From the thriving growth of the students and the program to the diverse nature of Negros Island and the rich biodiversity of trees in the province, USLS Biology students gathered at the Miguel Lobby for the culmination of the University of St. La Salle Biological Society’s Second General Assembly and BioSpeaks 2025 on October 23. Centered on the theme “BioGround 2.0: Continuing the Growth Within”, the event highlighted the continuous development of students, the program, and research—reflecting how growth extends beyond the laboratory and into the living world around them.

Edrian Kyle Versoza, UBS President, shared the BS Biology program’s first semester projects, achievements, and plans, as well as important dates to remember. He gave a recap of the semester’s activities, including the First General Assembly, PasiCluban, Club Icon, Club Fair, TAMBAL Day, and the LaSallian Week booth. Major projects were also launched, such as the UBS Arbor Day tree-planting activity and this academic year’s BioMerch. He highlighted the achievements of fourth-year thesis groups and TAMBAL participants who received grants and awards. Moreover, Versoza announced upcoming projects and events for October and November, including the Luntian Project, the Acquaintance Party, the release of the second BioComics, BioArchives, the Beyond the Lab Coat awards, and BIO for the Barangay—a continuation of Project TATAP.

The program continued with BioSpeaks 2025, featuring this year’s speaker, biologist-historian “Manong” Raniel Carmona Ponteras, PhD, who presented his talk "Our History as Told by Forests" and presentation titled “Our Plural Pasts in Phytotoponyms Against Monocultured Memory.” Dr. Ponteras shared fun facts about tree species in the Negros Island Region, their scientific names, and how their local names came to be, emphasizing their ecological relationships. He discussed the issue of monoculture cropping in Negros Occidental and called for diversifying the province’s agricultural fields. He also addressed the harmful effects of chemical runoffs from pesticides, linking them to the endangerment of species and the pollution of natural habitats such as the rivers in Bago, which threaten the Irrawaddy dolphins (𝘖𝘳𝘤𝘢𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘢 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘴).

As the event concluded, the gathering reflected the unity, growth, and environmental advocacy of the LaSallian Biology community.