Secondary Maths FOBISIA 2016

“If there was one thing I learnt from this trip, it is that it does not matter what you accomplish, it is the experience that truly matters.” - Rose Duong

On the 25th February, excited Year 7 and 8 students made their way to the airport to go to KL for their first Secondary FOBISIA competition.

This was the first time that BIS HCMC had taken part in the competition and the students made us proud! They all had a great time competing against students from 23 other schools. More photos and information about the event can be found here.

Natacha Tiemann | Head of Year 9 and Mathematics Teacher

In the student’s words:

“The Secondary Maths FOBISIA held in Malaysia by the ELC School was the best school trip I have ever been on. It was a great opportunity to make new friends around the world and to develop our team work in Maths. 8 students from our school were divided into 2 teams and had to compete against each other and the other teams around the world. There were many exciting, new activities such as the individual, cross number, pass it across, construction, data handling and more. I personally enjoyed the pass back round a lot because out team had perfect teamwork and we all worked really well together, which led to us receiving medals for coming in 3rd place for the pass it across round”

Seo Hyun | Student

“This was the first year that BIS Secondary had joined the FOBISIA Secondary Mathematics competition so the team wasn’t sure what to expect. For some of us it was their first time in a mathematic competition, for some it was their first time in Malaysia. Each of our experiences was very different, but this is my overview on our trip to Malaysia, and if I could describe it in one word, it would be unforgettable. Each one of the events challenged our skills in every area possible, whether it was logic puzzles, problem solving or designing and construction. Although we all came from different forms and year groups, when we worked together, our love for mathematics took over, and we flew through the questions, no matter the difficulty. If I had to choose, I would have to say my favourite event would be the maths trail, because it required both our skills in riddles (the clues we were given), navigation (navigating our way around the palace that was our hotel), and of course maths. If there was one thing I learnt from this trip, it is that it does not matter what you accomplish, it is the experience that truly matters.”

Rose Duong | Student

“On the 25th of February, a group of students from Year 7 and 8 went to Malaysia to take part in the FOBISIA Maths Competition. The competition is where all the schools in the FOBISIA organization meet to compete against each other in mathematics. We left on Thursday morning came back on Sunday afternoon. Our first event was the opening ceremony help in the ballroom of the Saujana hotel. The room was full of excited students from all over Asia. Everybody looked just as nervous and excited as we were. The head of mathematics teacher at the hosting school (ELC) gave an amazing speech and then, we had a marvellous buffet for dinner. After dinner, ELC had arranged us to do a practice round called ice breakers. We met and talked to students from different schools. They all seemed friendly but slightly shy. Some were really enthusiastic and started talking to us non-stop.

The next day, the rounds began. BIS was divided into 2 teams: BISHCMC A which had Joseph, Ashley and Billy, BISHCMC B which had Seo-Hyun, Rose, Se-Hwan and Nicholas. Both teams did exceedingly well in all of the rounds. Team B did especially well in Round 7: Pass it on where they earned the honour of 3rd place as well as a medal each.

Although the title of this competition is the FOBISIA Mathematics Competition, not all of the rounds were sitting around a table with a pencil and paper. There was one particularly difficult round were we had to run around for two hours. It was like a treasure hunt where we were given clues to certain places and had to solve questions in order to win points. There were also constructing rounds were we had to construct a bridge using straws. That round was the craziest with designs of the different bridges and the way they collapsed because of the weight.

By the time Maths FOBISIA had finished none of us wanted it end. We all had so much fun amongst ourselves and with the other students that we wanted to stay for longer and get to know them better. We exchanged our social media with everyone we met so that we would still be able to contact them later on. Maths FOBISIA was a great experience for all of us and we all thoroughly enjoyed our time.”

Ashley Lee | Student