WIS at NEAMC Beijing 2018

From the 1 March to 4 March, 12 students and 2 teachers (Ambrose Lee, Sunny Choi, Anna Wu, Aditya Shrisankaraan, Andrew Su, Stanley Yu, Brendan Liang, Bruce Xu, Matthew Wong, Hywel Cheng, Patrick Kuo, Christopher Ku, Mr Betteridge and Ms Tsui), went to Beijing, China, to represent West Island School in the 2018 North East Asian Mathematics Competition (NEAMC), which was hosted by the Keystone Academy. There were around 200 mathematicians competing in such a reputed competition.

The competition consisted of 9 rounds, 3 individual, 3 Buddy Team (Teams Comprised of students from all competing schools) and 3 School Team rounds. Individual rounds included challenging tests and code breaking while team events while team based rounds required more team based skills in producing the outcome or solving the question.

Some prize winners included Andrew Su, Anna Wu, Aditya Shrisankaraan and Bruce Xu all gaining a medal in various categories. To add on this Andrew, Anna, Hywel and Bruce have all qualified for the world championships held at Melbourne this summer.

NEAMC was an interesting but challenging experience for us. However, more than that NEAMC was an opportunity for us to compete with students of similar abilities and gain experiences benefitting our mathematical capabilities. This competition made us consider questions in different angles and gain various perspectives on difficult questions.

We would like to thank Mr Betteridge and Ms Tsui for their effort in organising the trip and taking us to Beijing and preparing us thoroughly for the competition. Also, special thanks to Mr Welsh for making alternative arrangements for the AYP students who came on this trip. Not to forget, without the Keystone Academy and NEAMC association, such a memorable event would have never occurred.

Aditya Shrisankaraan