On February 2, 10, and 11, the Mathematics Trainers' Guild will field some of its best students as guest participants to the 3rd Ateneo Mathematics Olympiad(AMO). The AMO is a school-wide mathematics competition patterned after the prestigious International Mathematics Olympiad and is an undertaking of the Ateneo de Manila University Department of Mathematics Faculty in line with its thrust of promoting mathematics excellence in the country.

Stay tuned as MTG Kids Online covers the 3rd AMO and updates you with the latest news about this event.



Update: February 11, 2005 2:00 PM

After two grueling days of competition, the winners of the 3rd Ateneo Mathematics Olympiad have finally been declared. The representatives of the MTG students took a large share of the awards, especially in the individual competition, where our kids claimed seven out of the nine medals at stake.

The biggest winners of the competition were Carmela Antoinette Lao from St. Jude Catholic School and Carlo Francisco "Paco" Adajar from Southridge School. Both students got the gold medal in the individual competition of their respective grade levels; Carmela in Grade 5, and Paco in Grade 7.

Carmela drew a very huge applause from the crowd upon the announcement of her victory, which was preceded by the statement of Dr. Queena Lee-Chua saying that the highest individual scorer for the Grades 5 and 6 students (both grade levels took the same exam) came from the Grade 5 level; that she impressed the judges with her solutions en route to earning a perfect score in the contest; that she was perhaps the youngest competitor in the AMO; and that she is actually only in Grade 4. Dr. Queena Lee-Chua then proceeded to announce that Dr. Jose Marasigan of the Ateneo Mathematics Department extends to Carmela an invitation to train under him in the school's Program for Excellence in Mathematics, which trains the Philippine delegates to the prestigious International Mathematics Olympiad.

Paco likewise impressed the audience with his performance. Before winning the individual gold medal, he also led Team 10 to a gold medal finish in the team competition. In the challenge round of the team competition, where the groups are to present a solution to a given problem for 15 minutes, his team got the full 25 points, giving them a total of 85 out of a possible 95 points, 19 points away from the second place-team. Paco was even asked to present his solutions in the challenge round to the audience. Paco's two golds make him the winningest competitor in this year's AMO, in both the elementary and high school divisions.

Aside from Carmela and Paco, seven other members also won medals in the AMO. In the individual competition, Aldric Cristoval Reyes of Chiang Kai Shek College and Darwin Ivan Carrasco of Pamplona Elementary School completed a sweep for the MTG in the Grade 5 level, earning the silver and bronze medals, respectively. Patrick Adrian Ong of St. Jude Catholic School wound up with the silver medal in the grade 6 level, while Angeline Baniqued of St. Paul's College, Pasig and Kerish Villegas of La Salle Greenhills earned the silver and bronze medals respectively in the Grade 7 level. In the team competition, Jillian Kristel Sy of St. Stephen's High School (Gr. 6) was part of the silver-winning Team 5, while Jose Enrico "Jeric" Leceta of De La Salle Zobel (Gr. 6) was a member of the bronze medallist Team 3.

Other members of the MTG team are Aileen Giselle Chua of Grace Christian High School (Gr. 6), Immanuel Encarnacion of Colegio de San Agustin, Binan (Gr. 5), and Vance Mikhail Uy (Gr. 6).

Here are the final results of the competition:

Individual Competition

Grade 5

1st Place
Carmela Antoinette Lao, St. Jude Catholic School

2nd Place
Aldric Cristoval Reyes, Chiang Kai Shek College

3rd Place
Darwin Ivan Carrasco, Pamplona Elementary School

Grade 6

1st Place
Kevin Catbagan, Ateneo de Manila University

2nd Place
Patrick Adrian Ong, St. Jude Catholic School

Grade 7

1st Place
Carlo Francisco Adajar, Southridge School

2nd Place
Angeline Baniqued, St. Paul's College, Pasig

3rd Place (tie)
Kerish Villegas, La Salle Greenhills
Mikhel Viado, Ateneo de Manila University

