Second phase of the 19th OBMEP is highlighted in the press

21/10/2024

The 2nd phase of the 19th OBMEP was featured in several press outlets last week. O Globo, G1, Agência Brasil, TV Brasil, CNN and O Povo were some of the outlets that reported on the test, which took place on Saturday (19) and brought together more than 900,000 students from all over Brazil.

The G1 portal gave visibility to the town of Cocal do Alves, a municipality in the interior of Piauí, with less than 7,000 inhabitants, which has won 299 OBMEP medals in 18 years. The report by Sthefany Prado and Andrê Nascimento not only highlighted the completion of another edition of the scientific competition, but also told the story of Rickelmy de Brito Pereira, 23, a student who won a scholarship and graduated in Mathematics. He then returned to the same school where he studied, but this time as a teacher.

“After winning a medal, I got a scholarship at UFDPar, where I studied mathematics. This scholarship helped me to stay at university. I recently finished my degree and had the opportunity to return to the school that gave me all this. Now, as a math teacher and professional colleague of my primary and secondary school teachers,” said the city’s new teacher, who also teaches preparation classes for the Olympiad.

TV Brasil also took advantage of the event to highlight the story of an OBMEP medalist. Wesley Felix, 17, who is taking part in the Olympiad for the last time, told how the scientific competition changed his relationship with the subject. “It all started in sixth grade, when I took the OBMEP for the first time. I didn’t even know anything about the Olympiad. I took part, won bronze and ended up falling in love with mathematics. I saw something more challenging in the Olympiad and started studying,” said the student, who is in the third year of high school.

The article also highlighted the benefits offered to medal winners, such as the opportunity to enter public universities through “Olympic entrance exams”. In a TV interview, Jorge Vitório, deputy director of IMPA and general coordinator of OBMEP, took the opportunity to highlight the IMPA Tech selection process, which favors students who have performed well in scientific competitions. “IMPA Tech, for example, reserves 80% of its places for knowledge Olympiad students. Every year, the undergraduate program offers 100 undergraduate places, all with a scholarship, but 80% are for medal winners, not only from the OBMEP, but from some other olympiads as well.

The newspaper O Globo cited the PIC program offered to medal-winning students. “Students who win national medals are invited to take part in the Jr. Scientific Initiation Program which, through face-to-face or virtual meetings, provides contact with more in-depth mathematical content, broadening scientific knowledge and preparing students for future professional and academic performance. Students from public schools receive an incentive grant of R$300 to take part in the program.”

Promoted by IMPA, OBMEP is held in two stages. The first stage, held on June 4, brought together 18.5 million students from public and private schools in all regions of the country. In this edition, the initiative reached a record 56,516 participating institutions and an incredible 5,564 cities – 99.9% of Brazilian municipalities.

The Olympiad offers 8,450 national medals. Of this total, 650 are gold, 1,950 silver and 5,850 bronze, as well as 50,000 honorable mentions. OBMEP also distributes another 20,500 state medals.

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