－DVBS Archive Team－

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On March 1st, five advanced math students from the Boys School, under the encouragement from Dr. Koay, participated in the infamous 14-hour long Siam MathWorks Modeling Challenge.

This year’s focus revolved around one of today’s most pressing issues: climate change. A three-part question revolving around electric vehicles was posed, and the students immediately began brainstorming. A rough plan was drawn－ approximately 4 hours would be allocated for completing each part, and the remaining time would be used to complete our final paper.

The plan seemed flawless, but the execution proved otherwise. Data was difficult to find; breakfast, lunch, and dinner took much longer than expected; and most importantly, our internet repeatedly failed. With ten minutes left on the submission countdown, the internet died. As the countdown hit zero, any hope that lingered, died. Depression ensued, followed by rage. One student complained, “Imagine spending 14 hours on ONE math problem. That’s four SAT practice tests worth of time!” However, after a sincere email to the administration team, we received a reply the following day－our results would be valid.

All in all, it was a rewarding experience. Yet again, we learned not to put tasks off until the last minute.

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DVBS Archive Team

March 15, 2020