AJHS math wiz Paco Javier wins IJMO Overall Runner-Up Trophy for PH

Representing the Philippines, Ateneo de Manila Junior High School student Paco Javier (7-Alfonso) won several medals and titles at the STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) Ahead global competition held in December 2023 in Indonesia. He competed in two events- the International Junior Mathematics Olympiad (IJMO) Global Finals and the Design Thinking with Robotics and Computational Thinking (DrCT) Global Finals- winning multiple medals in both. In the IJMO, he even won one of the event’s top plums, the IJMO Overall Runner-Up trophy!

Here is a list of Paco’s medals/titles:

IJMO

Overall Runner-Up, Grade 6 division

Country Rank: #1

Global Rank: #2

DrCT

Silver, Individual Category

Silver, Team Category

STEAM Ahead is an initiative that combines three international academic competitions (IJMO, VANDA Global Science and DrCT) into one event. It is intended to educate participants, bring them international exposure, and present them with career choices in these specific fields.

Organized by the Singapore International Math Contests Centre (SIMCC) in collaboration with the National Math Societies in Asian countries, IJMO is a global mathematics competition held annually in various countries across Asia to identify and encourage potential young math talents in every participating country. To be eligible for participation in IJMO, only Singapore & Asian Schools Math Olympiad (SASMO) and American Mathematics Olympiad (AMO) gold and silver awardees from each country are selected annually to represent their country.

DrCT is a global contest in Informatics designed to nurture students’ creativity, logical reasoning, and algorithmic and computational thinking skills. Here, a deeper understanding of the learner’s world is facilitated by using design thinking methodology to solve everyday problems by leveraging the power of computers and information technology.

STEAM Ahead 2023 was held in Bali, Indonesia from December 8-11, 2023. Participants came from countries and territories like Azerbaijan, Brazil, Cambodia, China, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Malaysia, Mexico, Mongolia, Pakistan, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.