16/08/2021

In the book "Inspiring Stories of OBMEP": Eralcilene Terézio

The life trajectory of mathematician and university professor Eralcilene Moreira Terézio can be considered arduous. The youngest of a poor family in the interior of Paraná, daughter of an evangelical missionary and a housewife, after many difficulties she is pursuing a doctorate at UEM (State University of Maringá). There have been so many twists and turns in her daily life as a student, teacher, mother, and wife that, at times, she is even surprised.

For Eralcilene, 27, her academic journey is divided into before and after receiving undergraduate research grants from Picme. She had dropped out of the Mathematics Department at UEM in her second year of undergraduate studies. At 19, she became pregnant for the first time and, lacking the money to continue living in Maringá, returned to her hometown, Faxinal (approximately 16,000 inhabitants, in the north-central region).

University professor Maria Elenice Rodrigues Hernandes was the one who called Eralcilene and informed her about the existence of Picme and the chance, as an Obmep medalist, to receive a scholarship. “I met her in her first year of undergraduate studies. When she got pregnant, she took a year off. It was a difficult time. Obmep asked me to try to convince her to return because there was a chance of a scholarship. Her dream was to get a degree. At first, she said it wouldn't work. But the next day, she called back. She left her son with his grandmother and restarted her studies. I mentored her for three consecutive years, with a scientific initiation scholarship. Eralcilene has progressed a lot since then. She is a person who has defied all the difficulties she has faced over time and overcome all obstacles. Her journey is very beautiful.”

OBMEP by chance

Eralcilene participated in the Brazilian Mathematical Olympiad (OBMEP) almost by chance in 2006. She had already passed the university entrance exam, but was still in her final year at the Guimarães Rosa State School in Sete Quedas, Mato Grosso do Sul, near the border with Paraguay. “I had been accepted into the Mathematics program at UEM in June 2006, but I was still studying in Faxinal. That year, when I moved to Sete Quedas – I only stayed there for six months – the people at the school knew I had already passed the entrance exam and asked me to participate in the OBMEP. I did, but I really knew absolutely nothing about mathematics olympiads. I didn't even know what it was. I thank God for participating in the OBMEP,” she says.

To her surprise, she won a silver medal in her only Brazilian Mathematical Olympiad (OBMEP). It was the fundamental impetus for the start of her university career. But how did a humble family from the countryside manage to get all three children into higher education? Eralcilene explains: “My father, Cid Moreira – the same name as the television announcer – was already in the church as a missionary and decided that all his children would study at universities. My mother, Eralda, thought it was crazy when Eralci went to study at an expensive school in Faxinal. We were poor.”

After Eralci, Cid Moreira Terézio also invested in his younger daughters' education. "He put everyone in private school and kept going, getting into debt, going to talk to the school principal. My father wanted everyone in university and didn't rest until he achieved that goal," says the mathematician proudly.

Cid, a 64-year-old minister of the Assembly of God Evangelical Church in São João do Ivaí, also in Paraná, recalls Eralcilene's love of studying. “When she started going to school, she had an aptitude for Mathematics and Portuguese. But from the beginning, she leaned more towards Mathematics. Once, traveling with me and her mother, she picked up a booklet at the hotel and said she wouldn't go to sleep until she'd read the whole thing. And that's how it was,” he says.

The father describes his youngest daughter as "a studious young woman to this day," thanks to her "poor but good childhood." According to him, Eralcilene was never "much of a talker" and "is still that way." "She really likes to read, she still reads a lot today," observes the missionary, for whom "every poor person always wants to see their child well-off," he said.

“Eralcilene has reached and is reaching the goal she wanted. Today she lives independently and is improving herself,” her father celebrates. Today, Eralcilene teaches Mathematics in engineering courses at the Federal University of Latin American Integration (Unila), in Foz do Iguaçu (PR), where she lives with her husband Cleilton Canal, also a professor.
She has a degree in exact sciences and two sons, Felipe, 8, and Miguel, 4. With a scholarship from Picme, she is pursuing a doctorate in Mathematics at UEM, with an emphasis on geometry and topology, the same topic as her completed master's degree.

She says she has very little time for leisure activities. “Since I started my undergraduate course, my life has revolved around academia. I haven't stopped studying until now. The little free time I have I dedicate to my children,” she says.

According to Professor Maria Elenice, Eralcilene's conduct is a "clear example that willpower overcomes difficulties and that if you want something, you can achieve it." Maria Elenice describes her former student and current colleague as "an extremely persistent person." "My role was to prevent her from giving up when she didn't believe in her own potential," she concludes.

* Text taken from the book “Inspiring Stories of OBMEP”