27/02/2023

International TV highlights the story of OBMEP medalists.

A special report by China Global Television Network America – CGTN, an international television network, portrayed the new generation of Brazilians passionate about mathematics, some of whom have won awards from OBMEP (Brazilian Mathematics Olympiad for Public Schools). Featuring stories of two medalists from the Olympiad, the special “Big Report” shows that these young talents have their love for the discipline fueled by initiatives such as OBMEP, held by IMPA since 2005 and the largest scientific Olympiad in the country.

Calebe Abilio conquistou uma medalha de ouro e outra de prata na OBMEP

One of the people interviewed by CGTN is Calebe Abrantes Abílio, 14 years old. A resident of Vargem Alta (ES), a city with just over 20,000 inhabitants, the young man brought the first gold medal to the municipality – a medal won in the 17th OBMEP, and was also the only silver medalist in the 16th edition of the Olympiad.

“When I was six years old, I started selling sweets to help pay for my school fees. My mother would prepare a box of sweets, including brigadeiro (a Brazilian chocolate fudge), and I would sell them. I had to constantly calculate: change, how much I had, how much I sold, the cost. I realized that doing calculations made money. It was something that inspired me,” she told the news team.

The Espírito Santo native's interest in mathematics stemmed from the discipline's challenging nature. At home, he studied the material for the 5th, 6th, and 7th grades of elementary school on his own. His advanced knowledge of mathematics surprised his teacher, Welson de Nascimento Júnior, who encouraged him to participate in the OBMEP (Brazilian Mathematical Olympiad for Public Schools) in the 6th grade of elementary school.

“When I started teaching Caleb, he intrigued me by asking questions that, most of the time, I didn't know the answer to. Then I noticed that he was different. I started researching, because he always encouraged me to want more. If I arrived in the classroom unprepared, he would certainly teach me, and not the other way around,” the teacher commented in a TV interview.

From Sertãozinho, a city in the interior of São Paulo, 13-year-old Maria Eduarda Chica Ramos told CGTN that her passion for mathematics began early, at age six, when she discovered chess.

Maria Eduarda Chica participa de campeonatos de xadrez desde os seis anos de idade

“She started taking chess lessons at school, and the teacher saw that she had a great aptitude for strategy, so she started participating in tournaments. Then we realized that math was also very easy for her,” explained her mother, Gabriela Chica.

Maria Eduarda participated in chess tournaments with opponents who were, for the most part, 30 or 40 years older than her. Despite her love for the game, the young woman grew tired of the tournaments after three years of participation. She says that she only resumed closer contact with mathematics through the OBMEP (Brazilian Mathematical Olympiad for Public Schools).

“My passion for mathematics reignited when I was 12 years old. That's when I took the OBMEP exam for the first time. I found out about the exam through my teachers. The whole school would take the first phase, and those who passed to the second would have preparatory classes because writing the reasoning wasn't so easy. The second phase was, I wouldn't say difficult, but rather complicated. I managed to finish a little before the time ran out and, well, I got gold! So I think I did well,” Maria Eduarda told TV.

The report also featured interviews with Igor Pinheiro, a 12-year-old resident of Vitória (ES), who won an award at the Kangaroo Mathematics Olympiad, and young people from other countries. The special report is available at this link.