Inspired by her sister's love of math, this N.S. student wins gold at international competition

A Nova Scotia student is celebrating after winning gold in an international math competition last month.

Ana Mihai, who is in Grade 8 at Georges P. Vanier Junior High School in Fall River, N.S., competed in the Canada Jay Mathematical Competition last fall.

The annual online competition, which is hosted by the Canadian Mathematical Society, is open tostudents in primary to Grade 8, with questions based on curriculum in grades 5-8.

Ana was one of 60 students from around the world to get a perfect score one of 26 champions in Canada out of the nearly 4,000 who participated.

She found out she won gold during a math class in January. Her teacher was handing out participation certificates to students who had entered the competition, but she was handed two certificates.

"One of them was the participating certificate that everybody got and then the other one was saying that I got the gold award in Canada," Ana told CBC Radio's Information Morning Nova Scotia on Thursday.

Ana said that was a satisfying moment after hours of practicing each week over the last year.

"I went to my friends and I was so excited, like, 'Wow, I got two certificates ... and this one, this one's pretty good.'"

Inspired by older sister

Ana said despite being good at math, she doesn't actually love it. She does enjoy aspects of it, like geometry and logic.

"I think that everybody, if they really look into some certain parts of math, they can find a part that they really connect with," she said.

Ana said she was actuallyinspired to give math a chance by her older sister, Maria Mihai, who also excels in the subject.

Maria, a Grade 10 student at Lockview High School in Fall River, said she's always tried to be a good role model to her young sister.

"Honestly, I'm inspired by her and she's so young and it's really nice to see her growing up a lot like how I did," Maria said Thursday.

"She has this really good work ethic and it makes me really proud of her."

Maria also got some good news of her own in the math world recently.

She's been invited to the Canadian Mathematics Olympiad, the country's "premier national advanced mathematics competition," which will be held next month.

Maria said she was thrilled when she got the invitation, which is extended toonly 80 students in Canada.

"I started off really young and I did pretty bad, and this is kind of like progression to my dream, honestly," she said.

Maria said she hopes to advance to the European Girls' Mathematical Olympiad before she graduates. Then, she wants to pursue a university degree in math.

When it comes to the subject, the sisters consider their relationship a friendly rivalry.

Still, they celebrate each other's victories.

"We're family and we're happy when the other one does well, and we're sad when the other one does badly. It's really more like teamwork," Maria said.

Advice for others

The sisters, although they differ in their love of math, said anyone can excel in the subject if they commit to it.

"It might seem like it's taking a long time to actually get anywhere, but I promise that sometime it will," Ana said.

"It will come like you will see how much progress you've made and it will be amazing."