When I heard that I’ve been picked to be among the country’s representatives to a Math competition in India, I didn’t know what I should feel. I have heard that India is not a very hygienic place and diseases there spread quickly. At the same time, I have been looking forward to competing abroad. Despite the mixed feelings, I accepted the challenge with the hope of winning at the back of my mind.

      Just like any contest though, getting ready for the 2006 India International Yong Mathematicians’ Convention was not easy. I trained for a very long time and I had to sacrifice much of my time during weekends. Moreover, since the contest took place from December 1-8, 2006, I knew all along that I would only have four days to make up for everything I have missed before the quarter would end.

      Soon I realized that the challenge was not only being in the contest. In fact, getting to the venue itself was a challenge. I had to travel for almost a day and a half before I could reach Lucknow, India.

      The contest was composed of three parts, the first of which is the individual round, where one would answer a test by himself. The next part is the team competition, one’s team of three members can help each other, and finally, the last is the relay round, where members of a team would work separately on the questions that are linked making each answer is important as it becomes crucial in answering the other problems.

      Apart from the challenging questions in the competition, contestants like myself also had to work around a very tight schedule. In fact, there was very little time to rest. Nevertheless, I took the opportunity to learn more when I was in India . There I saw a very different environment, I experienced a new place, I saw a new culture and I also met new people. I guess the contest organizers also wanted to bring people from all over the world to meet and participate in friendly competition.

      As many would agree Math isn’t a very easy subject. Thus, one can imagine how tough it had been for myself and the other students who joined. However, at the end of it all, the hard work I’ve put into this contest paid off. I was able to bring home two silver medals, one in the individual contest and one in the team contest. Along with fellow Xaverian, Jeffrey Kenneth Go, I was able to accomplish something for myself, my parents, my school and my country.

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