It's Not About Winning, It's About Experience

"Winning isn't everything, but the will to win is everything." -Vince Lombardi

When I was in High School, I love to join contests like group quiz bees and art contests. It's because I like that overwhelming feeling that I get whenever I win in such contests. Now that I'm in college, even though there are also contests, I really don't have the confidence to join in them. I guess winning wouldn't be that easy since it will be a battle among Iskolars ng Bayan. 

(c) UP SoComSci

The very first contest that I joined here in UP was the "Jolog's Quiz Show" held by the Department of Arts and Communication (DAC). I joined that contest just for fun.  Now, I decided to join another contest, the Competition on Science and Technology or ConCAT();. This event is a part of the celebration of Computer Science Week in UP. This is a group competition or quiz bee and each group is composed of Computer Science students from different year levels. Of course, the coverage for the quiz bee will be about Computer Science subjects.

Originally, I don't want to participate in this event unless one of my groupmates is a close friend of mine. But one of my friends, who also joined the said contest, already registered my name so I have no choice. Sadly, it turned out that the organizers randomized the groupings and unfortunately, me and my close friends are assigned to different groups. What's worst is that me and my groupmates don't know each other and they're all guys which means that I'm the only girl in our group. Well, I tried to talk to one of the organizers about my situation because it's somehow uncomfortable but it didn't worked out and I guess God really wants me to be in this group so in the end I decided to just accept it. Well it turned out that we're getting along pretty well and they're friendly. 

We're Group C! So from left to right, we have Lean (Sophomore),
Me (Junior), Kuya Jhesed (Senior) and Marvin (Freshie) .  (c) UP SoComSci

Well, this is not just your ordinary quiz bee because this contest is not just a battle of the brains but also a battle of "diskarte". One hundred points are given to each group at the beginning. The organizers will flash the category and difficulty of the question on the screen for 10 seconds and each group will have to place their bets. Just after that, the question will be showed. For every correct answer, the amount of points each group placed on their bets will be added to their score and for every wrong answer, the points will be deducted.

Final Scores! :) (c) UP SoComSci

At first, our group was third from the last but in the end we managed to catch up with the other teams. Surprisingly, we won First Place and I really enjoyed the competition. It was a close fight. 

Unexpectedly, we won! Champions~ (c) UP SoComSci

My FIRST MEDAL in UP!

I guess what I've learned from this is that don't get intimidated that easily and just try it out first before giving up or quitting.