In the Schorr household, OBMEP is a family affair.

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Karine Rodrigues

Stella Maris Schorr's first airplane flight was at age 14. She left her parents and brother in the small town of Medianeira, a city of about 40,000 inhabitants in Paraná, and headed alone to Rio de Janeiro. Soon, she would be joined by 199 other students from public schools across Brazil, who were traveling to Nova Friburgo (RJ) for the III Hilbert Hotel Meeting.

Those five days in August 2013 remain in Stella Maris's memory to this day. Not so much for the unprecedented experience of flying, but for the activities and relationships created during the event, which, until 2015, annually brought together the 200 PIC students with the best performance in the OBMEP Virtual Forum. A six-time award winner – two silver medals, two bronze medals, and two honorable mentions – Stella Maris attributes her participation in the competition to the discovery of a branch of mathematics that transformed her life.

Such a change never crossed her mind until her family received a phone call that was so good it even caused suspicion. She learned she was entitled to a PIC scholarship, having placed 10th among the honorable mentions awarded by OBMEP in Paraná. "I even thought it was a prank call," recalls Stella Maris's mother, teacher Marciana Schorr.

At that time, the 8th-grade student at the Arthur da Costa e Silva State School was already somewhat more familiar with mathematics because, the previous year, she had met a teacher who taught the subject in a motivating way. Even so, she still had difficulty with certain topics. Gradually, however, participation in the Virtual Forum and the in-person meetings of the PIC program at the Federal University of Londrina allowed her to approach the subject in a new way.

“In 6th grade, I didn’t really like math. OBMEP and the opportunities it provides have greatly changed the way I viewed math. PIC, for example, stimulates participants, showing that the subject is not just numbers and formulas, but a world full of details to be explored,” observes Stella Maris.

For Marciana, her daughter truly developed a passion for mathematics after joining the PIC program. She says her enthusiasm intensified after the Hilbert Hotel Meeting. Upon returning, she noticed that Stella Maris, a student with good grades, had become even more dedicated to her studies: "She studied for 40 days straight to achieve an excellent result in that year's OBMEP," recalls her mother. All that effort paid off. After two honorable mentions, she won her first medal: a silver.

Gabriel and Stella Maris participated together in Hilbert's Hotel.

In that same year, 2013, Gabriel, the youngest of the Schorr family, earned his first honorable mention in the OBMEP (Brazilian Mathematical Olympiad for Public Schools). Even so, when Stella Maris boarded the plane to Rio de Janeiro, no one dreamed that, in a short time, the achievement would be followed by the youngest member of the family. Just 12 days after turning 14 – the same age his sister traveled alone thanks to mathematics – he repeated the experience. The difference was that he was accompanied by his sister: Gabriel and Stella Maris were selected for the 5th Hilbert Hotel Meeting in Florianópolis.

“The possibility of being one of the 200 to go to Hilbert’s Hotel, based on performance in the project, was a great motivator for most because it offered the opportunity to meet students from all over the country and to participate in a week full of new experiences and knowledge,” says Stella, who maintains many friendships made at the event.

Although he already liked Mathematics, Gabriel reveals that it was his sister's enthusiasm and achievements that made him more interested in the subject. Because of this, OBMEP (Brazilian Mathematical Olympiad for Public Schools), Mathematics, and PIC (Scientific Initiation Program) became regular topics of conversation at the Schorr family dinner table. “I also became better in other subjects because in the program you learn to have a 'scientific' way of thinking. Thanks to my dedication, I was among the top 200 in the country and went to Hilbert's Hotel, where I attended lectures and saw my effort recognized,” says Gabriel.

At home, Marciana and her husband, Mauri, an electrician at the Paraná Energy Company (Copel), feel doubly proud of their children's achievements. She emphasizes the opportunity that OBMEP represents, and the role of the family. “I always tried to support them in their assignments. It's necessary to encourage them. There are parents who are more concerned with making money while their children are still young. And if they don't have a good foundation, this will complicate things in adolescence,” she says.

With a degree in Business Administration and a teaching qualification in Mathematics and Physics, Marciana says that technological tools are not inherently bad, but their inappropriate use can lead to problems: “Today's students don't even know how to read anymore. When they don't know how to spell a word, they type it and it appears there with the automatic spell checker. They don't even need to think anymore. The brain is already conditioned,” she states. For her, performance with numbers is linked to other subjects: “For example, it's necessary to know Portuguese to interpret the wording of math problems.”

The children are grateful for the support. "They have always supported and helped me with tasks and with knowledge I didn't have, and they are an inspiration of determination and effort," says Gabriel. Stella Maris echoes this sentiment: "They have been there for me and motivated me to study since I was little, checking my notebooks and helping me with my performance."

"Through her efforts and merits, she encouraged me to study."

In 2017, for the first time in the last five years, Gabriel took the OBMEP exam alone. Stella Maris finished high school and dreams of graduating in Medicine. Therefore, she is studying intensely. Her brother is too. He switched from part-time at the Arthur da Costa e Silva State School to full-time at a private school. With an honorable mention and two silver medals, last year he won his first gold. In 2017, he joined the Mentors Program. This is an initiative launched a year ago by OBMEP, which allows PIC students to study advanced subjects in various areas, with topics that directly or indirectly involve Mathematics.

“Thanks to OBMEP, many doors have opened in my life, I've met people from all over, expanded my knowledge, won a full scholarship to a renowned school in my state, and I continue to study to achieve even better results,” says Gabriel. According to his mother, he “talks a lot,” unlike his sister, who is “quieter.”

Each in their own way, the two complement each other. And the domestic competition because of the OBMEP (Brazilian Mathematical Olympiad for Public Schools) stimulated them. "One taught the other. No fighting," says Marciana. And for those who think that the mother might be softening the common conflicts between siblings, just listen to him talk about Stella:

"Through her efforts and merits, she encouraged me to study and helped me whenever I needed it. She was one of the pillars of knowledge and crucial to my advancement," praises her brother, referring to a union as beautiful as Mathematics itself.

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