Team Competition

1st place – Team 10
Carlo Francisco Adajar, Southridge School
Juan Miguel Ocampo, Ateneo de Manila University
Rodolfo Eduardo Santiago, Ateneo de Manila University

2nd place – Team 5
Jillian Kristel Sy, St. Stephen's High School
Anthony Aguilar , Ateneo de Manila University
Angelo Cortez , Ateneo de Manila University
Dustin Sy, Ateneo de Manila University

3rd place – Team 3
Jose Enrico Leceta, De La Salle Zobel
Kevin Humawig, Ateneo de Manila University
Carlos Puyat, Ateneo de Manila University
Mikhel Viado, Ateneo de Manila University

Congratulations to the winners!


Additional notes during the competition:

Aside from Paco, Jillian Sy, Jeric Leceta, and Vance Uy were also asked to present their solutions in the challenge round to the audience. The teams of the four individuals mentioned above are the only ones who scored in the challenge round. This caused quite a shake-up in the final standings, allowing Jillian's Team 5 to jump from joint 5th to 2nd place. Jeric's Team 3 meanwhile, jumped from joint 9th to 3rd place. Vance's Team 6 wound up 5th over-all after jumping from joint 12th. Paco's Team 10 on the other hand, was already first prior to the challenge round, and simply extended their lead. Patrick Ong's Team 2 and Aileen Chua's Team 4 were the 2nd and 3rd place teams prior to the challenge round.

The judges were particularly impressed with the performance of the Grade 5 level participants as a whole, and not just of gold medallist Carmela Lao. Grade 5 and 6 level participants answered the same test questions.

Grade 5 silver medallist Aldric Reyes recently won 1st place in the individual contest of a inter-school mathematics competition in Quezon City Science High School. He was up against mostly Grade 6 students.

Grade 5 bronze medallist Darwin Carrasco is the lone participant coming from a public school. He is among the four pioneer MTG public school students to represent the Philippines in an international mathematics competition, last September in India.

Immanuel Encarnacion, on the other hand, is the lone provincial student in this competition. He hails from down south in Laguna.

In the Grade 6 level, no bronze medal was awarded. Meanwhile, in the Grade 7 level, there were two bronze medallists because of a tie.

The most comic moment came during the individual contest yesterday. Because there were only three Grade 7 representatives, Vance Mikhail Uy was moved up from Grade 6 to Grade 7. The comic moment happened when the proctors were searching for the Grade 6 "girl" who’s supposed to be participating in the Grade 7 competition. The "girl" was identified to be Vance "Michelle" Uy.

Jeric Leceta and Kerish Villegas were given a loud applause by the Atenean crowd during the awarding ceremonies, after their schools were announced. Jeric is from De La Salle Zobel, while Kerish is from La Salle Greenhills.

Grade 6 gold medallist Kevin Catbagan is an MTG Kid! He has not yet represented the country in international competitions yet, but he is an MTG Saturday trainee at the DEECO Technological Institute.

Grade 7 bronze medallist Kerish Villegas is a member of the 2004 MTG Delegation to International Mathematics Competitions. However, he still hasn’t represented the country yet, because he backed down from going to India last September. This is actually only his first time to participate in a contest under the banner of the MTG.

MTG Parent Mrs. Bernadette Baniqued even got a special mention from Dr. Queena Lee Chua, when daughter Angeline Baniqued got a silver in the Grade 7 level. Mrs. Baniqued met Dr. Lee-Chua because another of her daughters, Caroline Baniqued, is an Ateneo Merit Scholar of the incoming freshman batch.

After the AMO, there are no major competitions in the MTG Calendar. The next one is more than a good three months away from now, which is the Philippine Elementary Mathematics Intercity Competition in May. The next few months would then be spent in the selection of the members of the 2005 MTG Delegation to International Mathematics Competitions.



Update: February 10, 2005 6:00 PM

The elementary competition of the 3rd Ateneo Mathematics Olympiad is now underway, with the participants taking on the individual part of the competition earlier this afternoon.

