04/03/2022

TIM Scholarship – OBMEP funded the graduation of medalists

The journey of students dedicated to the OBMEP (Brazilian Mathematics Olympiad for Public Schools) can lead them not only to winning a medal, but also to the dream of attending a public university with the help of the TIM-OBMEP Scholarship Program. This initiative offers a grant of R$800 to talented young people identified by the competition who enroll in courses in astronomy, biology, computer science, economics, engineering, statistics, physics, mathematics, medicine, and chemistry. This month, 47 former medalists from the Olympiad, selected for the 2018 call for applications, successfully completed their studies.

A partnership between the TIM Institute, OBMEP, and IMPA (Institute of Pure and Applied Mathematics), the program was created in 2015. Since then, 50 scholarships have been offered annually, lasting 12 months and renewable for four years.

One of the students completing the 48-month program is Andressa Maciel Lima, 22, a civil engineering student at the Federal University of Acre (UFAC) in Rio Branco. Born in Cruzeiro do Sul, a municipality in the interior of Acre located 630 km from the capital, the young woman won five consecutive medals in the OBMEP (Brazilian Mathematical Olympiad for Public Schools), from the 8th grade of elementary school to the 3rd year of high school. Her father worked renting toys for parties and, during the pandemic, lost his main source of income, which turned the aid into the student's only means of support.

Thanks to the scholarship, Andressa is close to completing her undergraduate degree, despite the delay caused by the pandemic. “I learned about the scholarship from a teacher at school, right after the first OBMEP (Brazilian Mathematical Olympiad for Public Schools) I participated in. I've always identified strongly with STEM fields and already imagined I would work in that area, so I was very happy to have been able to participate in the program! I was fully supported by the scholarship and wouldn't have had a chance to graduate without it, because my parents couldn't afford to support me in another city,” the university student comments.

Like her, Lennon Luiz Corrêa de Brito, 20, has relied on the scholarship since 2018 to fund his studies. The nanotechnology student at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) shares that the path to completing his degree was full of obstacles. “My family's income worsened during my childhood and, especially after my parents' divorce, the family income plummeted to a minimum wage. I went to live with my grandparents and we reached a point where we had no fixed income, so the scholarship was fundamental to supporting the household. If it weren't for the program, it would have been difficult not only to stay in university, but to survive in general,” he says.

Despite the difficulties, Lennon won a gold medal in the Brazilian Mathematical Olympiad (OBMEP) during elementary school, in addition to two silver and one bronze medals. Because of his academic performance, he was selected to receive a full scholarship to a private high school and thought his story with OBMEP would end there. “I imagined I would never be able to participate in OBMEP again, but when the final year arrived, to my surprise, the competition was opened to private schools! I had another chance to take the test and won a bronze medal, one of my greatest achievements,” he recalls. He is excited to complete his undergraduate degree and, in the future, sees himself working as a researcher.

Lucas Messias da Costa, 22, went on to study medicine and also used the program to begin his undergraduate studies at the Federal University of Sergipe (UFS). The son of farmers and born in Monte Alegre de Sergipe, a city in the interior of Sergipe state, the student won three bronze medals in the OBMEP (Brazilian Mathematical Olympiad for Public Schools).

“I became interested in medicine in high school. But in my city there weren't any universities in that field, so I knew I needed to move to pursue my degree. The scholarship was essential for me to be able to pay the rent and all the necessary costs to continue my studies! It's very rewarding to have gotten this far, it was a huge joy to have been accepted. It's an achievement not only for my family, but for the whole city, which celebrated my acceptance a lot,” he rejoices.