The student delegation made up of Beatriz Sancho Chaves, Carlos Felipe Shum Apuy, Gabriel Najmias Lang, Juan Pablo Hernández Abarca, Luiscarlos Hernández and Sebastián Aguilar Pineda Arce represented Costa Rica at the 65th International Mathematics Olympiad, held in Bath, United Kingdom , from July 11 to 22, 2024.
On this occasion, students Carlos Shum and Sebastián Aguilar obtained a bronze medal, while Beatriz Sancho, Gabriel Najmias and Luis Carlos Hernández obtained honorable mention.
The International Mathematical Olympiad is an annual competition that has been held since 1959 and is the oldest and most recognized of the international science Olympiads. More than 108 countries participated in this edition and for this year a total of 609 participants from all over the world were registered.
Participation in this competition is part of a process developed by the Costa Rican Mathematics Olympics project, in which the five state universities, the Ministry of Public Education and the Ministry of Science, Technology and Telecommunications participate.
Beatriz Sancho, a student at Saint Francis School, is an experienced competitor who has been training since she was 9 years old to participate in this type of events, where only 10% are women. At that time she was part of the teams that participate in the Hummingbird Mathematics Olympiads, which are developed for primary school students.
In the seventh year she began to participate in the training offered by the Costa Rican Mathematics Olympics and in the ninth year she qualified for an international competition for the first time.
Feeling more confident
“Having the opportunity to participate twice in the Women’s Pan American Olympics was one of the best preparation tools. They were processes in which I learned the necessary foundations, as well as different ways of thinking about problems and developing new strategies. The Olympiad experience helped me better understand what these international competitions are like, which made me feel more confident when I went to the International Mathematics Olympiad,” says Beatriz Sancho.
Increasing the number of girls
Events such as the Pan American Women’s Mathematics Olympiad propose to eliminate the imbalance of gender representation in STEM areas (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) and increase the number of women participating in the World Mathematics Olympiad, whose percentage is only around 10%. .
At this moment, Beatriz is in her fifth year and is preparing for the admission tests for state universities. Additionally, she plans to continue participating in national and international competitions, to in the future contribute to the training of more girls and young people who wish to develop in the world of mathematics.
