While the rest of the country was facing the challenge posed by typhoon Florita, twenty members of the Mathematics Trainers' Guild's secondary level roster were in China, braving a different challenge altogether, as Philippine representatives to the 7th Invitational World Youth Mathematics Intercity Competition (IWYMIC).

And brave the challenge they did, as our contestants did quite well in this competition, held in the Chinese province of Wenzhou from July 11 to 14. Team Philippines A - composed of Jonathan Aldric Chua (4th yr., St. Jude Catholic School) Nellie Margaret Chua (4th yr., Chiang Kai Shek College), Stephanie Anne Oliveros (3rd yr., Philippine Science High School - Diliman), and Ray John Pamillo (4th yr., ) - led the charge by bagging a gold medal in the team competition. This was the country's first time that the country has won a team gold medal in this contest in four years - the last time during the 3rd IWYMIC in 2002 held here in the Philippines.

Apart from the team gold was the country's haul of 2 bronze medals and 11 merit awards from the individual competition. The bronze medallists were: Darren Mendell Sy (4th yr., Chiang Kai Shek College) and Raymund Tan (1st yr. coll., University of the Philippines - Diliman); while the merit awardees were: Jonathan Aldric Chua, Nellie Margaret Chua, Stephanie Anne Oliveros, Ray John Pamillo, Jeremy Chua Yap (4th yr., Jubilee Christian Academy), Paul Julian Hao (3rd yr., Chiang Kai Shek), Tobit James Narciso (3rd yr., Philippine Science - Diliman), Patrick Adrian Ong (2nd yr., St. Jude), Daniel Andrew Tan (4th yr., St. Jude), Marquis Alexander Tan (1st yr., Xavier School), and Vance Mikhail Uy (1st yr., St. Jude).

Also, a special award for the presentation of solutions was awarded to a Philppine team, this time Philippines D - composed of Paul Julian Hao, Raymund Tan, Sigrid Mae Gayangos (3rd yr., Zamboanga Chung Hua High School), and Kevin Yambao (2nd Renato Cayetano "Companero" Memorial Science and Technology High School) - for one of their solutions to a problem in the team competition.

Also participating in the competition were: Sharlene Dizon (3rd yr., Chiang Kai Shek College), Ervin Frederick Dy (2nd yr., Chiang Kai Shek), Ezra Jed Macabenta (4th yr., Bohol Wisdom School), James Christopher Pang (4th yr., Philippine Institute of Quezon City), and Aileen Gail Versoza (4th yr., San Beda College, Alabang). The delegation was accompanied by MTG Public Information Officers Mr. Anthony Ang and Mrs. Josephine Lorenzo, and Mr. Arvie Ubarro of Philippine Institute of Quezon City.

One of several international contests

The IWYMIC is one of several international mathematics competitions that the MTG sends representatives to every year. It started as the Kaohsiung Invitational World Youth Mathematics Intercity Competition, as it was held in Kaohsiung, Taiwan during its first two stagings in 1999 and 2001. Afterwards, it changed venues each year, making stops in Philippines (2002), India (2003), Macau (2004), and back in Taiwan (2005), before being held in mainland China for the first time, this year.

This is the seventh time in as many stagings that the MTG has sent a delegation to compete in this contest. This year's competition drew more than thirty teams coming from China, Hong Kong, India, Macau, Singapore, South Africa, Taiwan, Thailand, and the Philippines.

Last year, in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, the 16-member Philippine delegation brought home two bronze medals from the individual competition. They came courtesy of Emmanuel Lance Christopher Plan of Ateneo de Manila and Mark Benedict Tan of Xavier School.

For the individual portion of the IWYMIC, the participants answer a test, composed of twelve short answer questions and three open-ended problems, within two hours. Short answer problems require answers only and are worth 5 points each. Open-ended problems on the other hand, require solutions and are worth 20 points each. Approximately two-thirds of all participants get to receive individual awards. The top 1/15 gets gold, the next 2/15 get silver, the next 3/15 get bronze, and the next 4/15 get merit.

For the team portion meanwhile, teams are first bracketed randomly into groups of around seven to eight teams. Then the teams are given a set of eight questions to be divided amongst themselves and to be solved individually for forty minutes. Afterwards, the teams are given two additional questions, which they must solve as a group for fifteen minutes. The questions may or may not require solutions to receive full credit. Here, teams are only competing against teams from their own group. The top three in each group gets gold, silver, and bronze medals. Team Philippines A bagged the gold medal by topping their own bracket.

Next stop: Hong Kong

And as one competition has ended, another one is already underway. This time it's for the members of the MTG's elementary roster, as sixteen of them are currently in Hong Kong to compete in the Po Leung Kuk 10th Primary Mathematics World Contest. This is a special time for this particular competition, as the PMWC marks its 10th year since its inception this year.

Just like the rest of the members of the MTG roster, the kids set to participate here have been part of a year-long training program in preparation for this event. Hopefully, our PMWC delegation would ride on the recent successes that their fellow MTG Kids have achieved in recent international competitions like the IWYMIC, the American Regions Mathematics League and the Indonesia Elementary Mathematics International Contest, and do well in this contest.