One young winner from this year's Fibonacci Contest stands above the crowd. The multi-talented 10-year-old Shannon Wong of Toronto scored perfectly on the annual test organized by The Mathematics Contest Centre.
14,007 students from 665 schools from all over Canada participated in this mathematics contest on April 5, and Wong was the only student to get a perfect score.
"These are hard tests, one has to be really bright to get a perfect score," said Marcel Lepore, the Director of the Mathematics Contest Centre. Some students prepare for 8 months, everyday, to participate in these tests.
The Fibonacci contest is for grade 5 students and consists of over 40 questions that have to be answered in 60 minutes. Wong said that she was not surprised that she got a perfect score, but only by the fact that she was the only student to do so.
The star student conducts her studies at the Crosby Heights Elementary School in Richmond Hill, Ontario as part of the gifted students program. Other than mathematics Wong has also received many awards in sports, writing and music competitions. At 4 years of age, she received an achievement award on mental abacus by the International Abacus Education Research Institute. By age 7 she had some of her poems published.
The surprising humble child also plays the piano, guitar and recently she learned to play the erhu—a 2-string Chinese fiddle. Wong plays soccer and dodgeball in school and likes to skate and ski.
"Shannon is intelligent and a loyal friend, who is nice to other students" said one of her classmates, Elizabethe Liu. "[She] makes me laugh and smile…I look up to her" added Elizabethe.
Wong donated her winnings from the Fibonacci contest to Free The Children program which helps children in Africa.
"I am proud of her achievements and delighted that she donated her cash award to help others" said her mother, Vicky.
The goal of the tests conducted by the Mathematics Contest Centre is to encourage students to explore and get involved in maths.
"Mathematics is important for every aspect of life. If you can solve mathematic problems, then you can solve any problem in life – it gives the ability to think critically and be creative. By exploring mathematics we can explore the world around us. Mathematics is the most important skill for the 21st century, it is more important than learning facts. In the technological age maths is very important and it is the basis for many things." said Mr. Lepore.
According to a recent Statistics Canada report, titled "Measuring up: Canadian Results of the OECD PISA Study: The Performance of Canada's Youth in Mathematics, Reading, Science and Problem Solving," Canadian students performed well in Mathematics. Out of 41 countries that participated in this research, only students from Hong Kong and Finland performed better than Canadian students. Students from Alberta performed better than the other provinces in Canada, while Students in Newfoundland and Labrador, Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island performed significantly lower than the Canadian average. This research measured mathematics skills of students, aged 15 years, and was conducted in 2003.
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