It was a historic moment in the Ateneo Mathematics Olympiad's brief history when for the first time ever, it opened its doors for students from the Mathematics Trainers' Guild to participate.

Now on its third year since its inception, the AMO used to be a school-wide mathematics competition pioneered by no less than Ateneo de Manila University President Fr. Bienvenido Nebres, S.J., alongside with two well-known personalities in the academe today, Dr. Jose A. Marasigan and Dr. Queena Lee-Chua, both from the Ateneo Department of Mathematics Faculty. This year, according to Dr. Lee-Chua, the Ateneo wanted to benchmark its training program against the best of the field, that's why it invited the MTG.

The AMO is patterned after the prestigious International Mathematics Olympiad. The Ateneo handles the Program for Excellence in Mathematics (PEM), which is the training ground for the Filipino representatives to the IMO. For the past few years, Philippine delegations to this competition have been fully or partially made up of MTG alumni.

The MTG's participation to this competition turned out to be very fruitful, with its representatives bagging majority of the medals at stake. In the process of doing this, the MTG Kids even impressed members of the Ateneo Math Department with their mathematical prowess.


High School

In the high school competition held last February 2 at the Ateneo High School Covered Courts, sophomore student Nellie Margaret Chua of Chiang Kai Shek College won the individual gold medal for Level I (1st and 2nd year students). She earned a perfect score in the individual contest, even prompting Dr. Marasigan to say that it became obvious as to whom to award the gold medal to in this category.

Schoolmate Charles William Ang, a senior, made it two in a row for Chiang Kai Shek, after winning the gold in Level II (3rd and 4th year). He was likewise commented for his near-perfect score. Meanwhile, Stephanie Anne Oliveros of Philippine Science High School became the third medallist for the MTG, after winning the bronze in Level I. She was the only freshman who won an individual medal.

The other medals went to their Atenean counterparts, although the silver medallist for Level II, junior Alvin Belleza, is actually an MTG Kid wearing Ateneo's colors for this competition. Silver for Level I went to Edmund Vincent Soriano (2nd yr), while the bronze for Level II was awarded to Nicollo Rimando (3rd yr).

In the unique team competition, which puts the Ateneans and the MTG Kids together on same teams, it was the team of senior John Garret Go from St. Stephen's High School and freshman Paul Julian Hao of Chiang Kai Shek, alongside their Atenean teammates Emmanuel Lance Christopher Plan VI (3rd yr) and Edmund Soriano who won the gold. Jon Henri Ma (4th yr) of Bacolod Trinity Christian School and Andrew Yap (1st yr) of Xavier School, together with Ateneans Christian Drilon (4th yr) and Agustine Elmar Tejada (3rd yr) got the silver, while Charles Ang, Stephanie Oliveros, and Ateneans Adrian Mundin (4th yr) and Gabriel Eduardo Villareal (2nd) bagged the bronze.

Like Belleza, Plan VI and Tejada of the Ateneo are also MTG Kids competing for the blue and white.


Grade School

The elementary competition was held for two days, one week after the high school competition. The individual contest was held on the afternoon of February 10 at the Ateneo Grade School, while the team competition was held at the Irwin Theater the day after.

It was the turn of Carmela Antoinette Lao from St. Jude Catholic School and Carlo Francisco "Paco" Adajar to shine as they both topped their respective levels, Grades 5 and 7, in the competition respectively.

For Carmela, it truly was a shining moment for her when the audience gave her a warm and loud applause upon the announcement of her name as the gold medallist in Grade 5.

This was because Dr. Lee-Chua preceded this with a revelation that Carmela got a perfect score in the uniform examination given to the Grade 5 and 6 participants, making her the exam's top scorer; this despite, as Dr. Lee-Chua added, that Carmela is the youngest competitor in the Olympiad and that she is only a Grade 4 student.

On the other hand, Paco became the most bemedalled participant in the Olympiad, after earning for himself the gold in both the individual and team competitions. Paco even got a chance to speak to the audience at the Irwin Theater, when he was requested to explain his solutions to the Challenge Round question, where his team garnered a perfect score, en route to finishing in first place out of the eighteen-team field.

Aside from Paco and Carmela, seven other MTG kids brought home with them medals. In the Grade 5 individual competition, Aldric Cristoval Reyes of Chiang Kai Shek College and Darwin Ivan Carrasco of Pamplona Elementary School, were silver and bronze medallists respectively. In the Grade 6 individuals, Patrick Adrian Ong of St. Jude Catholic School wound up with the silver. Then in Grade 7, it was Angeline Baniqued of St. Paul's College, Pasig and Kerish Villegas of La Salle Greenhills who earned the silver and bronze, respectively. Finally, Jillian Kristel Sy of St. Stephen's High School and Jose Enrico Leceta of De La Salle Zobel lead their groups to silver and bronze-medal finishes.

Ateneo also had its share of medals in the competition. In the individual contest, Kevin Catbagan won the gold in the Grade 6 level while Mikhael Llado took home a bronze in the Grade 7 level. In the team contest, Juan Miguel Ocampo and Rodolfo Euardo Santiago were part of the gold medal-winning team. Anthony Aguilar, Dustin Kyle Syling, and Angelo Luis Cortez were members of the silver medallist team, while Carlos Marcel Puyat, Kevin Mark Lumauig, and Mikhael Fiorello Llado belong to the bronze medallist team.


A Huge Success

The whole event has been a huge success for both the MTG and the Ateneo organizers. Dr. Lee-Chua and Fr. Nebres expressed joy and contentment on the turnout of this year's Olympiad in their respective speeches. They, along with Dr. Marasigan, led the way for the establishment of this competition in line with their thrust of promoting mathematics education in the Philippines. Eventually, as Fr. Nebres noted, their main goal is to have a Filipino win a gold medal in the International Mathematics Olympiad. But, as Fr. Nebres noted, the key to achieving this goal is by giving utmost importance to mathematics training, something that the MTG has committed itself to doing in its nearly decade-long existence.