They matched wits on quadratics, surds, logarithms and progression – arithmetic and geometric and other topics.

For every correct answer, the enthusiastic audience who gathered in Liberal Arts Auditorium cheered on their friends and peers.

When the dust settled, first year Computer Studies students, Chaddain Camacho and Ramon King; and Natural Sciences’ second years Ibrahim Mamadh and Renika Crichlow came out victorious in the first ever BCC Mathematics Olympiad.

And if the organizers have their way, this foray into the world of competition Mathematics which they described as “very successful”, will definitely not be the last.

Ibrahim Mamadh was proud of his win, thanking his partner and congratulating the other competitors for their efforts.

“The competition overall was really fun. It gave me an opportunity to compete against other students and it's like a kind of motivation to work harder.”

Expressing interest in joining future competitions, Ibrahim explained that his team worked hard to prepare for the event and was happy it all paid off.

BCC Computer Studies Tutor Angela Pollard learned a lot from the event’s first iteration and is excited for the subsequent Mathematics Olympiads, hopeful that BCC will introduce a series of academic competitions in the future.

Used to organising regional Mathematic Olympiads and implementing smaller scale jeopardy style games in her classes, Ms. Pollard stressed the importance of gamifying education, especially at the tertiary level.

“Mathematics is a language. Students must understand its logic, not just apply formulas. Competitions like these help train the brain to think critically and solve real-world problems.”

While BCC has competed in regional competitions before, Ms. Pollard is hard at work preparing a team for a national tournament in September.

She hopes that by expanding similar events to all division in the future, she’ll be able to build a team of the best mathletes on campus and better equip the BCC team for success on a national level.