27/04/2023

'OBMEP is my favorite Olympiad,' says multi-medalist

A medalist in several scientific competitions, 19-year-old Henrique Assis says that OBMEP, besides being his favorite Olympiad, has brought significant changes to his life. It was through the PIC (Junior Scientific Initiation Program) scholarship, which he won for the first time in 2017, that the student gained access to the internet and was able to deepen his studies. Before, the young man from Rio de Janeiro used to study on the sidewalks of Santíssimo, a neighborhood in the western zone of Rio de Janeiro, using the internet from commercial establishments.

“I remember that the only money my family had was from PIC and Bolsa Família [a supplementary income program created by the federal government to combat poverty and inequality in the country]. It was a difficult time, but it got better over time, and OBMEP helped my life a lot. It's my favorite Olympiad.”

After three years as part of the PIC team, Henrique earned a spot in the PIC Mentors program – a program that offers highly multifaceted students the opportunity to study advanced subjects in various fields. The courses are taught by university professors. “I chose a course on derivatives that helps me to this day and was important in my technical course.”

Henrique completed his technical course in electronics last year at Cefet ( Celso Suckow da Fonseca Federal Center for Technological Education) in Rio de Janeiro. His choice reflects a childhood spent assembling and disassembling devices.

“ I always had the habit of looking at things and trying to figure out how they worked, I had the habit of taking things apart, I took apart a stereo system, I even took apart a refrigerator when I was about nine years old and I managed to put it back together and it worked, I don't know how,” the student recalled.

It was also through OBMEP that Henrique had the chance to participate in the Hilbert Hotel meeting in Florianópolis in 2018 – an annual event that brings together participants from all over Brazil with the best performance in the PIC for immersion activities in mathematics.

In six editions of the OBMEP (Brazilian Mathematical Olympiad for Public Schools), Henrique won 5 medals: 1 gold, 3 silver, and 1 bronze, in addition to an honorable mention. The young man also says that the OBMEP was responsible for encouraging him to participate in other scientific olympiads, such as Physics and Astronomy – in which he is also a medalist. However, for this Rio de Janeiro native, mathematics reigns supreme among the sciences.

“OBMEP taught me many things that aren't taught in school. Mathematics was like a door that opened and greatly improved my life. I believe it's the way to represent the world, it's the queen of all sciences and it's unbeatable. It's the most important thing I've ever seen. I am very grateful for everything that OBMEP has given me.”

See here the interview with Henrique Assis for OBMEP.