On 14 December 2007, a group of students from the Temasek Informatics & IT School did themselves and the school proud when they won 2nd prize at Algo*Mania, a national infocomm competition organized by the National University of Singapore. The competition was part of a series of infocomm competitions supported by the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA). The event was targeted at students from secondary schools, junior colleges and polytechnics.
Algo*Mania follows the rules and procedures of ACM ICPC (International Collegiate Programming Contest), a prestigious problem-solving competition that many of the world’s finest university students in computing sciences and engineering take part in. The tasks in Algo*Mania had to be completed within a shorter duration of three hours and were pegged to the difficulty level of tasks set in the established National Olympiad in Informatics (NOI).
The three students who represented TP are junior students from the Diploma in Information Technology. Hanafi B Mat Sani, Jeremy Goh You Hao and Phyo Myat Thu could not be more pleased with their results, given the exacting nature of the tasks set. The group trained for the competition under the watchful guidance of their lecturers, Dr Eng Pin Kwang and Mr Lawrence Goh. Training was conducted during the school holidays using tasks and questions set in previous competitions.
Lecturer-trainer Mr Goh remarked that the event was “an eye-opener as the competition allowed our students a good chance to experience the kind of competition similar to the ACM ICPC, which is a prestigious competition for university students all over the world.”
The team members all remarked that they enjoyed taking part in the competition. Hanafi Mat Sani said, “I've always liked challenging problems and this competition is all about that.” This was reinforced by Phyo Myat Thu who said, “The questions are interesting as some are related to real life situations and problems. Solving themis not that easy task. It requires real knowledge about algorithms.”
The team members also found joining the competition an enriching experience. “The feeling of panic, worry and anxiety and the burst of motivation after solving a problem felt good. It brought out the spirit of competition in me,” remarked Hanafi. Jeremy enjoyed the team spirit and bonding that was developed as the team spent many moments together in training for the competition: “I think the teamwork, communication and confidence are really important.” Phyo added that the group did well “because of the teamwork of all members” and that the “coordinated group work” helped the group to achieve success.
The team would like to thank the lecturers for working with them, and teaching and motivating them. They are also appreciative of the School’s support. Hanafi speaks for all members when he says “I am proud that I am able to win something for the school.”
Indeed, the School is also proud of the team’s achievement!
