As the winter shield of ice and snow continued to hold off the heat of the gradually emerging spring sunshine in Moscow, the 13th of March 2019 saw eight of our most aspiring Mathematicians jetting off for warmer climes. Indeed, the Cypriot sunshine proved to be an idyllic backdrop for our students to leave their mark on Euromath history. And what a mark they left, with Seonhu Jeon and Tahee Strein winning Euroscience and Lucia Hosein coming second in Euromath!
So what is all the fuss about this Euromath competition then? Well, with organisers and sponsors such as the Thales Foundation and CERN, it is no wonder that the competition attracts the best students from elite schools across the continent to take part in a host of parallel competitions. After a rigorous selection process, a number of ISM students were chosen to participate, proving themselves to be among the world’s best young mathematicians.
The first day saw us arrive at the venue. We were delighted to be welcomed to a venue as luxurious and comforting as the Aliathon proved to be. Every need was met, with spacious rooms, two outdoor pools, large buffet style meals and even the obligatory golf buggy service.
The second day saw our students burst into action and deliver their final presentations. Kicking off the show, were Tahee and Seonhu, who spoke in great detail and with great fluency regarding BSE and the credentials of its various treatments. This presentation was directly followed by the impressive Sofia Baldiserrotto and Veronica Parakhin. The girls ignited everyone’s imagination in the lecture theatre, when they spoke about the animals that could survive the harsh conditions on the most similar known planet to Earth.
Later in the afternoon, ISM's very own Lucia Hosein drew plaudits for her charisma, maturity and passion, as she spoke about the mathematics that would help her (hypothetically) one day break Wayde van Niekerk's 400m world record. There's no knocking her ambition!
On the third day, we afforded ourselves a visit to the House of Dionysus, as we took a walk to Paphos Archaeological Park. Here, we found ourselves in awe of the technology that the Romans and Greeks were using over two thousand years ago. After viewing more presentations, the evening was spent at an annual dinner dance, which proved to be a huge hit.
First up on the penultimate day, was Taekhyun Kim, who left the entire lecture theatre awestruck with his work on calculating the height of the monument on Victory Park, by using only its shadow. Dongyoung Kim followed this presentation with an outstanding tutorial on Eulerian Paths and Circuits, applying them to solve real life problems. And finally, Gregory Chizhov inspired the venue with an interactive presentation on Black Holes. He proved to be very knowledgeable and passionate on the topic.
Our students had the following comments on their experiences:
As Seonhu says, next year, the competition looks like it will be making a stop in Greece and we hope to extend our success in this competition yet further.
Written by Brendan McLoughlin, Mathematics Teacher and Krylatskaya Upper Campus MAT Coordinator
