Young Filipino numbers aces continue to make the country proud by winning a total of 48 medals, including 17 golds, in the tough 2010 Canadian Mathematics Competition (CMC).
Students from the Zamboanga Chong Hua High School in Zamboanga City and St. Jude Catholic School, Xavier School and Grace Christian College, all in Metro Manila, were the country’s top medal winners, according to Dr. Simon Chua, president and co-founder of Mathematics Trainers’ Guild-Phils. (MTG).
The math wizards are wards of MTG, a non-government group which aims to promote excellence in math training and education in the country.
University of Waterloo’s CS Building. Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fwwidall/
The country also bagged 16 silver and 15 bronze medals in the annual CMC correspondence tests, conducted by the Center for Education in Mathematics and Computing of the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada.
The Filipino medalists were among 230 students nationwide who took the tests in April.
The gold medalists are Zheng Rong Wu, Zamboanga Chong Hua High School; Mikaela Angela Uy, Seanne Ng and Keefe Colin Tan, all from St. Jude Catholic School; Dielle Tio and Julius Vincent Sy, both from St. Stephen’s High School; Reanelle Ngo and Henry Jefferson Morco, both from Chiang Kai Shek College; Patrick Celon, Michael Brodeth and Kenneth Co, all from Philippine Science High School; Justin Edric Yturzaeta from Jubilee Christian Academy; Mario Ongkiko from Xavier School; Himig Marcos from Philippine Cultural College; Sean Timothy Cheng and Neil Chua Goy, both from Grace Christian College; and Sarah Jane Cua from Pangasinan Universal Institute.
The silver medalists are Wilford Jason Julio, Audrey Celine Lao and Janssen Chan, all from St. Jude Catholic School; Andrew Joelle Caguntas from Makati Science High School; Hubert Yao from Iloilo Central Commercial School; Rachel Rojo from Zamboanga Chong Hua High School; Nathaniel Ryan Ang, Brendon Matthew Go, John Co and Aldrich Mayoralgo, all from Xavier School; Aileen Cu and Daniel Christian Ong, all from UNO High School; Sterling Alvin Tiu from St. Stephen’s High School; Michelin Ang from Philippine Institute of Quezon City; and Olsen John Ong and Timothy James Tan, both from Trinity Christian School.
The bronze medalists are Ian Chesterson Lim, Carlo Patrick Tan, Hans Vladimir Cabanes, Antonie Kyna Lim, Maedeliene Uy, Meliton Chiong III, Joseph Lyre Lee, Kennichi Tan, and Michelle Siao, all from Zamboanga Chong Hua High School; Lu Christian Ong, Sean Johnlee Ting and Stephen Laohoo, all from Grace Christian College; Vance Eldrich Go from St. Jude Catholic School; Eric Lance Astillero from Chiang Kai Shek College; and Fiona Aytona from St. Paul College.
Chua hailed the Filipino medalists for their “exemplary performance, a recognition that our young mathematicians are among the best in the world.”
“The Philippine participants, who are first, second and third year high school students, took the Fryer, Galois and Hypatia math tests, which were intended for third and fourth year high school and first year college students,” Chua told the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
Chua said, “This only shows the capability of our young math wizards to withstand the pressure of high-level math lessons and keep up with, if not excel over their foreign counterparts in math contests.”
The Canada math contests aim to “provide an opportunity for students to develop their math problem-solving abilities through written mathematical activities.”
The CEMC also holds contests for other grade levels, like Gauss, Pascal, Cayley, Fermat, Euclid, and Descartes.
Some 5,000 Filipino students took the Pascal, Cayley and Fermat tests early in 2010. The test results, however, have yet to be released.
According to the CEMC website, each of the math tests (which were named after famous mathematicians) was 75 minutes long and consisted of four problems, “ranging from easy to difficult and each requiring a full written solution.”
“Rather than testing content, the problems test logical thinking and mathematical problem solving,” said the website.
The Filipino medalists were among the country’s representatives to the 20-nation 2009 Philippine International Mathematics Competition, held late 2009 in Iloilo City.
With a 100-medal haul, the Philippine team topped the contest, followed by Thailand and Taiwan with 48 and 46 medals, respectively.
Meanwhile, 227 young math wizards from over 100 public and private elementary and high schools nationwide will have the chance to represent the country in at least eight international math competitions in 2010.
Next month, at least 16 of them will represent the Philippines in the Primary Mathematics World Contest in Hong Kong while 32 others will compete in the Korea International Mathematics Competition in Incheon.
Some 1,370 students took part in the MTG qualifying tests, held in early April at the organization’s in-house training program in Balanga City, Bataan.
Chua earlier cited MTG wards for winning nearly 350 medals, including 46 golds, from various foreign math contests in 2009.
Source: Inquirer.net
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