For this competition, the MTG is represented by twelve of its best elementary students who wore the country's colors in various international mathematics competitions and who passed an intensive training and selection process that started during the previous Christmas break.

Prior to the contest, the MTG contingent was welcomed by Mrs. Osaka, who chairs the Mathematics department of the Ateneo Grade School. She led everybody to one of the school's conference rooms to wait before the start of the actual contest. She used this opportunity to give everyone a brief background about the Ateneo and the AMO. The MTG delegation also used this opportunity for some picture taking.

When it was time for the competition proper, the MTG kids were then led to their respective testing rooms, where the Ateneo contestants were also prepping themselves up for the big test.

The individual contest consisted of three questions to be solved within a time limit of three hours. Just like in the high school competition, the test will be scored according to the correctness, neatness, and elegance of the solutions.

After the MTG kids took their test, a quick survey among the MTG kids revealed that most of them got at least two of the three questions right. But as said earlier, the test will be scored based on the strength of their solutions and not on answers alone.

Tomorrow is going to be a big day for the MTG. First there will be the team competition where the MTG kids are grouped with Ateneo students. Then the results of the individual portion of the Olympiad would also be announced.

Here is a list of the MTG Kids participating in the AMO:

Carlo Francisco Adajar - Grade 7, Southridge School
Angeline Baniqued - Grade 7, St. Paul's College, Pasig
Darwin Ivan Carrasco - Grade 5, Pamplona Central School
Aileen Giselle Chua - Grade 6, Grace Christian High School
Immanuel Encarnacion - Grade 5, Colegio de San Agustin, Biñan
Carmela Antoinette Lao - Grade 4, St. Jude Catholic School
Jose Enrico Leceta - Grade 6, De La Salle Zobel
Patrick Adrian Ong - Grade 6, St. Jude Catholic School
Aldric Cristoval Reyes - Grade 5, Chiang Kai Shek College
Jillian Kristel Sy - Grade 6, St. Stephen's High School
Vance Mikhail Uy - Grade 6, St. Jude Catholic School
Kerish Villegas - Grade 7, La Salle Greenhills

Special mention goes to the following students who were part of the selection pool before the twelve contestants were eventually chosen:

Ervin Frederick Dy - Grade 6, St. Stephen's High School
Rafael Angelo Perea - Grade 6, Camarin Elementary School
Dann Julius Tan - Grade 6, Chiang Kai Shek College
Marquis Alexander Tan - Grade 6, Xavier School
Victorio Vicher - Grade 6, San Antonio Elementary School

Additional note: MTG Kid Angelo "Gene" Ferrer is also a participant in the AMO, but as a contestant for the Ateneo, where he is a Grade 7 student there. Gene represented the country in the 2nd Elementary Mathematics Intercity Competition in Lucknow, India, where he bagged a bronze medal in the team competition.



Update: February 2, 2005 7:00 PM

Some notes about what happened in the 3rd AMO (high school):

The AMO is the brainchild of Ateneo de Manila President Fr. Bienvido Nebres, Dr. Jose Marasigan and Dr. Queena Lee-Chua. Organizations who took part in this endeavor are the Ateneo de Manila University Department of Mathematics Faculty, the Ateneo Mathematics Society, and the Ateneo Problem Solvers Group. Scholastic Publishing House was a major sponsor, providing prizes for the winners.

This is the first time that the MTG (or any participant outside the Ateneo for that matter) participated in the AMO. Dr. Lee-Chua and Fr. Nebres both expressed delight about this development in their respective speeches.

Each participant was given a book from Dr. Lee-Chua's Straight Talk Series. These are compilations of her weekly column Eureka, which is published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer every Saturday. Each book tackles a certain topic, from Math, to the human body, and even to some cosmic questions.

There was a nice wrinkle added to the team competition which was held in the afternoon. Each team were to be composed by both Atenean and MTG contestants. Contestants only knew about who their teammates were, only after the individual competition in the morning.

