MANILA, Philippines – A group of young Filipino numbers aces, mostly primary students from Metro Manila, won a total of 16 medals, including three golds, in the just-concluded 2014 Clock Tower School International Mathematics Contest held from March 20 to 23 in Valcea, Romania.
The good news was relayed to the Inquirer on Monday by Dr. Simon Chua, president of the nongovernment Mathematics Trainers’ Guild-Philippines which trained the eight Filipino students who represented the country in the six-nation competition.
The gold medals came courtesy of Jinger Chong, a Grade 6 student of St. Jude Catholic School in Manila; Dion Stephan Ong, a Grade 5 student of Ateneo Grade School; and William Joshua King, a Grade 5 student of Bethany Christian School in Cebu City.
The country’s silver medalists were Gen Mark Tanno from Southville International School in Las Piñas City; Eion Nikolai Chua from MGC New Life Christian Academy in Taguig City; and Stefan Marcus Ong from St. Jude Catholic School.
The lone bronze medal was won by Tiffany Mae Ong from Immaculate Conception Academy in San Juan, Metro Manila.
Alyana Zoie Chua from the MGC New Life Christian Academy was awarded an honorable mention medal.
In the competition’s Blitz Round, Tanno, Dion Stephan Ong and Tiffany Mae Ong placed second while Stefan Marcus Ong and Chong were ranked third. Honorable mention honors went to King and siblings Alyanna Zoe and Eion Nikolai Chua.
The math wizards and their team leader, Justin Josef Villano, were scheduled to fly back to Manila today.
A total of 561 students took part in this year’s competition which was last held in 2012. It was organized by Romania’s Ministry of National Education, the Mathematical Society of Romania and the Valcea County School Inspectorate.
Aside from host Romania and the Philippines, the other participating countries were Bulgaria, Moldova, Serbia, and Indonesia.
Last year, the Philippine team bagged four gold and five silver medals as well as a perfect score in the same contest.