De La Salle University Senior High School and British School Manila students have won the right to represent the Philippines at the 2020 edition of the International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI).
La Salle’s Dan Alden Baterisna and Steven Chua of British School Manila earned the right to be part of Team Philippines after they won first and second place, respectively, in the recently-concluded National Olympiad in Informatics (NOI.PH), held online last August 8-9, 2020, and supported by the Department of Science and Technology – Science Education Institute (DOST-SEI).
Baterisna, who won a bronze medal at the 31st International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI) in Baku, Azerbaijan, scored 609 points to grab the gold medal and the Php 6,000 cash prize at the 2020 NOI.PH.
Chua scored 574.54 points to secure the silver and Php 3,000 cash prize.
Baterisna previously won gold and Chua won silver at the Singapore National Olympiad in Informatics in 2019.
With their strong NOI.PH top 1 and 2 finish, Baterisna and Chua automatically clinched two of the four spots on the Philippine team in the IOI.
The NOI.PH Finals was participated in by the top 31 finishers out of 148 during the national eliminations held in January.
The finalists each solved five challenging programming tasks in each day’s five-hour session. Contestants used their programming and analytical skills to create data structures and algorithms to solve each task using a program.
Also securing places in the top 10 were:
- 3rd place – Steven Reyes of Saint Jude Catholic School (565.74 points)
- 4th place – Dion Stephan Ong of the Ateneo de Manila Senior High School (503 points)
- 5th place – Frederick Ivan Michael Tan of Philippine Science High School – Main (493 points)
- 6th place – Rapahael Dylan Dalida of PSHS Main (468.08 points)
- 7th place – Ron Mikhael Surara of PSHS Bicol (449.68 points)
- 8th place – Enruco Rolando Martinez of PSHS Main (273.96 points)
- 9th place – Harvey Shawn Chua of PSHS Main (271.9 points)
- 10th place – Marc Joshua Ayalde of PSHS SOCCSKSARGEN (268.11 points)The remaining two slots in the Philippines’ national team to the IOI will be secured by the top finalists after a training session.
NOI.PH President Marte Soliza thanks its supporters and urged the finalists to do their best in the training session.
“The organizing committee would like to thank the Department of Science and Technology – Science Education Institute (DOST-SEI) for their generous support for the event. We would also like to thank our volunteers from Ateneo de Manila University’s (ADMU) Computer Society of Ateneo (CompSAt) and the University of the Philippines’ Association for Computing Machinery (UP ACM), as well as our testers and illustrators for helping out. We hope for your continued support as we move to the selection of our delegation to the International Olympiad in Informatics 2020,” Soliza said.
DOST-SEI’s Director, Dr. Josette Biyo, congratulated NOI.PH for the successful full-online national finals.
“Informatics as a field is something exciting for young Filipinos and we are very glad that the NOI.PH leads in developing the innate analytical and computing talents of our students. We congratulate the winners and look forward to their journeys, not just in the IOI, but in their other endeavors,” Biyo disclosed.
The IOI 2020, which was originally set in July in Singapore, is moved to September 21-22 and will be held online.
The DOST-SEI continues to promote STEM learning on radio and online amid the coronavirus pandemic and the new modes of learning in schools.
SEND CONGRATULATIONS in the comments below to De La Salle University Senior High School and British School Manila for winning the right to represent the Philippines in the 2020 International Olympiad in Informatics.
Want to know how to be a Proud Pinoy? Like, Follow, Subscribe to GoodNewsPilipinas.com, and our socials Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Good News Pilipinas! TV on YouTube, for new story notifications, and e-mail newsletters for updates on more Filipino Pride stories.
