04/12/2018

With OBMEP, three-time medalist from Minas Gerais became self-confident.

Medalhista da Olimpíada Brasileira de Matemática das Escolas Públicas

Maria Eduarda no ICM 2018: a conquista do ouro na OBMEP

Karine Rodrigues

What do you learn from the Brazilian Public School Mathematics Olympiad (OBMEP)? Mathematics, obviously. But a brief conversation with one of the award winners is enough to realize that the answer is incomplete. Maria Eduarda Camargo, 16, for example, says she also learned to be self-confident and thus discovered that she can write her own future.

"Until I was about seven years old, when they asked 'What do you want to be when you grow up?', I would answer: 'Marry a rich man.' It's sad and very shameful to remember that, but unfortunately, it's still the idea that many girls have because they are taught that to succeed in life you need to find a rich boy to marry. With OBMEP, I completely changed my expectations," says the teenager from Munhoz, a town in the interior of Minas Gerais with just over six thousand inhabitants.

Maria Eduarda's self-confidence didn't appear suddenly. It was built little by little and is here to stay. In August, when she boarded a plane for the first time to come to Rio de Janeiro to receive the gold medal she won in the 2017 OBMEP (Brazilian Mathematical Olympiad for Public Schools), she discovered that her future already has a "name and surname": she intends to study Aeronautical Engineering at the Technological Institute of Aeronautics (ITA) in São José dos Campos (SP), one of the most renowned educational institutions in the country. "Thanks to OBMEP I was able to travel by plane and it was an inexplicable feeling. All I could think was: 'I want to do something like that.'"

The journey between Munhoz and São José dos Campos can be covered practically in a flash, considering the gigantic dimensions of Brazil: by car, 2 hours and 30 minutes. However, the distance widens when we analyze socioeconomic data from the two municipalities, released by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). In Maria Eduarda's hometown, "entirely rural," as she says, 90.7% of revenue comes from external sources, and the most common, according to Maria Eduarda, is living off potato farming and dairy farming. With approximately 700,000 inhabitants, the reality is different in the São Paulo municipality, home to several technology companies. There, external revenue represents 54% of the total.

Medalhista da OBMEP ao lado dos pais e irmã

Maria Eduarda ao lado dos pais, Juceli e Isabel, e da irmã mais velha, Jusciele

But when Maria Eduarda decides to forge a path, distance doesn't matter. That's according to her older sister, Jusciele Nogueira Camargo, 30, who helped raise her younger sister. “When I entered university, she was in preschool. She's been determined since she was little,” reveals the accountant, who decided to leave her job at an informal clothing store in Munhoz and got a scholarship to study Business Administration in Socorro (SP). Later, she developed a passion for accounting, completed another undergraduate degree, a postgraduate degree, and is currently self-employed. “My parents always encouraged us a lot in our studies, also demanding good grades. But not in an authoritarian way,” says Jucieli, who lives in Pouso Alegre (MG) and goes to Munhoz at least twice a month.

The parents, Isabel and Juceli, are delighted to see their daughters' progress. Neither of them finished basic education – she studied until elementary school; he went until the first year of high school. They work on a farm far from the center of Munhoz. “We live in the city, but my parents practically live on the farm because they leave at dawn and only return at night,” says Maria Eduarda, who works at a supermarket from 7 am to noon, Monday to Saturday. During the week, she only returns home for lunch and then goes to school. “Everything is close by here.”

When Maria Eduarda took the OBMEP exam for the first time in 2014, she could barely concentrate. The following year, she was surprised to be notified about a test on a Saturday. Later, she discovered the news was great: she had passed to the second phase of the Olympiad. She received an honorable mention. At that time, she was already studying at the Emílio Moura State School, where she still is today, now as a first-year high school student. “I heard about the OBMEP Question Bank and went looking for it. When I started getting the answers right, I was happier than when I won the gold medal because at that moment I saw what I was capable of.”

With the honorable mention, she began to dedicate herself more to Mathematics. “I used my neighbor's Wi-Fi to watch videos from the Mathematics Portal on my cell phone. One day, I told him about it, but he didn't mind. He said that at least it was for something good,” she recalls. With her job at the supermarket, she earned some extra money, enough to buy a computer and pay for her own Wi-Fi.

Meninota, no sítio da família, em Munhoz, no interior de Minas

Her interest in mathematics began after her first participation in the Brazilian Mathematical Olympiad (OBMEP). “I didn’t feel very challenged. The classes were basically based on the textbook,” she reveals. Gradually, she delved deeper into the subject. She won bronze in 2016 and became part of the OBMEP's Junior Scientific Initiation Program (PIC Jr), which she defines as a great step. “I changed my understanding of what mathematics was. And most importantly: I saw that I could be self-taught. This is because, in the PIC Virtual Forum, much of the content I hadn't even seen in school. I had to learn on my own. It was very good because it increased my self-confidence. Before, mathematics was a bunch of formulas. Today, I can do the formulas,” she observes.

A teacher for two decades, Cristina Brandão Ramalho has followed the progress of Maria Eduarda, her student, for three years. “She has improved a lot in Mathematics. Besides being dedicated, she goes out of her way to help her classmates. As I was in a class with several students who struggled with the subject, whenever I asked, she helped me. Besides being brilliant, she is an admirable person,” says Cristina, who teaches Mathematics at the Emílio Moura State School.

Maria Eduarda's dedication to her studies led her to win a gold medal in 2017, which she received in August in Rio de Janeiro during the International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM 2018) at Riocentro. Furthermore, her commitment to the PIC (Scientific Initiation Program) was so great that this year she was selected among the approximately 200 best OBMEP (Brazilian Mathematical Olympiad) scholarship recipients to participate in the 6th Hilbert Hotel Meeting in Florianópolis. For five days, the students were able to attend lectures by renowned researchers, participate in math-related games, and strengthen their bonds, united by their shared passion.

Estudantes do PIC no Hotel de Hilbert tentam resolver jogos e desafios

No Hotel de Hilbert, encontro dos medalhistas da OBMEP: sonho realizado

“When my coordinator gave me the news, I was at school. I jumped for joy and started crying. It was something I had dreamed of. It was the greatest experience of my life. Besides the lectures, I was able to meet hardworking people who, even with life's difficulties, continue to pursue their goals. They are people who motivate me,” she says. In addition to idols like Fields Medalist Artur Avila, Maria Eduarda feels inspired by students who have similar experiences, such as medalists Fabiana Loterio (ES), Leonardo Lima e Silva (PB), and Mariana Bigolin Groff (RS).

At 16, she says she has become a role model in Munhoz. “My town is very small. People don't really understand that studying leads to a future. I started breaking down barriers. People ask: 'Wow, how did you achieve that? What did you do to be able to study?' I'm a 16-year-old girl and I'm already motivating so many people,” she says, emotionally.

Medalhista da OBMEP sentada tentando resolver problema da OBMEP

Concentrada em dos desafios do Hotel de Hilbert, em novembro, em Florianópolis

Once inspired, now she's inspiring. She started giving tutoring lessons for the second phase of the OBMEP (Brazilian Mathematical Olympiad for Public Schools). And she's already reaping the rewards. "We got two honorable mentions. For a school where I was the only medalist, I think it was good," she says. The 2018 OBMEP brought more good news: once again, Maria Eduarda won a medal. The silver one goes to her collection.