This year’s MTAP-Metrobank-Math Challenge finally came to a close with the National Finals held last March 8,2014 in the Metrobank Plaza Auditorium, Makati City.
Starting with a total of 521, 376 participants in the national competition, only 51 math whiz kids managed to advance to the final leg of the competition. These whiz kids came from 30 schools, 15 of which are public schools. Ten of these schools are first-time qualifiers. Namely:
- Lagro High School (Quezon City)
- Ateneo de Manila Grade School (Quezon City)
- British School Manila (Taguig City); Small World Christian School Foundation (Baguio City)
- Saint Louis College (San Fernando City, La Union)
- Dasmariñas National High School (Dasmariñas City, Cavite)
- Greenpark Montessori Learning Center (Cainta, Rizal)
- Cajidiocan Central Elementary School (Cajidiocan, Romblon)
- Bulan National High School (Bulan, Sorsogon)
- Hua Siong College of Iloilo (Iloilo City).
At the end of the competition, the top 3 winners for both Individual and Team categories for Elementary and Secondary levels were awarded. The winners are:
ELEMENTARY LEVEL
Individual Competition:
1st - Stefan Marcus Ong of St. Jude Catholic School (Manila)
2nd - Patrick Niño Policarpio of Greenpark Montessori Learning Center (Cainta, Rizal)
3rd - Marjana Ysabella Montañez of Hen. Pio del Pilar Elementary School (Makati City)
Team Competition:
1st - Dion Stephan Ong & Jermil Andrei Gelbolingo of Ateneo de Manila Grade School
2nd - Gabriel Soriano & Andrhea Angelina Therese San Gabriel of Small World Christian School Foundation (Baguio City)
3rd - Doun Lee & Jedric Ivor Zafra of Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu (Mandaue City)
SECONDARY LEVEL
Individual Competition:
1st - Harvey Eaton Ong Uy of British School Manila (Taguig City)
2nd - Ethan Riley Chan of Zamboanga Chong Hua High School (Zamboanga City)
3rd - John Mark Guimba of Dasmariñas National High School (Dasmariñas City, Cavite)
Team Competition:
1st - Jonn Angel Aranas & John Morris Fabros of Makati Science High School (Makati City)
2nd - Mark Benjar Bartolome & Philip Jhurell Pati of the Philippine Science High School-CAR (Baguio)
3rd - Mikhael Glen Lataza & Syrum Joseph Quinto of Science and Technology Education Center (Lapu-Lapu City)
This year’s national winners received trophies, medals, and cash prizes. For the elementary level winners, P25 000 was given to the first placer, P20 000 and P15 000 were given to the second and third placers respectively. For the secondary level winners, P50 000 was given to the first placer, P40 000 and P30000 were given to the second and third placers respectively.
Now on its 13th year, the competition showcases the mathematical prowess of the national qualifiers in both Team and Individual categories. In the oral competitions, the contestants are challenged to solve advanced math problems with varying levels of difficulty. Questions from Easy Category must be solved within 15 seconds without the aid of any writing material. Contestants are expected to solve the problems mentally. The Average and Difficult round questions must be solved within 30 seconds and 1 minute respectively. For these rounds however, writing materials are permitted. As a change to this year’s competition, tablet computers were used in place of the traditional pen and paper. The questions were also posted in the competition’s official Facebook page real-time to give online users a feel of the ongoing competition.
The annual math competition is organized by the Metrobank Foundation, Inc., the Mathematics Teachers Association of the Philippines (MTAP) and the Department of Education (DepEd).