3 Filipino students win bronze at 33rd International Olympiad in Informatics

This is a press release from the Department of Science and Technology-Science Education Institute.

Three Filipino high school students bagged three bronze medals at the recently concluded 33rd International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI) from June 19 to 25.

Vincent dela Cruz, Raphael Dylan Dalida, and Frederick Ivan Tan earned bronze medals, besting hundreds of contestants from over 80 countries.

This year’s IOI featured a gauntlet of programming challenges that tested the competitors’ coding skills and creativity, with problems involving everything from a dungeons game to a mutating DNA. This year’s competition, hosted by Singapore, was held online due to the pandemic.

“The IOI is a proving ground for some of the brightest upcoming minds who are in the best position to solve the world’s problems. Apart from coding skills, contestants also need to think on their feet and find solutions to anything that’s thrown at them,” said Marte Soliza, president of the National Olympiad in Informatics-Philippines (NOI.PH).

NOI.PH put together and organized the Philippine contingent in partnership with the Department of Science and Technology-Science Education Institute (DOST-SEI).

Dela Cruz, a 12th grader at the Valenzuela City School of Mathematics and Science, scored the highest from the Philippine contingent at 92nd place out of 351 competitors. Meanwhile, Dalida came in at 119th place, and Tan finished at 136th place. Dalida and Tan are 10th and 11th graders respectively at the Philippine Science High School-Main Campus.

The fourth member of the Philippine team, Saint Jude Catholic School 12th grader Steven Reyes, finished at a respectable 216th place.

The Philippine team leader, Vernon Gutierrez, was ecstatic over the victory despite the “difficulties presented by the pandemic.”

“This wouldn’t be possible without the help of the volunteers in our organization, NOI.PH, and the continuous support of DOST-SEI,” Gutierrez said.

Gutierrez and Soliza hope that the Philippines continues on this winning streak and look forward to bringing in more participants as well as trainers and volunteers.

Interested parties may get in touch with NOI.PH via their website, or may send them an email at ask@noi.ph. – Rappler.com