Barangay Jonathan S. Espejo and the Municipal Action Center’s OIC Jocelyn Espejo — said she got her inspiration from the fact that a number of her family members suffer from diabetes.

She has always been an achiever, so her latest achievements shouldn’t come as a surprise. She graduated salutatorian in elementary school (Mother Goose), and has been a Sakura Exchange student in Tokyo, Japan when she was in Grade 11.

Because of her winning research, she was conferred the Youth Excellence in Science Award by the Department of Science and Technology – Region I (San Fernando).

Again, unsurprisingly, she wants to be a medical doctor someday.

When not occupied with her studies, Kisha loves to sing and proves to have a winning streak even in this field, for she has won singing in the regional competitions held by UP Namnama.