26/01/2021

Silver medalists at OBMEP, sisters advance together in mathematics.

Irmãs Aisha e Aimê estudando juntas em casa

Taking on mathematical challenges can be daunting. But with the help of a sister, the undertaking becomes much easier. Silver medalists in the 2019 Brazilian Mathematics Olympiad for Public Schools (OBMEP) , Aisha and Aimê Santos Pereira share, in addition to their genes, a love for the subject, in which they advance year after year. The sisters were the only students from Mata de São João, a municipality in Greater Salvador, Bahia, to be awarded in the last edition of the competition.

The eldest, Aisha, 15, fondly remembers the moment the achievement was announced. “We were in the classroom, and the teacher paused to get the results. When he came back, he said my sister had won silver. Then there was a huge celebration, everyone hugging. Five minutes later he announced that I had also won silver. It was a party!”

The double celebration was paved by years of collaboration between the two, who benefited from the guidance of their father, Islandio de Souza Pereira, for a quality education in mathematics. It all began when, in the Fridays grade of elementary school, Aisha decided to try to enter a military school in the region. A professional in the civil construction field, Islandio used his background from his degree in Physics, which he was pursuing at the time at the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA), to provide his daughter with a solid mathematical foundation.

Aisha na premiação da OBMEP, após conquista do bronze, com a irmã e a mãe Roseli

“I started teaching her at home. With workbooks, tests, and books, we covered all the content of elementary school when she was still in the Fridays grade. I sought to give her a more formal education in mathematics, with definitions, concepts, and properties. We would sit down and discuss the problems and exercises,” says the father of the medalists.

Aisha was ultimately not accepted into military school, but the reward for her rapid development in mathematics came in the form of a bronze medal at the 2017 OBMEP (Brazilian Mathematical Olympiad). Motivated by her older sister's achievement, 14-year-old Aimê, who had already been timidly observing and participating in math discussions between her father and sister, ended up following the same path. In 2018, she earned an honorable mention in her debut in the competition.

Aimê e Aisha jogando xadrez quando pequenas

Since then, the sisters have forged a study partnership that has yielded excellent results. The family's collection already includes two bronze and two silver medals. Whenever possible, they coordinate their schedules to work together on the challenges of the Junior Scientific Initiation Program (PIC Jr) , which they are part of at the UFBA campus.

“I’ve always had difficulty learning on my own, so having someone by my side to help me is very useful,” says Aimê. “It’s easier to solve problems in pairs. Sometimes one knows better how to solve a problem, but the other is good at calculations. So one complements the other,” adds Aisha. Responsible for the girls’ initial steps in mathematics, their father only intervenes nowadays in case of disagreements. “I come to mediate when they can’t agree on how to solve a problem. Otherwise, they organize themselves and discuss among themselves.”

Islandio, pai das medalhistas, ensinando matemática para Aimê

Having resumed his undergraduate studies in Physics at UFBA in 2019, Islandio had the opportunity to share the university campus with his eldest daughter during her first year as a student in the (PIC) Jr. program. “We were in the Physics library and she picked up a calculus book and said, 'Dad, I feel like an ant here.' It's these details that fascinate me. The great thing about the Olympiad isn't the medal itself, but the access to university.”

“We are proud to see what our daughters achieve. When we were students, this didn't exist; opportunities were more difficult,” says the mother, Roseli de Novais Santos, who works as a teacher at the Áureo de Oliveira Filho Municipal School, where the girls study.

Aimê e Aisha com o pai, Islandio

For Islandio, who was one of the first members of his family to attend university, the girls' performance in the Olympic competitions is a sign that the young women "are on the right track." "Her mother and I had nothing and we managed to get into university. What we expect from them is that they get into the best university in the country, at the very least," he reveals, enthusiastic about his daughters' future.

About to finish elementary school, Aisha has a new challenge on the horizon. She dreams of attending high school at the Federal Institute of Bahia. In the long term, she plans to combine two of her hobbies, mathematics and drawing, and enroll in an Architecture program. Interested in automation since she was little, Aimê imagines herself working in the fields of computing and technology.