Also in the team competition, aside from the usual question-and-answer type of format, there was also a 15-minute Challenge round, in which they were to solve a problem and would be scored according to elegance, correctness, and neatness. Team 6, composed of Jon Garret Go, Emmanuel Plan VI, Edmund Soriano, and Paul Julian Hao, earned a perfect sccore in the Challenge round en route to a 1st place finish.

At the awarding ceremony for the individual competition, Level I gold medallist Nellie Margaret Chua was commended for achieving a perfect score. Dr. Marasigan was even quoted as saying. "It became obvious as to whom the gold medal would be awarded to." Level II Charles William Ang was also commended for having almost a perfect score.

Three of the Ateneo contestants who won medals are actually former MTG Kids. They are Alvin Belleza who got the silver in the Level II individual competition, Emmanuel Plan VI who got a gold medal in the team competition, and Agustin Tejada who got a silver in the team competition.

Two MTG Kids even came from the province to compete in the AMO. They are Jon Henri Ma (who won a silver in the team competition) from Bacolod, and Abigail Ceralde from Zamboanga. Dr. Lee-Chua expressed thanks for their participation while they were being awarded their certificates of participation.

A brief talk with the seniors revealed that most of them are intent on studying college in the Ateneo. Most of them are either going to Management Engineering or Applied Mathematics in Finance, the two courses in the Ateneo which have the highest percentage of MTG Kids in their respective populations.

In his closing speech, Fr. Nebres revealed his wishes of having a Filipino gold medalist in the International Mathematics Olympiad, before he and Dr. Marasigan retires. He made an interesting analogy comparing mathematics with sports, and he stressed on the importance of training in mathematics.

Stay tuned for the coverage of the elementary competition of the AMO, as well as my article about this on Issue No. 4!



Update: February 2, 2005 5:00 PM

Congratulations to the winners of the 3rd AMO!

After a grueling 3-hour examination followed by an exciting team competition, these competitors have proven themselves to be a cut above the rest. These are the winners of the 3rd Ateneo Mathematics Olympiad:

Individual Competition

Level I (1st year and 2nd year)

1st place
Nellie Margaret Chua 2nd year, Chiang Kai Shek College

2nd place
Edmund Soriano 2nd year, Ateneo de Manila University

3rd place
Stephanie Anne Oliveros 1st year, Philippine Science High School

Level II (3rd year and 4th year)

1st place
Charles William Ang 4th year, Chiang Kai Shek College

2nd place
Alvin Belleza 3rd year, Ateneo de Manila University

3rd place
Nicollo Rimando 3rd year, Ateneo de Manila University

Team Competition

1st place
Jon Garret Go 4th year, St. Stephen's High School
Emmanuel Lance Christopher Plan VI 3rd year, Ateneo de Manila University
Edmund Vincent Soriano 2nd year, Ateneo de Manila University
Paul Julian Hao 1st year, Chiang Kai Shek College

2nd place
Jon Henri Ma 4th year, Bacolod Trinity Christian School
Christian Drilon 4th year, Ateneo de Manila University
Agustin Elmar Tejada 3rd year, Ateneo de Manila University
Andrew Yap 1st year, Xavier School

3rd place
Charles William Ang 4th year, Chiang Kai Shek College
Adrian Mundin 4th year, Ateneo de Manila University
Gabriel Eduardo Villareal 2nd year, Ateneo de Manila University
Stephanie Anne Oliveros 1st year, Philippine Science High School

Congratulations to the winners!


Update: February 2, 2005 10:00 AM

Today is the high school competition of the AMO. The participants are currently taking the individual part of the competition. The team competition will be held later this day at around 12 PM in the Ateneo High School Covered Courts.

I was supposed to meet with my MTG students (I handled the 1st year contestants) before the actual contest, at around 7:30 in the morning to wish them luck. I didn't bother asking for directions with regards to the specific venue, thinking that I could figure it out myself anyway. I stayed there for a good 20 minutes only to realize that they were already brought to their rooms. Oh well. I'd just see them later this day.

Wish us luck!