NOI.PH - Key Persons
Andrew Ting has been drumming in his school's pep rallies since grade school. He found his interest in programming through the game LittleBigPlanet. When he's not beating the drums, he is likely drumming up interest in algorithms as an officer of his school's programming club. As a student who's into game dev, Andrew plans to transition from playing rhythm games to developing them by taking up computer science in college.
Franz Cesista is not content with just learning, he also enjoys sharing it to his interested peers. He shares what he learns in the countless contests and seminars by lecturing, for example, in his school's programming club. His pursuit of knowledge manifests as well when he unwinds as he often plays complex simulation games such as Factorio. For college, he plans to study mathematics and eventually focus on artificial intelligence.
Cassidy was first exposed to programming in Grade 6, where he taught himself C++ after learning HTML in school. He first joined NOI.PH in Grade 9 after he heard about it in his Python class. He has since come to enjoy competitive programming and aims to use his experience to drive his future projects. In his life outside informatics, he goes on adventures with his friends during their D&D sessions.
Dan likes playing with all things tech. Between school and practice, he is busy learning the intricacies of the bottom lane and watching speedrun videos online. He plans on studying computer science in college and hopes to give back to the competitive programming community, especially in the Philippines. He won a silver medal at the IOI in Tsukuba, Japan in 2018, and a bronze medal at the IOI in Baku, Azerbaijan in 2019.
Dion has dabbled in math for a while. In elementary and high school, he was the national winner of the Metrobank Math Challenge. This year, he will compete in the International Mathematical Olympiad. Lately, he discovered informatics and found the shift to algorithms instinctive. In college, he plans to pursue computer science to develop smart cities.
Farrell Wu is named as one of the Ten Smartest Kids in the World by The Business Insider in 2013. He has garnered awards in a number of global competitions, including the prestigious International Math Olympiad (IOI) and the Australian Mathematics Competition where he aced all the questions. He was granted Filipino citizenship status thru House Bill 4073 early last year after he expressed desire to be a full-fledged Filipino. He brought a stuffed penguin during the IOI because he likes penguins. And perhaps stuffed toys too.
Maded Batara, coached by Edge Angeles, hails from Iligan City and has been training with us for the last two years. Starting Grade 1, he has placed in the MTAP division finals for six consecutive years. Aside from the NOI, he has also participated in and won other several technology related competitions such as the Ateneo Programming Open and the Grace IT Quiz Bee. Even though he is quite young, he is very organized and was responsible for coordinating a couple of team selfies during the IOI (as per the request of the organizing committee).
Ephraim first discovered computer programming from his brother in 2017, when his kuya showed him a program that "did some magic with arrays." He is also an active competitor in math competitions, garnering a silver medal in the 2023 IMO held in Chiba, Japan. Ephraim likes speed in both programming and cubing, having once solved a 3×3 Rubik's cube in under eight seconds. On top of all these, he also enjoys cityscape photography and has taken pictures of the Manila skyline daily for four years.
Franz Louis Cesista competed and placed well in various regional and national science and programming competitions. In his spare time, he works on side projects in machine learning and helps other students learn programming. He hopes to obtain a scholarship in a university where he can study artificial intelligence.
Ivan is someone who was always interested in programming. His father taught him basic programming during grade 5 and Ivan fell in love with it. From the first script he created on his iPad mini to his studying of different algorithms and data structures, he knew that computer science would be his future. He likes playing frisbee and video games with friends - but uses discs only in the former!
Ian Palabasan is a self-proclaimed addict in C++, a programming language. He has participated in several programming competitions held in Ateneo and FEU coincidentally with some his other competitors from the NOI. He is a fan of Undertale, a role-playing game about refusing to give up. This is why during the IOI, he was filled with determination.
Jerome first learned programming in AMSLI'S Informatics Enrichment Program (AIEP), starting with Scratch, transitioning to Python, and then self-learning C++. His curiosity drew him to join Abakoda and, soon after, the NOI.PH. His interest in problem-solving led him to competitive programming aside from olympiad math. In his spare time, he enjoys solving unique puzzles.
JL discovered competitive programming through a YouTube video during the pandemic. Since then, he has been participating in NOI.PH every year. Aside from solving competitive programming problems, he can also solve the Rubik's Cube, even while blindfolded. He plans on studying computer science in college and pursuing a career as a software developer.
Dylan has been interested in competitive programming since eighth grade. After getting a bronze medal in the Singapore NOI, his drive for competitive programming skyrocketed, and he has joined the NOI every year since. Programming enabled him to be more focused and to relieve stress during the pandemic. He enjoys math as well; in particular, he won a bronze medal in the 61st International Mathematical Olympiad. He also enjoys playing the piano.
Robin Christopher Yu is a two-time medalist at the IOI and a gold medalist at the recently-concluded 20th Singapore National Olympiad in Informatics. He is interested in game development and has published a number of platformers and rhythm games. He hopes to study in a good university and wishes to do his part in the improvement of the scientific culture of his country.
Robin Yu brought home the first IOI medal last year and has been training in programming for the past few years. He spends most of his time training mostly through self-study. However, he never hesitates to ask for the help of the NOI.PH Scientific Committee on the rare occassion that he gets stuck. Apart from NOI.PH, he has placed in a lot of online competitions he joined at his own volition. He also joined Google Code Jam, where he placed third, just under Kevin and Payton, in one round among all the Filipino competitors. People say he is a creative thinker, probably because his height offers him a different perspective of the world.
CJ Quines is the artsy type of scientist. His hobbies include calligraphy, ukelele, and the art of proving mathematical theorems. In fact he recently placed second in a science fair sponsored by Intel. There, he tackled a special case of an NP-complete problem related to planar graphs. He also maintains a blog where he writes about his experiences in various competitions and conferences. After college, he plans on becoming a data scientist.
Steven had always been fascinated with computers from a young age. After writing his first Python program in Grade 5, he made it his goal to improve his programming skills and knowledge in computer science. He first got into competitive programming in 2017 and since then has joined the NOI in all subsequent years. Aside from computers, he also enjoys reading, writing, and playing video games.
Steven first discovered programming around 6 years ago when he created circuits and logic gates in Minecraft. Creating these contraptions are like solving computational problems, both of which he enjoys indulging in. The joy he finds in problem-solving extends to the different math, science, and programming competitions he participates in, and even to teaching fellow schoolmates how to approach various kinds of puzzles.
Vincent's journey in programming started in Grade 4; he enjoys writing simple games and mini-programs in Python and JavaScript. Ever since then, his goal is to become better at programming and develop real applications of his own. For three years in a row, he has been competing in the International Mathematical Olympiad. Aside from programming, he also enjoys playing puzzle video games, such as OneShot.