BEFORE the first bell of 2017, Rossmoyne Senior High School year 12 student Isabel Longbottom spent two weeks in Canberra as part of the National Mathematics Summer School (NMSS).
Isabel secured her a place alongside 70 other students at the prestigious summer school on a Larry Blakers Scholarship through the Mathematical Association of Western Australia.
Isabel said mathematics was an enjoyable subject for her, and travelling and studying along likeminded students.
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READ NOW“I spent two weeks learning about a range of topics in the fields of number theory, projective geometry and languages and automata and exploring a wide range of fascinating and complex problems,” she said.
“NMSS was also an opportunity to get to know a diverse group of talented and interesting people, and we spent hours playing a wide variety of puzzle, card and board games in our free time.
“We enjoyed ourselves immensely and learnt a lot; the atmosphere of discovery was almost tangible, and the sense of satisfaction we all felt upon finally solving a particularly difficult problem was uplifting.”
It was not all numbers; the tour group enjoyed the historical side of the nation’s capital as well.
School principal Milanna Herbele congratulated Isabel on the achievement.
“Isabel has been part of the school’s mathematics specialist program since Year 8, the program provides accelerated instruction by expert specialist teachers as well as exposing students internationally to world class enrichment activities through our biannual visit to Cambridge University in England,” she said.