Securing Second Place at the Inaugural Regional AI Hackathon

Today I am in Antique, joining an AI hackathon competition and representing our university. The travel took us almost 5 hours, and after reaching the University of Antique, I was stunned to see a lot of pretty girls. I’m also happy because the food is free. We are currently staying in what seems to be a motel or a resort; I’m not sure what to call it.

We had a mini discussion last night on topics like humanity, religion, and politics. I am amazed by how much these people realize and perceive things. The way I see them has changed a little; they are very open about talking about these topics. I’m grateful for this experience and hope that if we are lucky in the next 3 days, we win the grand prize. Let’s see what happens next.

We attended the opening ceremony, which I found somewhat pointless. I managed to interact a bit with a few booths and learned about products like turmeric latte. I discovered that turmeric and other herbal plants, when taken in their pure form, can be disregarded or even harmful to our bodies. It’s best to extract only the beneficial parts. The researcher told me it takes 3-5 years for such a product to be approved by the DFA and reach the market. They collaborate with DOST and their university. I asked if dedicating 3-5 years of her life for this product was worth it, and I could see the passion in her face. Another researcher mentioned that it's for the people. That made me feel good; these people are truly living their passion.

Returning to the University of Antique's Library to fulfill my responsibilities, I found that the prepared food for us was meat dishes and rice. The organizer realized that I’m vegetarian, and one of my team members mentioned how challenging it is to be vegetarian. The effort to accommodate my dietary needs and the heartwarming gesture of finding suitable food for me was deeply appreciated.

We are currently on our way back home, so my writing may be shaky. For the past two nights, I haven’t slept enough as I was busy coding and helping with various tasks. We had a debate about which problem to pursue. I was passionate about problem 7, but the team was passive about it. I acted as the decision-maker of the group, and by day 1, I let go of my fantasy for problem 7 and we decided to pursue problem 6, which seemed more doable.

Our secret weapon/programmer, Renz, even though he was feeling sick, continued to work and created the program. I was assigned to the frontend and pitching. I felt confident because there was no intense pressure. Hackathons are not something I would die for, so during the pitch, I didn’t experience intense anxiety or nervousness. It was a chill experience with a bit of tension.

During the pitch, the judge was not very intense and was kind. Despite being time-limited and not presenting our slides perfectly, we managed to spend ample time demonstrating our program. The judge asked me technical questions about speeding up the model's calculation with the same data, and I answered with optimization techniques and other technical jargon, trying to be convincing. I stuttered and was sometimes skeptical about my answers, but I didn’t lose confidence. I felt great after the timer ended.

I didn’t expect us to win, as I was skeptical about the results and unaware of what other participants had prepared. But guess what? We won 2nd place. Even though I was a bit casual during the pitch and managed to make the judges laugh, that was already a good outcome for me.