Siblings from Balanga City bring home silver medals

Siblings from Balanga City bring home silver medals=

Contributed by Johanna Dizon

BALANGA CITY, Bataan – Three siblings from the City of Balanga, namely Ronnie Vience “Rovie”, Roi Victor “Rovic”, and Ronniel Vincent “Rovin” Pilar Roberto recently joined various international math events as part of the Philippine Team.

Rovie and Rovin joined the 2016 International Mathematics Wizard Challenge held in Bangkok, Thailand last July 20 to 24, 2016. Both won silver medals in Grade 8 and Grade 5 levels, respectively.

Meanwhile, Rovic, Grade 6, joined a 10-day International Youth Mathematics Camp held in Sentral College, Penang, Malaysia last April 30 to May 8, 2016. The camp was hosted by Kedah Mathematics Olympiad Society.

Participating in both local and international math and science contests are not new to these kids. In previous years, they joined and won math contests in Hongkong, Singapore and China. Rovie won a gold medal two years ago in China, a bronze medal in Hong Kong, and a merit award in Singapore; Rovin won a silver medal last year in Hong Kong and emerged as champion for two consecutive years in oral team division finals in the MTAP-DepEd-Metrobank Math Challenge, and the only student in Bataan in grade 5 level to meet the cutoff score to receive an honor from MTAP last year; while Rovic represented Bataan in the Regional Robot-tech contest last year after emerging as champion in the division level.

Rovic and Rovin are currently studying at The Peninsula School in Limay, while their Ate Rovie is now a Grade 9 student of the Philippine Science High School – Main Campus in Quezon City.

To qualify for an international contest, they must pass and emerge as top scorers in a series of multi-level training by the Mathematics Trainors’ Guild of the Philippines (MTG) and the Mathematics Development Academy of the Philippines (MathDAP). The training series include a 12-Saturday Mathematical Challenge for Filipino Kids Training Program (MCFKTP), a week-long Young Mathematician In-House Intensive Training Program (YMIITP), a month-long Mathematical Olympiad Summer Training Program (MOSTP) in Manila, and some Saturday trainings prior to the international contest.

The next series of 12-Saturday training program is scheduled to start this August in various MTG Centers all over the country as part of the preparation for various international mathematics competitions in 2017. A student must take and pass a qualifying examination before being admitted to the 12-Saturday training program.