With 10 gold, 3 silver, and 6 bronze awards, the Philippine Science High School – Southern Mindanao Campus (PSHS-SMC) received the Most Outstanding School Award in the Hong Kong International Mathematical Olympiad Heat Round during the awarding ceremony at the Note Dame of Greater Manila on July 17.

HKIMO is an annual international Olympiad competition organized by Olympiad Education from Hong Kong and is developed by a team of former International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) winners from Hong Kong.

Math Unit Head Ronald A. Gica received the award.

“The awards that SMC students received in these prestigious [math] competitions are testament that our scholars possess the skills and competencies to pursue serious study of the subject,” said Campus Director Jonald Fenecios.

According to the HKIMO website, HKIMO committee members invited 21 regions/countries such as Indonesia, Bulgaria, Malaysia, Myanmar, Taiwan, Thailand, Hong Kong, Kyrgyzstan, Philippines, India, Australia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Cambodia, Vietnam, Singapore, China, Iran, Sri Lanka, Laos, and Dhaka Bangladesh to participate this year.

Dir. Fenecios encouraged Pisay students to devote time to mathematics and to dig deeper into the beauty of it and to discover the logic behind every mathematical theorem and the beauty of the proofs that establish it.

“To appreciate the importance of mathematics in real life, it is sufficient to mention that everything around us involves numbers in a way or another. The greatest inventions that one may think of may not become a reality in the absence of the workings of mathematics. It is mathematics that gives life to technologies, to other sciences, engineering and even to innovations. Thus, engaging oneself to the study of numbers is a worthwhile endeavor,” said Dir. Fenecios.

He also commended the Pisay-Davao math mentors and said, “May you continue to inspire our students to love and do mathematics even further. We will cultivate mathematics research to show to our scholars that mathematics is indeed a subject worth pursuing.”

The HKIMO Finals 2022 will take place on August 28.

Text by Aries N. Oliveros
Photo from Ronald A. Gica
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