An avalanche of dreams and emotions best describes the excitement lived during Operation Exito first live competition of the 2010-2011 school semester at the Raúl Juliá theater in the Museum of Art of Puerto Rico.



The competition was held on September 28th, 2010 after students completed 43,765 online tests in order for them to secure a spot in a group of 19 lucky students moving forward to compete for amazing adventures in a live competition, in front of their peers. In every live competition only three students can each win an adventure.

So the pressure was on.



“A day in the life of the First Lady of Puerto Rico” was the first adventure up for grabs. Yax Pac Cruz from Guayama, Puerto Rico came victorious.  “I decided to compete in Operation Exito again this year because OE is a unique project and the experience of competing feels incredible. There is nothing like it in our public school system”, Yax assured, visibly excited.

When the time came to compete for the second adventure, the competition got interesting. There was a tie between Jaimarie Sostre and Roberto Valle for one of the most exciting adventures: an exploring journey through El Yunque National Rain Forest, formerly known as the Caribbean National Forest. El Yunque encompasses 75% of Puerto Rico’s virgin forest.

But in the end, Roberto dominated the competition with nine correct answers out of 10 questions winning the El Yunque adventure.

“I had to study hard and prepare myself but it was all worth it”, expressed Roberto, a high school student who goes to school in Salinas, Puerto Rico. He plans to complete a bachelor’s degree in Biology once he graduates.



A Helicopter ride was the third and final adventure. In this occasion, Sonia Torres and Ángel Rivera faced off and tied. But ultimately Ángel – a future aeronautical engineer – got the higher score winning a cool ride in a helicopter.



The three winners in this competition also secured a spot to compete in The Ultimate Competition of 2011 where they will compete to win a Kia Soul, a $5,000 scholarship from Banco Popular, a Hewlett-Packard laptop, Sony gadgets, and other fabulous prices.