THREE Filipino high school students bagged bronze medals at the 33rd International Olympiad in Informatics hosted by Singapore, the Department of Science and Technology’s Science Education Institute said.

Vincent Dela Cruz, Raphael Dylan Dalida, and Frederick Ivan Tan bested hundreds of contestants from over 80 countries.

Dela Cruz, a 12th-grader at the Valenzuela City School of Mathematics and Science, scored the highest from the Philippine contingent and was ranked 92nd out of 351 competitors.

Dalida came in at 119th place, while Tan finished 136th. The two are 10th- and 11th-grade learners, respectively, at the Philippine Science High School-Main Campus.

The fourth member of the Philippine team, Steven Reyes, finished at 216th place. He is a 12th-grader student of the Saint Jude Catholic School.

The IOI is one of the world’s biggest science olympiads featuring “a gauntlet of programming challenges that tested competitors’ coding skills and creativity, with problems involving everything from a dungeons game to mutating DNA.”

“The IOI is a proving ground for some of the brightest upcoming minds who are in the best position to solve the world’s problems. Apart from coding skills, contestants also need to think on their feet and find solutions to anything that’s thrown at them,” said Marte Soliza, president of the National Olympiad in Informatics-Philippines.

Vernon Gutierrez, Philippine team leader, lauded the students.

“A huge shout-out to our students! The Philippine Team bagged the most medals in a year, despite the difficulties presented by the pandemic. This wouldn’t be possible without the help of the volunteers in our organization, NOI.PH, and the continuous support of DOST-SEI,” Gutierrez said.