The research topic was conceived during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic when schools and public establishments were on lockdown. The researcher, being a high school science teacher, became more concerned about the social and emotional well-being of the students, brought about by limited social interactions in online learning. The increasing number of students who were shutting down and not performing well academically was concerning. This prompted the researcher to investigate the influence of socio-emotional learning competencies of the students and science proficiency. However, the researcher focused on the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) students in the Philippines since there has been a growing concern about the low proficiency levels of the students in national and international assessments even before the COVID-19 pandemic. It would be worth exploring if the socio-emotional competencies and socio- demographic profile of the students could affect their performance on the science proficiency test.