geniucos's blog

Mentor the next generation of IOI medalists
By geniucos, history, 5 years ago, In English

Hi friends!

My name is Costin-Andrei Oncescu. I began preparation for the IOI in 2011, lasting for 8 years and culminating in one silver and two bronze medals. I began the journey being the first one in my region and not having access to much formalized training. Now in college, I reflect on my experience and come to realize how fortunate I am for all of the great lessons IOI taught me.

I now seek to pay it forward by bringing this experience to others that dare to be the first in their town, state, or country. In collaboration with other IOI medalists (Reyna, reedef, zscoder, Adhami, Rezwan.Arefin01, Bruteforceman, RestingRajarshi, AsleepAdhyyan), teachers, community organizers, and government officials, we are starting a project, CSPrep.org. This initiative is directed to ignite the first generation of IOI medalists in emerging countries by bringing access to dedicated mentors, curated resources, and quality instruction. Talent is global and deserves to be propelled to compete at the IOI from any corner of the world.

How can you get involved? Become a mentor.

How it works:

  • You are assigned to 3-4 pre-selected, high-achieving students from an emerging country.

  • You meet virtually with the group (at least one hour per week) to give advice and answer questions.

  • You hold one-hour seminars periodically (bi weekly or once a month) covering a technical subject.

  • You build an ongoing relationship with each of your mentees during the length of their preparation.

What are we looking for?

  • You have been involved in competitive programming, including but not limited to IOI, or you have a rating of over 2100 on CodeForces.

  • You care about helping great talent get started on preparation for IOI.

  • You can devote at least one hour per week to the project.

Benefits for you:

  • You do meaningful and highly-regarded volunteer service.

  • You build life-long relationships/friendships with highly talented students.

  • You gain instructional and leadership skills, which are highly valued in the market.

Please visit our site (CSPrep.org) to learn more and sign up! Feel free to share information about the project with anyone you know would be a good match and DM me if you have any questions.

Thanks for your time!

P.S. We have benefited from the internet, we have benefited from the work of those before us and now we would like to pay it forward and we hope you will consider joining us in empowering and training the next generation of competitive programmers.

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Comments Comments (29)
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5 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it -89 Vote: I do not like it

Stupid kids

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5 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +5 Vote: I do not like it

India orz

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5 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +96 Vote: I do not like it

Come on, where is your gold medal?

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    5 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +131 Vote: I do not like it

    Went for several bronzes cause they better match my skin color. And gold is a shitty metal (bronze is a good conductor of heat and electricity, whereas gold is so soft it gets deformed by mere biting), daaah.

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      5 years ago, # ^ |
        Vote: I like it +14 Vote: I do not like it

      So pragmatic! I should've done that too :(

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      5 years ago, # ^ |
        Vote: I like it +41 Vote: I do not like it

      Are those medals made of real gold, silver and bronze though?

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        5 years ago, # ^ |
          Vote: I like it +8 Vote: I do not like it

        Nope, but it's the principle that matters:))

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5 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +2 Vote: I do not like it

is it a paid service?

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5 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +1 Vote: I do not like it

It is online?

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5 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

I've filled in the form, wish you great luck on this! Will I receive an email of notification? Or shall I just wait and see?

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    5 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +5 Vote: I do not like it

    We have received a lot of responses from students seeking assistance. Our goal is to help as many students as possible and given the limited resources and increased demand for coaching, we are taking a more structured approach. We are working with IOI organizers, including ministries, national organizers, etc, of countries that are performing poorly or have never participated in IOI. Our primary target is to help the newcomers. Currently, there are a lot more mentees than mentors than the ratio allows and we don’t want to let anyone down so please share the post with all your friends and encourage them to sign up as mentors. We are hopeful more mentors will sign up soon and we will have a balanced ratio. At the very least, we will open up our Q&A more broadly, allowing everyone to ask questions. We also plan to teach, starting with basic concepts targeted at newcomers and then gradually more complex topics. We will make sure everyone has access to this material. We are still crafting out further details on the mentor and mentee matching process.

    We will contact everyone by email in the next couple of days! If you signed up as a “student/mentee” by accident, please fill out the form again. We appreciate your patience.

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      5 years ago, # ^ |
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      Right. Unfortunately, I signed up as a mentee, but I wish you all the best luck in finding mentors! I guess all I can do now is wait.

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5 years ago, # |
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When will the replies come?

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5 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +10 Vote: I do not like it

How about the students? How are they selected?

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5 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +3 Vote: I do not like it

Is there any updates?

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5 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

Any update on this? I still haven't receive an email yet

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5 years ago, # |
← Rev. 2   Vote: I like it +10 Vote: I do not like it

Got a reply soon after I made this comment, thank you guys :)

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4 years ago, # |
← Rev. 2   Vote: I like it -20 Vote: I do not like it

Ignore!

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    4 years ago, # ^ |
    ← Rev. 2   Vote: I like it +25 Vote: I do not like it

    Thanks a lot to the csprep authority!! They have accepted me as a mentee. I am a part of the community now!!

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4 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +107 Vote: I do not like it

How is the project going, geniucos? I'm curious how long the created groups can last.

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4 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +11 Vote: I do not like it

Is it still open for registration?

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4 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +5 Vote: I do not like it

Is it still going on?

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10 months ago, # |
  Vote: I like it -8 Vote: I do not like it

x-camp orzer

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