A STUDENT from the Polytechnic University of the Philippines won first place in the “Everyone Can Learn Python” Scholarship 2023 Competition.

Kobbie Bryant Manrique, a graduating BS Economics major, bested hundreds of beginner users of the programming language for his entry “Understanding Carbon Dioxide Emissions and the Bicycle Market.”

His project focused on the analysis of carbon dioxide emissions in Canada and their impact on the bicycle market.

Throughout the competition, Manrique displayed remarkable progress, honing his skills as a Python beginner.

“It’s not a freestyle competition meron pong pre-sets of questions. Madali po siyang sundan kasi maganda din po yung instruction doon sa data. About siya sa carbon dioxide and dalawa po siya, about din sya dun sa you have to analyze a fictitious bicycle company,” PUP quoted Manrique as saying.

“Nag-start po yung competition last year pa September (2022), nung nakita ko yung competition, wala pa rin talaga akong alam dun, dito sa Python beginner pa lang din talaga ako. Tapos ngayon year ko lang siya sinimulan, sineryoso. Sa DataCamp rin ako nag-aaral yung nandito sa Science Python na programming and doon ko talaga sineryoso ang kompetisyon. I really tried my best,” he added.

His outstanding performance garnered significant support from the data science community on social media platforms.

Manrique has also been selected as one of the Philippine delegates for an upcoming international conference in Singapore.

“We are very glad that we have these kinds of accomplishments from among our students. They show the strength of our program, but also our students’ pursuit for excellence,” Associate Professor Norie Maniego, chairman of the Economics department, said.

“Their courage to join these independent competitions really motivates us to continue enhancing our course offerings and this would help encourage more Economics students to expand their endeavors,” she added.