18/02/2019

Three-time OBMEP medalist secures admission to Unicamp.

Na primeira OBMEP, Natainá conquistou medalha de bronze

Karine Rodrigues

Born in São João da Boa Vista, a city just over 200 km from the capital, Natainá Novaes Silva Barbosa was born on an unlucky day, in the so-called month of misfortune. If she were superstitious, she would experience torment every August 13th, but the date was never a problem, not even in years when the celebration fell on a Friday.

Although she keeps a four-leaf clover in her wallet and turns every upside-down shoe she finds right-side up, it's not luck that guarantees her success: "I believe in personal effort. Always," says the 18-year-old.

Last month, Natainá was accepted into one of the most prestigious educational institutions in the country, the State University of Campinas (Unicamp), after being selected for award-winning science olympiads.

In the first round of applications for the Olympic spots, out of the 76 students accepted, 23 are medalists from the Brazilian Mathematics Olympiad for Public Schools (OBMEP), created by the Institute of Pure and Applied Mathematics (IMPA) in 2005, or from the Brazilian Mathematics Olympiad (OBM), a partnership between the institute and the Brazilian Mathematical Society (SBM), held since 1979.

With a gold, a silver, and a bronze medal in the OBMEP (Brazilian Mathematical Olympiad for Public Schools), Natainá entered the Statistics program, a course she had always dreamed of, through the Olympic quota created by Unicamp (University of Campinas) to promote social inclusion and broaden access to education. To get there, she didn't rely on lucky charms. She worked hard and, as she said in a message sent to OBMEP shortly after receiving the good news of her acceptance, the Olympiad was an opportunity. An opportunity she knew how to seize.

“Today the list of those approved to enter Unicamp through the science olympiad was released. I registered as an OBMEP medalist and passed, without needing an entrance exam, ENEM [National High School Exam] or anything else. Besides already having given me so much good, OBMEP gave me the chance to enter the university I wanted to attend. I thank from the bottom of my heart those responsible and everyone who makes this olympiad happen because, without a doubt, it changed my life,” she wrote.

In the message, Natainá detailed the "all the good things" brought by OBMEP, which she discovered in 2014 when she was in the 9th grade at the Cristiano Osório de Oliveira State School in São João da Boa Vista, where she lives with her mother and older sister. She won a bronze medal in her very first competition.

“It was an achievement that made me believe I could accomplish something in life,” she wrote in the message, recalling that the award guaranteed her entry into the OBMEP Scientific Initiation Program, the PIC Jr. “There I met many friends who shared my love for Mathematics. I learned Mathematics in a different way. Not to mention the wonderful teachers, the teaching materials, and my first 'salary',” she added, referring to the PIC scholarship granted to OBMEP medalists.

Natainá completed her Technical Education in Administration integrated with High School at the Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of São Paulo (IFSP), São João da Boa Vista Campus. She participated in the PIC program three times, in addition to the Mentors Program – intended for students who have already participated in the PIC program at least twice, one of which was as a high school student.

“I learned and worked hard. But in 2018 it got hectic because I was tutoring in the morning, studying in the afternoon and evening, and on Saturdays I did PIC/Mentors. Then I fell a little because of the tiredness,” she said by phone. She says she had never thought about trying to get into a public university. “When I won a medal in the competition, among so many participants, I thought: 'If it was like this in OBMEP, why wouldn't I get into Unicamp?' Then I learned that Unicamp would accept OBMEP medals, and my hopes increased.”

Natainá, a mãe Valdirene e a irmã Natally

The second person in her family to attend university, she has an older sister, Natally, who is studying Civil Engineering at a private institution. Her parents interrupted their studies early: Valdirene completed high school and works as a machine operator at Têxtil São João; Altemir stopped before even finishing the first cycle of elementary school. Separated in 2015, he moved to Bahia and is currently unemployed.

“I’m very happy for her,” says Valdirene, who, unlike her daughter, wasn’t surprised by her acceptance to Unicamp. “I expected this result, given her intelligence and willpower. She loves math. She always got top marks in school,” said the mother, considering that the OBMEP (Brazilian Mathematical Olympiad for Public Schools) gave Natainá many opportunities. The only downside is that her daughter will now live far away. “I’m sad, but it will be good for her future.”

Felipe Bittencourt Lima, a mathematics professor at IFSP in São João da Boa Vista, also celebrated the news. “She has always been very dedicated to her studies, especially mathematics. I offered an evening course to prepare for the Olympiads, and she was one of the students who always attended,” highlighted the Master of Science in Exact Sciences from the Federal University of São Paulo (UFSCar), who taught Natainá during high school.

Natainá ao lado do professor de Matemática Felipe e dos colegas Rafael e Vitor

According to him, for the past two years, the young woman was a math tutor at IFSP and helped other students learn the subject. "I believe this was one of the reasons she won more and more medals in math olympiads, since to be able to teach her classmates, she certainly had to put in more effort," he observed.

Natainá's most recent medal was gold at the 2018 OBMEP (Brazilian Mathematical Olympiad). Besides contributing to her admission to Unicamp (University of Campinas), this achievement will fulfill another of her dreams: to visit Rio de Janeiro. OBMEP brings all the gold medal winners to the city for the awards ceremony the year after the competition.

“I was overjoyed,” she said, adding that she is now looking for shared student housing in Campinas. Classes will begin on February 2Fridays. “I’ll find a place eventually… I’m very excited. My bags have been packed for days,” she said, laughing.