Western Cape learners shine in SA Mathematics Olympiad
3 October 2019
Emmanuel Rassou, a Grade 9 learner at South African College High School (SACS), won the junior division of the South African Mathematics Olympiad for the second time in a row. He was also part of the 2019 South African Pan African Mathematics Olympiad (PAMO) team.
The first round of the SAMO took place in March with more than 91 000 learners from 1 320 schools participating. A total of 18 858 learners wrote the second round in May and the best 214 learners from the second round qualified for the final round in July.
The South African Mathematics Foundation (SAMF) held their annual awards function in Gordon’s Bay in September.
Several Western Cape learners were runners up in the senior and junior divisions.
In the senior division Taariq Mouzer (Fairbairn College) took second place, Danielle Kleyn (Hoërskool Parel Vallei) was fourth, Emil van der Walt (Hoërskool Jan van Riebeeck) in fifth and Adri Wessels (Curro Durbanville) in seventh position.
Runners-up in the junior division included Juliette Roux (Herschel Girls’ High School) Kim Minkyum (Reddam House Durbanville), Shelby le Roux (Rustenburg Girls’ High School), Alex Sinclair-Smith (Westerford High School), Kate Forrest (Herschel Girls’ High School), Dale Rainier-Pope (Westerford High School) and Robert Kotze (Bishops Diocesan College).
Rondebosch Boys’ High School came out tops with three awards namely, top performing school in Western Cape, top performing quintile five school and national top performing school.
Samuel Tucker (Pinelands High School) received the best senior Mathematics, Science and Technology (MST) learner award.
The SAMF programmes such as the SAMO are used to select and train learners for international competitions. Some of the best young mathematicians in the country will be invited to an Olympiad camp in December 2019 hosted by the University of Stellenbosch. From this training squad the South African teams for the PAMO and the IMO will be selected.