The 2018 International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI), held this year in Tsukuba, Japan, is an annual competitive programming competition for secondary school students and consists of two days of computer programming and algorithmic problem-solving.
Joey Yu, a graduate of Thornhill Secondary School and now a first-year student in the David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science, finished 26th in the gruelling contest, earning a gold medal.
The other members of the team each brought home silver. Victor Rong (entering Grade 12 at Marc Garneau Collegiate Institute), Zixiang Zhou (a Grade 8 student from University Heights Public School now entering high school) and Ava Pun (entering Grade 12 at Marc Garneau Collegiate Institute) finished 48th, 73rd and 75th respectively. Ava was the top-ranking female participant in the global competition.
Students at the IOI compete individually, with up to four students competing from each participating country. This year, more than 335 students participated from 87 countries.
L to R: Computer Science Professor Troy Vasiga, Victor Rong, Zixiang Zhou, first-year computer science student Joey Yu, Ava Pun, Math Professors Carrie Knoll and J.P. Pretti
Congratulations to Victor Rong, Zixiang Zhou, Joey Yu and Ava Pun. These talented students put in tremendous effort in preparing for IOI 2018. Their results are among the best in Canada's history at the IOI, and we celebrate their stellar achievements and representation of Canada and the University of Waterloo on this international stage.