Young Filipino students won five medals in their first international mathematics competition abroad this year in Romania.
The Philippine team, composed of six students, grabbed one gold, one silver, and three bronze medals at the 20th Junior Balkan Mathematical Olympiad held in Slatina, Romania from June 24 to 29, according to the Mathematics Trainers Guild (MTG)-Philippines.
Andres Rico Gonzales III, a Grade 9 student at Colegio de San Juan de Letran, bagged the country?s gold medal in the contest and was also the highest scorer among the 10 guest countries.
Winning a silver medal is Ryan Mark Shao, Grade 10 student of Xavier School.
On the other hand, the bronze medalists are Stefan Marcus Ong, Grade 9, St. Jude Catholic School; Dion Stephan Ong, Grade 9, Ateneo de Manila Junior High School; and Steven Reyes, Grade 8, St. Jude Catholic School. The other Filipino contestant is William Joshua King of Bethany Christian School.
?This is the first international math contest that Filipino kids have joined this year and they are set to compete in other competitions abroad. We dedicate our first triumph to President Rodrigo Duterte who will lead us in the next six years,? said MTG president Dr. Isidro Aguilar.
Aguilar explained that the MTG has selected a new batch of Filipino students who will represent the Philippines in various math competitions abroad.
Accompanying the students to the Romania contest is team leader and trainer Zheng Rong Wu, who represented the Philippines in several math contests when he was a student.
The trainers of the contestants are Wu, Renard Eric Chua, Gari Lincoln Chua, Kerish Villegas, Dr. Li Sheng Hong, Prof. Huang Xing and Prof. Tang Song Jin.
A total of 21 teams competed in the contest from Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Indonesia, Turkmenistan, Saudi Arabia, Azerbaijan, France, Tajikistan and the Philippines.
