Good showing by SMK Methodist at world maths contest
SIBU: Four SMK Methodist students made their school proud when they brought home bronze and merit medals from the Seventh World Mathematics Team Championship in South Korea recently.
Third Formers Jesslynn Loo Shi Lin, Carina Loi Jing, Christy Pau Hui Ming and Felicity Lai Yun Ying of ‘3 Fleming’ class who are all passionate about Mathematics, were among the 637 students from over 20 countries taking part in the competition.
T hey c omp e t e d in t he Intermediate category which is subdivided into Team, Relay and Individual.
Loo, Loi and Lai each bagged a bronze medal while Pau received the merit prize (fourth placing) in the Individual sub- category.
“It is really an honour to be able to win something home and contribute something to make the school proud. We did not expect to win anything – we just wanted to try our best,” Loi told The Borneo Post yesterday.
The competition, which ran from Nov 23 to 27, hosted a total of 75 teams.
It was the first international competition for these top students and they said it had been a great learning experience.
“It was wonderful and very exciting. We got to make a lot of friends from around the world such as the United States, Myanmar and Australia,” Loi said.
Pau also said that it was very exciting, especially when they had the opportunity to learn about each other’s cultures.
Asked whether they put in extra effort to prepare for the competition, they said they used to discuss mathematical questions.
They a lso said that the competition challenged their problem- solving ski l ls and trained them to acquire deeper mathematical knowledge.
“The competition setting is exam-style. We were given time to complete different sets of questions, so basically we’re racing against time to solve as many problems as possible,” Loi said.
Asked about thei r mos t memorable moments in Korea, they said it was the two-day outing to a theme park and sightseeing.
All four have opted for science stream when their school reopens next year.
Loi and Lai hoped that they could enter medical studies after finishing their secondary education, Loo wanted to become a scientist while Pau hoped to enter law school.