S.C.A. and S.J.C. are Math Olympiad’s Central regional finalists
And while some schools are benefiting from assistance, students from across the Belize District were testing their math skills in the secondary level Belize Math Olympiad. The competition started in Orange Walk and is a test to the math curriculum in high schools. And in the Belize round today at the City Centre, thirteen high schools competed to win two more spots in the finals for the Central Region. According to Program Manager, Leticia Vega, the purpose of the Olympiad is to stimulate students’ minds with speed and accuracy on computations in all areas.
Leticia Vega, Program Manager, Belize Math Olympiad
“The Math Olympiad is an innovative way of stimulating enthusiasm in mathematics for high school students. So we have regional competitions and then the national finals where we elect the national champs in mathematics, but it’s at the secondary school level. I think we’ll have the top students in mathematics competing for that first place title of being the mathematics champions at the secondary school levels.”
Duane Moody
“What areas in mathematics are being addressed here, noh? We know that there is arithmetic, trigonometry etcetera. Could you expound on the areas that these students are being tested on?”
Leticia Vega
“We are using the mathematics curriculum for secondary schools based on the Caribbean Secondary Examination Council. We are targeting the general level so we have optional categories too, topics of the CXC. So Round one, for example, we have computation, consumer arithmetic, number theory, geometry and sets. Match two, we have harder categories and these are algebra, probability and statistics, relations, functions and graphs, trigonometry, and vectors and matrices. Match one and two they have different times, its ninety seconds and then in match three, they have three minutes to answer. Match one and two is jeopardy style game so they have twenty-five questions in each match. In match three, they have one question but that question they have to wager and they can only wager a maximum amount that they have accumulated during the match one and match two competitions.”
Central Region Finalists are St. Catherine’s Academy and St. John’s College while Orange Walk Technical High School and Corozal Community College will represent the northern districts. And this coming week west and south regional finalists will be selected. The National Championship Competition is scheduled for March twelfth. Last year’s winner was Corozal Community College.
