Iloilo team wins finals of ProbSET Palaro 2024, Davao de Oro student wins written prelims

The team of Gian Joshua Yebra, Paul Angelu Malones, and Shonagh Faye Vio (Team I1) from the Division of Iloilo Province won the final round of the Problem-Solving Enrichment and Training (ProbSET) Palaro on 27 April 2024 held remotely through Zoom and organized by the Department of Mathematics of Ateneo de Manila University in partnership with the Ateneo Mathematics Society (AMS).

Yebra and Malones come from Cabatuan National Comprehensive High School (CNCHS) while Vio comes from Dueñas General Comprehensive High School (DGCHS).

Garnering a perfect score in the difficult round, Team I1 proved their mettle by winning the entire Palaro with one more question to spare.

Team Q4 composed of Rehan Shania Santiago, Brent Axle Sumague, and Althea Jane Ablola, who hail from Southern Luzon State University Laboratory High School (SLSU-LHS) of the Division of Quezon Province, garnered the silver medal.

Meanwhile, Team O2 of the Division of Ormoc City, made up of Jesse Danielle Caber and Lyndon Matthew Ablen of Ormoc City Senior High School (OCSHS) and Mary Angeline Nuñez of Linao National High School (LNHS), completed the podium finishers.

All of the participants were hosted in the six partner institutions around the country – Quezon Province, hosted by Southern Luzon State University; Nueva Ecija, hosted by Central Luzon State University; Iloilo Province hosted by West Visayas State University and Iloilo Science and Technology University, DepEd Ormoc, and DepEd Davao de Oro – with each team managed by their partner-trainers.

ProbSET was also able to bring participants from different high schools to compete in one team, mimicking the conditions they were accustomed to in the training sessions, thus fostering a community built on the shared love for problem-solving.

The final round was kicked off with an inspirational talk by Dr Queena Lee-Chua, who, along with Fr Bienvinido Nebres, pioneered the series of problem-solving classes in Ateneo aiming to expand the problem-solving repertoire of several Ateneans.

The same concept was applied to these select public senior high school students through ProbSET with the explicit hope that they will be better problem solvers and the partner-trainers will also imbue this spirit of problem-solving beyond this program.

“We hope to build up your resiliency to solve problems … to have mental toughness, perseverance, and resisting temptation [to look up answers]. If we don’t learn, [we] don’t thrive,” reminded Dr Lee-Chua.

The set of judges, who composed the ProbSET core, were then introduced: Dr Luis Silvestre, who led the Algebra module, Ms. Chara Punzal, who did Geometry, Mr Carlo Mallari, who had discrete mathematics and also served as the quizmaster for the day, and Dr Lester Hao, who had recreational mathematics and also was the master of the ceremonies. 

The quiz was done in Quizizz, with the technicals handled by a core team of AMS members led by their president, Mr Miguel Yapan (4 BS AMDSci).

There were three rounds of competition with successive eliminations– from 15 teams composed of 4 teams from Quezon Province, 3 groups from Iloilo, Ormoc, and Davao de Oro, and 2 teams from Nueva Ecija, the Iloilo team (I1) ultimately finished gold. 

Dr Eden Delight Miro, department chair of Ateneo Math, expressed her congratulations to everyone involved and her admiration for the dedication of the partners throughout the run of ProbSET.

“ProbSET Palaro is just a way to have fun and [we hope that] all of the learnings and discoveries should translate to solving complex societal problems,” she remarked.

Written round recap

During the finals, the top ten qualifiers of the written round of the ProbSET Palaro were also recognized: Paul Angelo Malones (CNCHS, Iloilo), Alex Ascura (OCSHS, Ormoc City), Brent Sumague (SLSU-LHS), Gian Yebra (CNCHS, Iloilo), Marron Francia (Gumaca National High School (GNHS), Quezon Province), Aeryl Tolentino (San Jose City National High School Senior High School, Nueva Ecija), John Earl Caparros (GNHS, Quezon Province), Sharon De La Cruz (Recto Memorial National High School, Quezon Province), Melvin Viloria (Muñoz National High School – Main, Nueva Ecija), and Ivan Xavier Retardo (Maragusan National High School, Davao de Oro).

Retardo of Davao de Oro, Viloria of Nueva Ecija, and De La Cruz of Quezon Province were respectively awarded as top three scorers for the written round.

They were also acknowledged with awards like a new scientific calculator, sponsored by Casio Philippines.

Around 130 students from DepEd San Jose City, DepEd Science City of Muñoz, DepEd Quezon, DepEd Iloilo, DepEd Ormoc City, and DepEd Davao de Oro took the written exam composed of 4 problems for 2 hours.

The written exam, while simultaneously serving as the preliminary round for the Palaro finals, also served as a culmination of the several week-long ProbSET enrichment sessions both held online and onsite, where some members of the ProbSET core went to the different stations in the country to provide support to the assigned partner-trainers.

“Walang talo sa pagkatuto!”(There’s no losing in learning!), the ProbSET core reminded the participants.

Ateneo Math remains hopeful that the ProbSET will be expanded to more participants now with its inclusion as a wing of the Jose A Marasigan Academy for Excellence in Mathematics and Problem Solving (JAM Academy), which was launched last Pi Day 2024, 14 March.

ProbSET was made possible with the partnership of AMS, the partner institutions, the partner-trainers, the participants and several sponsors such as the Metrobank Purple Hearts Club Alay RSK Chapter and Casio Philippines.