Thursday, 1 February 2007

On 28 October 2006, 171 Year 8 and 9 students from twenty-four WA high schools met at the UWA School of Mathematics and Statistics to compete in the eighth Western Australia Junior Mathematics Olympiad (WAJO).

The WAJO is a Western Australia School Mathematics competition accessible to all bright Year 9 students, and advanced Year 8 students. It aims to identify the most gifted students in Mathematics. Teams of four students compete, first tackling an individual question paper, and then working on a team question. Prizes totalling more than $1,000 have been donated by WA Higher Education, government and private organisations for the most outstanding individual performances, and team results.

The WAJO is run annually by the WA branch of the Australian Mathematical (MAWA) Olympiad Committee, an arm of the national not-for-profit Australian Mathematics Trust that administers mathematical enrichment activities for Australian and international students.

This year the overall winner at WAJO 2006 was a team of Year 9 students from Shenton College comprising Vinayak Hutchinson, William Lang, Lewis Newman, and Jonathon Weston. Each was presented with the MAWA’s “Jack Bana Award for Excellence” by Ms Noemi Reynolds, President of MAWA.

The most outstanding performance in WAJO 2006 was by Ferris Xu from All Saints College, earning him the UWA School of Mathematics and Statistics Prize for Excellence.

Among the other prizes was a special award for an outstanding performance by Emma Yeap from St Hilda’s Anglican Girls School. Although attending Year 9 maths classes Emma is in Year 7.

In addition to these awards, at the WAJO Prize Giving ceremony, the Phill Schultz Prize was presented to Morgan Wang from Rossmoyne Senior High School. This prize is awarded to high school student who has demonstrated the most outstanding performance in Mathematics Challenge activities such as Mathematical Olympiads and other competitions during the previous year. Morgan Wang was a prize winner in the Australian Mathematics Competition in 2005, and received the highest Western Australia result in the 2006 Australian Mathematics Olympiad, and 2006 Senior Mathematics Contest.

Media references

For more information please contact
Professor Cheryl Praeger
Deputy Dean
Chair of Organising Committee for
WAJO
School of Mathematics andStatistics
Phone: (+61 8) 6488 3344
Primary school children with UWA Robo Dogs

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