LAOAG CITY -- Inspired by the thriving wine industry here, some senior high school students of the Adams National High School (ANHS) are into wine-making business.
Jessie Bayeng, teacher at ANHS, said Grade 11 and 12 students taking up Entrepreneurship subject are taught how to process fruit wines and how to sell it to the market.
“Our students learn how to ferment local fruits into wine and they are also required to make a business plan out of it,” said Bayeng.
During the fruit season, these students gather whatever fruits available and ferment it for at least six months. After that, they put it in a clean bottle with proper label ready for selling.
Bayeng said bugnay wine is among the bestseller fruit wines in the small town of Adams composed of one village.
The fruit is known to contain phytochemicals with potent antioxidants, which function to protect the body from free radical damage.
Some of the tribal communities here with roots from Cordillera perfected the fermentation of rice wine, and then other fruit wines followed suit.
Adams is known as the fruit bowl capital of Ilocos Norte and made famous for its bugnay fruit wine and other local spirit wines, such as tapuey (rice wine), roselle, dragon fruit, pineapple, lemongrass and turmeric, among others.
Aside from the wine-making, the school is also teaching its students how to make soft brooms.
To further strengthen the entrepreneurial spirit of students, ANHS principal Nobleza Hidalgo said she is planning to open Technical Vocational Learning (TVL) for the senior high school students so that they can become more productive should they opt to pursue to go into business later.
After finishing high school, some students living in far-flung areas fail to pursue college degree because their parents could hardly send them to the tertiary level.
But with the proposed opening of TVL for senior high students, more students will be able to gain more skills for better economic livelihood. (PNA)
