EGMO 2019
Wow, where to begin?
I've been horribly delinquent on posts regarding EGMO 2019. In this entry, I'm going to try to make up for it with some long overdue updates and information on all things EGMO related!
Funding:
For those of you following along in Facebook or my LinkedIn, you know that in late 2018 we came out with an ask for funding to support the girls team this year. The response was amazing - individual contributions from all over our networks responding with donations to help ensure that we were able to support the team this year. In addition, at the nth hour of our need, the University of Waterloo Mathematics Faculty signed on to support EGMO for the next three years.
I'm so, incredibly grateful to everyone who were in a position to support us.
However - let's start a dialogue on what it takes for more corporate sponsorship. There is a ton of noise in the media about the lack of women in STEM - and as someone who has spent her entire life as a girl in mathematics, I see the lack of women constantly. The reality is that we need to be encouraging girls and creating role models for them early on - but without funding, we are not in a position to do this. There are inherent challenges as a corporate entity to sponsoring teams like this - there's a lack of recruitment opportunities, and less PR/media attention vs other initiatives. Now, I'm asking for help once again:
What can I do to make sponsorship more attractive?
Selection:
Girls Math Team Canada is in it's 2nd year, and so we're still evolving how the girls are chosen. This year, we decided to introduce the concept of a Team Selection Test - a method used in many of the countries going to EGMO.
It starts with the Canadian Open Mathematics Competition. The top 15 girls in the country were then contacted and asked if they would like to write the Team Selection Test (TST). We held the TST across the country - from Vancouver, BC all the way to Charlottetown, PEI with the help of volunteer proctors from the universities. From there, our team was chosen.
Training:
Also new this year was a quick training camp held in Toronto this year. Hosted at the Fields Institute in Toronto, we brought together the whole team, it's leaders, a past participant, and a couple of volunteers to teach topics that could be on the EGMO, and interspersed it with uniform fittings and an escape room challenge at Casa Loma. Here's a great photo of everyone who attended and helped at our training camp!!
Ultimately we felt the camp was a little too short, so ideally in the future we would add a day to it. February is a very difficult time for scheduling, so for this year we had to make do with the time we had. I do feel like it made a difference - it was the only chance the team was together before going to the competition itself, and it was invaluable to get that time working with the girls and demystifying EGMO. EGMO (and IMO) is run very differently than any Olympiad (such as the Canadian Math Olympiad), and it's important for the contestants to understand the differences in order to maximize their performance on the exam.
Kyiv, Ukraine:
On Saturday, April 6, Math Team Canada met in Toronto with our trusty mascot Canmoo, and left on a 10 hour flight to Kyiv.
We all arrived safe and sound, minus one piece of luggage (which did make it's way to our hotel the day after).
First struggle - the jetlag! I would like to resist the thought that I'm actually getting older, but I have never struggled with jetlag as much as I have on this trip. The first night, the entire team woke up at 3:30 am and struggled to sleep after that.
Otherwise, things have been amazing. The opening ceremonies are always so much fun - there were so many instruments the band was playing that I've never seen before, and it's always amazing to see how the other teams are dressed. While the opening ceremonies are typically more casual, some of the teams look super sharp in their traditional colors or uniforms. You can view some of the photos here.
Our guide from Ukraine, who attends the local university, has been absolutely wonderful! While being incredibly helpful on all things EGMO, she's also taken us out to get some sunshine, do some walking, and explaining the history of the things around us.
I believe that our excursion yesterday helped us all sleep much much better on our second night - crucial because the next day was Day 1 of the contest!
Speaking of which - I think the problems are now available for the Deputy Leaders to view. I'm off - I'll provide more updates through the week. Until next time, follow along our photo journey on my insta (handle sunny.sarah.sun, or https://www.instagram.com/sunny.sarah.sun/), my FB (https://www.facebook.com/sun.sarah , all EGMO related posts are made public), and Twitter (https://twitter.com/SarahKSun or https://twitter.com/theRealCanmoo).
Finally - wish our girls luck. This week is a celebration of their achievements - they've accomplished so much getting here, and we are so incredibly proud of them!!
