Nod to expertise: (From second left) Chong, Lai, Lim, Tan and Chin posing with their award. With them is LKC FES academic Loh Wing Son (far left).
DON’T shy away from the unfamiliar; approach every problem with intellectual curiosity and determination.
This mindset, said Chin Jun Hao, can open doors to accomplishments one may have thought impossible.
Having adopted this spirit for themselves, Chin and his team members – all final-year actuarial science students at Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) Lee Kong Chian Faculty of Engineering and Science (LKC FES) – tasted success in a hackathon recently.
The quintet, comprising Chin, Patrick Lai Tze Hoe, Lim Heng Wang, Henry Tan Tze Heng and Chong Ren Hao, was crowned champions at the Malaysian Actuarial Student Association X Taylor’s University Actuarial Science Club (MASA X TUASC) Hackathon 2024 Grand Finals held on June 1.
Calling themselves “Heng Ong Huat”, they beat 51 other teams from universities worldwide, and walked away with RM3,000 and certificates.
At the hackathon, participants were tasked with creating a business proposal from a provided dataset. This required them to utilise programming and data analysis skills.
The primary goal of the competition was to motivate students to apply their actuarial expertise and analytical abilities to address real-world issues and challenges in risk assessment using R programming.
The UTAR team went through the preliminary round, held from April 27 to May 12, before securing a spot in the grand finals held at Taylor’s University, where they won over the judges with a presentation of their proposal, model, and scenario analyses.
Chin said emerging victorious required grit, innovation and teamwork “of the highest calibre”.
“We took a significant step forward, but we are even more excited about the journeys ahead. I hope our achievement inspires current and future actuarial science students,” he said in a press release dated June 25.
Describing their venture into uncharted territory as a challenge, Tan said they dedicated all their resources to overcoming obstacles and persevered despite numerous burdens and shortcomings.
“Ultimately, we gained valuable knowledge, skills, techniques and more that shaped our experience,” he said.
Agreeing, Lim said the true reward of the competition is not the cash prize, but the “harmony of teamwork and the crescendo of our collective learning journey”.
Chong expressed appreciation for the consistent and selfless support extended to the team.
“We were equipped with the winning keys: knowledge, practical skills, communication, hard work, and presentation skills,” he said.
Lai said the achievement motivates him to strive for excellence in his future endeavours.
“Winning this hackathon was an incredible honour. I am deeply grateful for the support from my teammates and the wealth of information available on the Internet. Thank you to everyone who believed in us,” he said.
