Since 2010, MathProject has helped countless students by boosting their math abilities, increasing their strengths, confidence and passion for math, and ultimately resulted in math success. To showcase MathProject’s positive influence, we spoke with two of MathProject’s longtime students – both of whom joined MathProject in Grade 4 and now completed Grade 10 with a perfect score of 100%. We first spoke with Ibad, an ambitious and creative math enthusiast who explained to us his experience at MathProject:
Q1: How has MathProject helped you in school?
Ibad: MathProject helped me in maths and indirectly helped me in other courses as well. I was excelling in math, so that meant I had to take less notes in math and study less. With that, I could focus more on other courses, allowing me to gain better marks in those courses since I didn’t have to focus on math as much.
Math itself helped me be more confident! When the teacher asked the class anything, I would raise my hand. When I got the answer right, that boosted my confidence and self-esteem. So MathProject indirectly helped me boost my confidence and helped me in other courses besides math.
Q2: Would you like to share any math milestones or math success you accomplished in school math so far?
Ibad: I’ve accomplished many milestones since I joined MathProject; in school and outside of school. Since MathProject has these contests that they do annually, my first one was in Grade 7 when I came in first place at my school. In Grade 8, I came second place in the Canadian National Math Contest. I was also in the Gauss Contest, reaching the top 25 percentile multiple times. In Grade 9, I came first place at my school in University of Waterloo’s Fryer contest and won the ‘School Champion’ medal. Recently, I’ve achieved a 100% mark in my Grade 10 class.
Regarding other school subjects, I achieved top marks last year in Business and English, receiving a medal and certificate from my school’s special assembly for students with top marks. I was disappointed with myself to score 98% in Grade 9 math last year, but now with a 100% in math, I hope to receive the recognition in the assembly for Math this year. Overall, MathProject has helped me gain countless math successes.
Q3: Research shows that being good at math stimulates creativity. What kind of hobbies, interests or projects have you enjoyed that involve math?
Ibad: Recently, there was this project that I had to do for my Grade 10 class, where I had to create an image through the graphing site called Desmos. There, you have to use different functions and variables to create an image. I created a very nice image and I really enjoyed that.
Math allows you to see outside the box and see patterns, which goes with creativity. As a hobby, I like building Legos because it really brings out my creativity. When I joined MathProject, I started getting into Legos more. Building, creating – it just kinda gets you going. To build Legos, I looked through different inspirations, then put my own spin to my Lego creations.
Q4: What advice would you give to junior students?
Ibad: The main advice is never give up! It might be a little bit cheesy, but for many students, once they get a bad mark or they fail a test, they think “Oh that’s it, I’m gonna give up. I don’t wanna be here, I don’t wanna do this”. That’s the part where you don’t give up the most.
I’ve failed multiple tests and know how it feels, but if you keep pushing yourself, keep persevering through it, then you will get better and you will improve. These mistakes will allow you to learn in the future.
As a prime example of what a MathProject student can achieve, Ibad continues to excel in his school subjects; especially math.
In previously fulfilling the MathProject scholarship criteria of achieving the near perfect score in math class, volunteering at MathProject and winning a national contest last year, Ibad was successfully able to renew his full scholarship this year for his remarkable mathematical achievements.
Stay tuned for the next blog post on our high achieving students, as we’ll be showcasing Sami Hameed’s math success story and his experiences at MathProject!
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