05/05/2023

IMPA's Olympic Girls participate in recreational activities.

An afternoon of playful and fun games, a relaxed chat with researchers Carolina Araujo and Luna Lomonaco. This was the afternoon for the students who are part of the IMPA Olympic Girls program, visiting the institute this Friday (5). The group, made up of 62 students from public schools, was welcomed by IMPA's Director-General, Marcelo Viana, on a day dedicated to integration and fun through mathematical games.

The program, now in its third edition, seeks to encourage the participation of girls aged 14 to 17 in mathematics olympiads and in STEM fields in general, with the goal of increasing female representation in areas such as mathematics, computer science, technology, and others.

According to Marcelo Viana, the three editions of the program demonstrate "the importance and potential reach of the initiative in promoting the presence and retention of women in scientific careers, opening horizons for many girls to develop their professional options."

The first activity of the day featured IMPA researchers Carolina and Luna. Under attentive gazes, they told the students how they decided to study mathematics, shared their academic journey, the difficulties they encountered, and took the opportunity to discuss the challenges of the field. The mathematicians also answered a series of questions from the students, who are in the 7th to 9th grades of elementary school.

O diretor-geral do IMPA, Marcelo Viana, e as pesquisadoras Luna Lomonaco e Carolina Araujo foram presenteados com uma blusa do projeto

In the reading room, the students were able to have fun with playful activities involving mathematics, developed by the programs "Dá licença" (UFF) and Jogos & Matemática, from Unirio.

Marianna David, a 17-year-old student at the Carmela Dutra Institute of Education in the northern part of Rio de Janeiro, said that before participating in the program, she didn't like math and that the proposed activities inspired her to think about a career in the STEM field.

“It has been a very challenging [program]. During the first activities, I even said, 'I wasn't supposed to be here,' but then participating started to make sense. Today has been very stimulating; it has broadened my perspective a lot. Today, I'm already interested in exploring the field of exact sciences,” says the student, who will be the first in her family to complete high school.

Ciara Fiorito, 14, a student at Colégio Pedro II, says that in the last edition she was part of the IMPA Girls' Olympics as a volunteer and now she is a scholarship recipient in the program. “The project opens many doors. I started looking into robotics last year, which was really cool, and it's great to always feel supported.”

Letícia Rangel, coordinator of the Girls' Olympics program at IMPA and retired professor from the UFRJ Application School, explains how the program is able to change the daily lives of the students.

“The project achieves an important dimension in terms of segregation, which interferes with self-selection, causing girls, largely based on stereotypes, to believe that this area is not for them, so they don't even try. I think in this sense the project contributes a lot, because it makes these girls feel like they belong in mathematics.”

About the IMPA Girls' Olympics

The IMPA Girls' Olympic program is present in 10 schools in different regions of Rio de Janeiro and in Niterói, and offers scholarships to 50 female students to dedicate themselves to the project's activities, which take place once a week in the schools themselves. The program also welcomes volunteer students, that is, boys and girls who are interested in the proposed activities but are not awarded scholarships. Today, 62 students are part of the IMPA Girls' Olympic program.

Daniella Gonzaga, an assistant on the project at the Cardeal Arcoverde school in Madureira, in the northern part of Rio, describes the program as an opportunity for encouragement.

“The girls enter the program without believing in their potential, and then they begin to believe in themselves, and so do their families. The most important thing is the empowerment that the program provides, showing them that they can believe in a better future through education.”

Daniella Gonzaga

Currently, the IMPA Girls' Olympics program is entirely funded by IMPA.