I've been horribly delinquent on posts regarding EGMO 2019. In this entry, I'm going to try to make up for it with some long overdue updates and information on all things EGMO related!
Funding:
For those of you following along in Facebook or my LinkedIn, you know that in late 2018 we came out with an ask for funding to support the girls team this year. The response was amazing - individual contributions from all over our networks responding with donations to help ensure that we were able to support the team this year. In addition, at the nth hour of our need, the University of Waterloo Mathematics Faculty signed on to support EGMO for the next three years.
I'm so, incredibly grateful to everyone who were in a position to support us.
However - let's start a dialogue on what it takes for more corporate sponsorship. There is a ton of noise in the media about the lack of women in STEM - and as someone who has spent her entire life as a girl in mathematics, I see the lack of women constantly. The reality is that we need to be encouraging girls and creating role models for them early on - but without funding, we are not in a position to do this. There are inherent challenges as a corporate entity to sponsoring teams like this - there's a lack of recruitment opportunities, and less PR/media attention vs other initiatives. Now, I'm asking for help once again:
What can I do to make sponsorship more attractive?
Selection:
Girls Math Team Canada is in it's 2nd year, and so we're still evolving how the girls are chosen. This year, we decided to introduce the concept of a Team Selection Test - a method used in many of the countries going to EGMO.
It starts with the Canadian Open Mathematics Competition. The top 15 girls in the country were then contacted and asked if they would like to write the Team Selection Test (TST). We held the TST across the country - from Vancouver, BC all the way to Charlottetown, PEI with the help of volunteer proctors from the universities. From there, our team was chosen.
Training:
Also new this year was a quick training camp held in Toronto this year. Hosted at the Fields Institute in Toronto, we brought together the whole team, it's leaders, a past participant, and a couple of volunteers to teach topics that could be on the EGMO, and interspersed it with uniform fittings and an escape room challenge at Casa Loma. Here's a great photo of everyone who attended and helped at our training camp!!
Ultimately we felt the camp was a little too short, so ideally in the future we would add a day to it. February is a very difficult time for scheduling, so for this year we had to make do with the time we had. I do feel like it made a difference - it was the only chance the team was together before going to the competition itself, and it was invaluable to get that time working with the girls and demystifying EGMO. EGMO (and IMO) is run very differently than any Olympiad (such as the Canadian Math Olympiad), and it's important for the contestants to understand the differences in order to maximize their performance on the exam.
Kyiv, Ukraine:
On Saturday, April 6, Math Team Canada met in Toronto with our trusty mascot Canmoo, and left on a 10 hour flight to Kyiv.
We all arrived safe and sound, minus one piece of luggage (which did make it's way to our hotel the day after).
First struggle - the jetlag! I would like to resist the thought that I'm actually getting older, but I have never struggled with jetlag as much as I have on this trip. The first night, the entire team woke up at 3:30 am and struggled to sleep after that.
Otherwise, things have been amazing. The opening ceremonies are always so much fun - there were so many instruments the band was playing that I've never seen before, and it's always amazing to see how the other teams are dressed. While the opening ceremonies are typically more casual, some of the teams look super sharp in their traditional colors or uniforms. You can view some of the photos here.
Our guide from Ukraine, who attends the local university, has been absolutely wonderful! While being incredibly helpful on all things EGMO, she's also taken us out to get some sunshine, do some walking, and explaining the history of the things around us.
I believe that our excursion yesterday helped us all sleep much much better on our second night - crucial because the next day was Day 1 of the contest!
Speaking of which - I think the problems are now available for the Deputy Leaders to view. I'm off - I'll provide more updates through the week. Until next time, follow along our photo journey on my insta (handle sunny.sarah.sun, or https://www.instagram.com/sunny.sarah.sun/), my FB (https://www.facebook.com/sun.sarah , all EGMO related posts are made public), and Twitter (https://twitter.com/SarahKSun or https://twitter.com/theRealCanmoo).
Finally - wish our girls luck. This week is a celebration of their achievements - they've accomplished so much getting here, and we are so incredibly proud of them!!
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