19/03/2024

OBMEP becomes the theme of a medalist's party.

Felipe Panizzi Streit 's 13th birthday had an OBMEP flavor. A collector of Olympic medals (14 in total!), the student won his first award at the Brazilian Public School Mathematics Olympiad last year: a national bronze medal. Proud of his achievement, in February, his family decided to honor him with a surprise party themed around OBMEP. As a birthday present, the student received an online training course for knowledge olympiads.

“I was so happy, I wasn’t expecting it! We had a family lunch and the table was decorated with balloons, cake, and cookies with the OBMEP (Brazilian Mathematical Olympiad) and math theme. A few days before, I had asked to be part of a course that offers daily math classes and assignments, and I received this gift,” says the student who will participate this year in the PIC (Junior Scientific Initiation Program). The initiative offers advanced math classes for Olympiad medalists.

"I'm really looking forward to classes starting! My dream is to win a gold medal and be one of the best students in the PIC program so I can participate in Hilbert's Hotel academic week."

Fascinated by the world of science olympiads, Felipe has won 14 medals and five honorable mentions from different competitions. Most of his awards are in mathematics. In addition to the OBMEP (Brazilian Mathematical Olympiad for Public Schools), the student has also won medals in the Jacob Palis Junior Competition, the Kangaroo Competition, the Paraná Mathematics Olympiad, among others.

"This year I won a bronze medal at the Jacob Palis Junior competition and then I took the OBM (Brazilian Mathematics Olympiad) exam, but I haven't won a medal in that one yet," says the teenager.

Cristiane Panizzi, the student's mother, recalls that her son's interest in mathematics appeared very early: before the age of five, Felipe could already count to a thousand.

“I was surprised, because I had never taught before. At the time, his preschool teacher noticed his affinity for numbers and taught him how to do calculations, and so he kept studying. When Felipe discovered OBMEP (Brazilian Mathematical Olympiad for Public Schools), he started studying before he had the opportunity to participate. He took the test for the first time when he was in sixth grade. Last year, he won the national bronze medal. Today, he coordinates a small group that talks a lot about Olympiads, especially in mathematics.”

Student changed schools in pursuit of the Olympics.

A resident of the city of Francisco Beltrão (PR), Felipe has already changed schools four times. His and his family's goal was to find an institution that valued different types of science olympiads, as Cristiane explains.

“The first school change happened in his first year when we moved to a different city. It was a very good school, but it didn't participate much in olympiads. When he was eight years old, the school participated in the Brazilian Astronomy Olympiad, but it didn't include all students, and Felipe was very upset. That's why we kept changing schools. One of them forgot to write him down on a test, another didn't want to be an application center even though he and a friend qualified. It was a somewhat unpleasant situation.”

The mother explains that the family offers full support so that the student can participate in all competitions. The two even traveled four hours to take the exam for one of the editions of the Brazilian Physics Olympiad. "He won a bronze medal, but regardless of the result, it's wonderful to be able to support him in everything," Cristiane emphasizes. This year, Felipe enrolled at the Vila Militar Vida e Ensino school, where he hopes to prepare even more for future competitions. He dreams of becoming a military engineer at ITA (Technological Institute of Aeronautics) and teaching children the mathematics of the Olympiads.