If you watched Faith Odunsi‘s Cowbellpedia episode, you’ll be pleased to know that she just proved herself again.
The young mathematics star recently won the Global Open Mathematics Tournament, against participants from across the world, taking home the $1,000 prize money.
Sharing her experience, Faith had a conversation with Punch and here are 5 things we noted from the interview:
Her background
Faith is a 15-year-old SS3 student from Ijebu in Ogun State who attends Ambassadors Schools, Ota, where she was made an ambassador.
Mathematics and Information and Communications Technology are her favourite subjects.
According to her, she got her mathematical skills from her father who is a medical doctor while her mother is a businesswoman. Her parents are supportive during her competitions, offering advice and reading tips and they are very proud of her accomplishments.
The first stage and second stages of the competition were computer-based tests and Faith scored 66 marks each in both stages. The quarter and semi-finals were on Microsoft themes where the first to put in the correct answers got 10 points.
Although Faith entered a tiebreaker in the third round, at the end of the fourth round, Faith won the competition with 40 points while the first runner up had 10 points.
Faith first won the hearts of many in 2018 when she set a record in the Cowbellpedia Mathematics Competition by answering 19 questions in 60 seconds.
With no particular school in mind, Faith would like to study Computer Engineering outside Nigeria “because the facilities are better abroad and the experience is better. I don’t think I will be limited in Nigeria; I just think the opportunities will be better abroad.”
Other competitions she participated in
Faith has also participated in several other competitions including the national Olympiad which she has been doing since she was in JSS2 and was made the Queen of Mathematics from JSS3 to SS2. She has also taken part in the South African Mathematics Olympiad where she received medals, Kangourou Sans Frontieres, American Mathematics Competition and Pan-African mathematics Olympiad where she also received a silver medal.
