A 12-year-old learner from HeronBridge college learner has come in second place nationally at this year’s Association for Mathematics Education of South Africa (Amesa) mathematics challenge in his age category.
Readers first heard about the Tai-Jun (TJ) Jung, a Grade 6 learner, along with his little sister Tai-Yeon (TY) Jung (10 years old and in Grade 4) and Kayla Tomlinson (12 years old and also in Grade 6) in early October just after the three had participated in the final round of the competition. They were featured in the Fourways Review in the article They solve any problem [Week ending 4 October]. Due to his placement in the senior age group, TJ was invited to the Nestlé Nespray SA Mathematics Challenge Awards on 12 October which were held at the grand ballroom at Montecasino.
He was one of 22 children invited to the awards.
“Before the awards, medallists joined the smart camp [held by Nestlé where the top 10 learners per division were invited and participated in interesting maths activities] at Sci-bono on 11 October,” explained TJ’s mom, Youn Hee Cho. “He came second because he probably missed a point during the last test. But he is very happy with the medal and prize money of R2 000.”
The challenge spanned three rounds between May and September and invites children from grades 4 to 7 to participate. For the final round on 12 September, 432 children from the country were invited to participate.
Although the other two children from HeronBridge did not qualify for the awards ceremony TY, who is TJ’s younger sister, did get to attend on the day in support of her big brother.
“TY says she’ll work hard so she can attend the awards next year,” Cho concluded.
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