Year 12 student Christopher Tran is representing Australia at the International Science Olympiads, specialising in mathematics, this week.
Mr Tran has been preparing for this moment since his first mathematics competition in primary school.
“In primary school I would often borrow maths books from my local Hobsons Bay library as well as the one in my school,” he said.
“My year 5 teacher enrolled me in a program where students compete in maths competitions.
“That first competition was exciting and that’s where my interest first began.”
Mr Tran entered his first competition with The Australian Intermediate Mathematics Olympiad (AIMO) in year 8, he has been working on it ever since.
“I have the chance to go again and represent Australia in a very different way than usual.
“As a kid you think about representing your country in a sport so this is great to show academics you can use their strengths in their own ways.”
Mr Tran will be joined by six other students, all who compete individually.
“There are two maths camps twice a year we have attended, we also work together preparing each other for the competition,” he said.
In addition to the latest training exams, Mr Tran has been mentally preparing for years.
“We knew the 2023 maths competition would be held in Japan as the countries were released years in advance,” he said.
“In some way working towards making it to Japan was always the end goal.”
Mr Tran intends to study mathematics in University and see where it can take him.
“With technology the world is constantly changing so I feel you need to be prepared for anything and maths definitely does that.”
Jennifer Pittorino
