Mr Joshua Tan Jing Yi, a Year 1 student from Singapore Management University’s (SMU) School of Accountancy, has emerged as the winner of the 2019 Young Statisticians Conference’s (YSC) global video conference. Guided by Rosie Ching, Senior Lecturer of Statistics at SMU’s School of Economics, Joshua’s winning submission effectively edged out the competition. He was awarded a cash prize of AUD200 from the Statistical Society of Australia.

The Young Statisticians Conference (YSC) is a biennial conference for students and early career researchers in statistics sponsored by Statistical Society of Australia. One of the components of the YSC 2019 included a video competition that was open to students or early career researchers in an area related to statistics.

Participants were tasked to submit a video no longer than 3 minutes in duration, presenting their project. Video entries were evaluated based on the criteria of organisation, engagement and delivery, comprehension and content as well as video quality. Joshua’s winning submission, titled “Remember.For.Me”, elaborated on the background, methodology and findings of his batch’s statistics project conducted from January to April 2019, of the same name. 

Ms Ching helped him. She said, “Our dementia project has touched my students and me deeply and in many ways. When I heard about this biennial competition for young statisticians, I knew my students had it in them to meaningfully contribute, after sharply drilling them through with statistical analyses, interpretational and problem-solving skills in my STATISTICS-X course, and topping these all off, with speed and accuracy. Having just taught Joshua and seen his potential, I threw him the gauntlet, and he caught it with gusto. All I did was edit, refine and suggest improvements to his script, which we also discussed together. Summarising our three-month journey of our "Remember.For.Me" project, sieving through a tonne of statistical manoeuvrings and a tangle of findings to create an effective video of less than three minutes was truly no mean feat. I am thrilled for Joshua, in his well-earned achievement. My students learn that there is no limit to what they can achieve.”

Joshua thanked Ms Ching for encouraging him to participate in the competition. Said he, “I was initially terrified of the idea. As much as I enjoy presenting myself to a physical audience, showcasing myself through video had never crossed my mind, ever. However, with Ms Ching’s encouragement, and knowing of all the effort and dedication she put into the "Remember.For.Me" project, before, during and after (up till September!), I was galvanised to jot down my experience in my AY18/19 Term 2 STAT-X module.”

He tackled several challenges in the process of crafting his video submission. “The first issue was to convert the statistical lingo and torrents of numbers within our project findings into easy-to-understand information,” he said. “For example, I learnt to replace “37.5%” with “almost 4 in 10”. Removing the jargon and repackaging the results into layman terms not only helped the audience to understand my message, but aided me in memorising my script.”

“Then came the video filming,” continued Joshua. “We found right after the first take that the original three-page script was way too long. With only three minutes allowed, our skills in creative scripting, filming and editing came to the fore, with the eventual 2:59 minute video telling our whole story sharply, effectively and concisely.”

Attributing his triumph in the competition to the guidance of Ms Ching and her senior student, Joshua commented, “I never expected to win first place in this competition. It was truly a surprise to receive the congratulatory email from the competition organisers. Because of the guidance of Foo Yong Long, Ms Ching’s senior student, in filming, the video became so much more than a statue speaking. I really have to thank Ms Ching for pushing me to greater heights, challenging me to do what I would otherwise never have dared to.”

Featured photo: Mr Joshua Tan Jing Yi, with the guidance of Senior Lecturer of Statistics at SMU’s School of Economics, Rosie Ching, has emerged as the winner of the 2019 Young Statisticians Conference’s global video conference.