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FOR 12
years, the Mathematics Trainers’ Guild, Philippines (MTG)—an
organization committed to promoting advanced math
education in our country through competitions—has been
holding at the start of summer season the Young
Mathematicians’ Intensive In-House Training Program. This
four-day event is a gathering of the brightest young
mathematical minds from all over the
Philippines
and serves as the final tryouts for the MTG’s pool of
students who will represent the country in future
international math competitions.
In effect,
it is a backbreaking—both for teachers and the students,
not to mention their parents who bring them to boot camp
but are not allowed to interfere with their tough
schedules—process of winnowing, and the net result is that
the qualifiers and their alternates at the end of the
weeklong process become “seeded” for future contests.
The boot
camp doesn’t end there, though. The best of the best go to
a monthlong intensive, six-days-weekly training in Metro
Manila right after camp; and the others are going to
similar month long sessions in Zamboanga City, where the
MTG president, Dr. Simon L. Chua, is based.
This
year’s In-House Training Program was held in two cities,
Cebu first then Tagaytay. Around 800 students converged
at The Crown Regency Residences in
Cebu
City
for the elementary edition of the event from March 23 to
28, 2008. Meanwhile, around 700 students participated in
the high-school edition, where they were broken up into
two groups holding marathon sessions simultaneously at
Angel Hills Retreat House and the Christian Development
Center in Tagaytay City from March 31 to April 3, 2008.
Math
adventure like no other
AT the
In-House Training Program, the participants are whisked
into a summer camp-like atmosphere filled with challenging
math activities. The “MTG kids” undergo marathon sessions
on advanced math topics, dissect Olympiad-caliber
problems and answer mind-wrecking examinations. Engaging
in these tasks is such an ordeal to begin with, but having
to do it away from the comfort of one’s own usual
environment makes it even harder—or the company of one’s
parents, guardians or nannies to whom one can whine over
the smallest problems—is really tough. Marquis Alexander
Tan, an MTG kid from Xavier School, sums it up bluntly by
saying, “It’s a math adventure like no other.”
Despite
the huge challenge that the In-House Training Program
presents though, many MTG kids remain unfazed. The poise
and discipline displayed by many of these kids under rigid
conditions is a sight to behold, especially since some of
them are as young as 10 years old. You see them eagerly
listening to their lecturers, diligently trying to solve
the problems presented to them, and staying up late at
night Wto review for an upcoming exam.
They wake
up very early in the morning to make time for the usual
personal routines and also, to make their bed and put away
their things properly. Math camp results do not hinge
solely on the grades from the marathon exercises. Even the
top math wizard can suffer a demerit from such
character-reflective deeds as texting or using a cell
phone during the formal sessions; or being caught with
one’s things scattered in the room during inspection, or
showing discourtesy to camp workers. MTG veterans explain
that parents take the trouble to enroll their children in
the boot camp because it’s a character-building period in
their lives, besides the chance of being honed enough to
compete in international contests.
But of
course, the In-House Training Program is not just all
about studying math. It’s also a chance to experience the
wonders of a different locale (past venues include Subic,
Bacolod and Davao, to name a few) and a nice opportunity
to make friends with fellow math wizards from different
regions. Sarah Jane Cua, an MTG kid from Pangasinan
Universal Institute, agrees, saying “I used to join here
just to get more exposed to math. But then I learned a
lot of other important things and also got to be friends
with people all over the country.”
The
much-awaited part of the In-House Training Program though,
came at the conclusion of four days chock full of
lectures, problem sets and tests, when the qualifiers to
the MTG’s pool of Philippine representatives to contests
abroad were finally announced. Nearly 200 MTG kids
received the good news of having earned the right to wear
the country’s colors in a future international
competition. These chosen few would then have to undergo
an even more intensive-training program this summer, where
they will be evaluated and assigned to a specific
competition. This year, the list of destinations includes
Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, China and even the United
States.
Even as
the MTG teachers were busy holding the
Cebu and Tagaytay camps, they were preparing to bring the
Philippine team of three participants (a young business
manager from
Bacolod
and two students from Metro Manila) to the 3rd World
Sudoku Championship in Goa, India.
The three
Sudoku hopefuls were actually the ones who won the 2nd
National Sudoku eliminations held by MTG and the
BusinessMirror in Makati City last January.
Counting
to infinity
THE Young
Mathematicians Intensive In-House Training Program would
not be possible though if not for visionaries like Dr.
Chua, founder and current president of the Mathematics
Trainers’ Guild, whose initiatives in math education have
been recognized abroad, notably in the UK, where he was
given the prestigious Paul Erdos Award. In the mid-90’s,
he and a host of other esteemed Filipino math educators
formed the MTG, and consequently formulated an innovative
year-long program that seeks to identify and train the top
mathematical minds the country has to offer. Indeed it has
produced some of the best young minds in math since then,
among them the son of MTG’s vice president, Rechilda
Villame. Her son Deogracias, a veteran of many boot camps,
graduated magna cum laude with an electronics and
communications engineering degree at the University of the
Philippines last year, and was one of the guest speakers
and inspiration for the Tagaytay camp.
The
In-House Training Program came to be an integral part of
this program, and emerged as probably the most anticipated
by many MTG Kids. In this unique event, many MTG kids got
immersed in a very challenging math environment compared
to what they were usually exposed to in school. It’s a
memorable experience that allows the MTG kids to learn
more, to improve their skills, and to even make new
friends.
What’s
impressive is that the In-House Training Program is just
one of the many programs that the MTG undertakes each
year. Through this and other similar endeavors, the MTG
has contributed many precious memories to the lives of
young-math wizards from all over the archipelago.
Angeline Baniqued, an MTG kid from Saint Paul’s College
Pasig who has won numerous awards in international math
tilts (at the Tagaytay camp she and sister Geraldine
topped their respective year categories), touches on this
during her speech at the closing ceremonies of the
In-House Training Program. “So how many good things has
the MTG done to us trainees?” She asks her fellow MTG
Kids.
“Well,”
she answers her own question, “we just have to count to
infinity.” | 
