Third Finale of Pupin’s Challenge successfully held! The finale took place on February 3rd, 2024, at the premises of the Mathematical grammar school in Belgrade.
The competition has gone international! With great success, the third edition of Pupin’s Challenge was organized with a total of 23 teams from 9 schools, showcasing their knowledge and skills. We proudly announce that the competition has earned its international status, featuring 9 teams from Romania. Among them were 8 teams from the “Grigore Moisil” high school from Timisoara in Romania,
Students from “Grigore Moisil” lyceum from Timisoara with teachers – Ivașcu-Ilici Silca and Lavinia Mirianici
and one team from participants in the CoderDojo Timisoara international project.
CoderDojo team with Radu Ticiu and the host Vladislav Petković
From Serbia, participants hailed from 7 schools, including the Mathematical grammar school, Electro-technical high school “Nikola Tesla” from Belgrade and Pančevo, 6th Belgrade Gymnasium, participants from Regional centar for talents “Mihajlo Pupin” from Pančevo (students from Computer Gymnasium from Belgrade, Mechanical School from Pančevo), and First Belgrade Gymnasium. Over 40 participants competed in the finale, facing challenges that tested their capabilities.
The journey to the finale involved a series of workshops and an introductory cycle – the Digital Challenge in the spring of 2023, engaging more than 10 schools from Serbia and Romania, with over 80 participants. You can find more about this in the attachment for K1 Television.
All details about the finale and specific project aspects can be seen in the previous announcement.
Introduction to the Finale
In the grand hall of the Mathematical Gymnasium, the competition was officially opened by Director Mirjana Katić, coordinator of the Pupin’s Challenge project Vladislav Petković, and project expert and teacher at the Mathematical Gymnasium, Jovica Milisavljević.
Grand opening. Principal of Mathematical grammar school Mrs Mirjana Katić, Vladislav Petković project coordinator and Jovica Milisavljević teacher and expert
After the grand opening, an international expert meeting on the digitization of education was held, titled “Experiences, Projects, and Technological Achievements in the Digitization of Formal and Non-formal Education.”
Jovica Milisavljević, an expert in formal and non-formal education, shared experiences of working with gifted students, successful participation in numerous prestigious competitions, and section work.
Radu Ticiu (on the left) presenting the rich experience in IT through projects
Next, Radu Ticiu, an expert in non-formal education in the field of STEAM, founder, and coordinator of CoderDojo Timisoara, a project celebrating 11 years of existence last year, shared his experiences.
Team behind the success of Pupin’s Challenge
At the end of this meeting, Dušan Dakić, the first winner of Pupin’s Challenge and a specialist collaborator at Mehatronika magazine, explained the importance of insight into the latest technological innovations in the ICT world for the improvement of education.
Dušan Dakić (in the middle) passionately shares his expert knowledge in the latest ICT achievements
Setting New Standards
The jury had a challenging task, but the new evaluation methodology, which included not only solution accuracy but also speed and quality, proved successful. Junior mentors demonstrated their expertise with support from Dušan Dakić in the team. Experienced mentors and jury members contributed to the dynamics of the competition.
Milan Surla, an integral part of Pupin’s Challenge, tackles both expected and unexpected challenges for the organization
More about the immediate announcement just before the start of the competition can be seen in the report on N1 television in the show “Novi dan”.
The junior mentors proved their expertise and had support from Dušan Dakić on the team. More experienced mentors and jury members were professional collaborators from the “Mihajlo Pupin” Regional Talent Center in Pančevo – Milan Surla (a decades-long IT professional and lecturer) and Jovan Popović (an expert from Microsoft). We also had a jury member who is an expert from Endava, Miroslav Stipanović.
In the middle: jury member from Endava, Miroslav Stipanović
The series of challenges in the final highlighted about 6 teams that demonstrated that complex industrial solutions could be implemented on a smaller scale with available knowledge and technology.
The jury had a serious job, and victory went to the graduating team from the Mathematical Gymnasium.
The final ranking of the top three winning teams was as follows:
- Team “Krokodil u bari” – 4th-grade students from the Mathematical Gymnasium, Lena Perišić, and Daniel Đurčilov.
Lena Perišić and Daniel Đurčilov
- Team “Coder Dojo Timisoara” – Andrei Soare and Daniel Hnatiuc. They received a special prize – NVIDIA Jetson Nano 4 GB development system, presented by Dušan Dakić on behalf of Mehatronika magazine and Nvidia.
Andrei Soare and Daniel Hnatiuc with Dušan Dakić from Mehatronika magazine, who presented the merchandise prize
- Team “Aleksandar i Nikola” – 1st-grade students from the Mathematical Gymnasium, Aleksandar Vukojević and Nikola Kočović.
Aleksandar Vukojević receives cash prizes and salutations for his team
Junior mentors were also awarded for their participation.
Junior mentors: Milica Jovičić, Despot Maksimović, Žarko Hajder, Dušan Dakić, Aleksandar Brkić and Novak Stijepić
All participants who successfully completed the challenges in the final will receive electronic certificates, while others will receive participation certificates. This Pupin’s Challenge brought many impressions, much knowledge, and many new friendships. Everyone involved is proud of the unique project that has come to life and become international.
Onward we go!
