Ninety-Two primary-and-secondary level schoolchildren were recently recognised for acing the Senior and Junior Mathematical Olympiads held this year through the continued kind support of Title Sponsor, New Fortress Energy.   
The Caribbean Actuarial Association (CAA) and FirstCaribbean International Bank (CIBC) also joined forces with three-time sponsor New Fortress Energy to make the 2022-2023 staging special for 2,800 students who competed in the Senior Mathematical Olympiad, and the Junior Mathematical Olympiad combined. Both annual competitions – divisions of the wider Jamaican Mathematical Olympiad (JMO) – are organised and executed in several rounds by the Mathematics Department, Faculty of Science and Technology, at The UWI.  
 
At the Jamaican Mathematical Olympiad Awards Ceremony held on Wednesday, May 24 in the Assembly Hall, Mona Campus, 54 students from grades 4 to 6 were recognised for their hard work in the Junior Math Olympiad. They emerged victorious from an initial group of 1, 830 in the first round participants drawn from 111 schools. They went on to beat out 646 students in the final round of the competition.  
As the awards ceremony progressed, 24 of them filed on stage to collect merit awards, 15 were presented with certificates, and 15 were awarded trophies for placing among the top five at their grade levels. William Lei, a grade three student at the American International School of Kingston (AISK), took first place in the Grade 4 category to become this year's Junior National Mathematics Champion. Riley Lowe, from Belair Preparatory and Early Childhood, and Bryce Wilson from Bright Beginnings Educational Centre are the Grade 5 and Grade 6 Junior National Mathematics champions respectively.   
 
At the same ceremony, 38 students from grades 7 to 11 were recognised for their outstanding performances in the Senior Math Olympiad. A total of 377 students entered the first round of the competition. This dwindled to 172 students for the second round, and a further 78 students for the final round of the competition.  From these 78 students, 38 awardees were selected. Five students received certificate awards, while 15 students in grades 7 to 9 received trophies for placing among the top five at their grade levels. Trophies were also presented to the top eight and top 10 finishers in grades 10 and 11 respectively.  Top honours went to Daniel Gordon of Herbert Morrison Technical High (Grade 7); Tori Senior of Campion College, (Grade 8); Deshaun Clarke of York Castle High (Grade 9); Austin Marin of Herbert Morrison Technical, (Grade 10); and Kayla Wright of Campion College (Grade 11). All five students placed first in their grade levels and are this year's Senior National Mathematics champions.  
Kayla Wright also received a Special Award for Best Solution. She had "perfect" solutions for five of the eight problems competitors were given to solve. Incidentally, Kayla's younger brother, Chad Wright, who is also a student at Campion College, placed second in the Grade 9 category.  
 
Awards were also presented to the Top Three Junior Schools: Belair Preparatory and Early Childhood, Kensington Primary School and Mona Preparatory.  The Top Three Senior Schools were: Campion College, The Manning’s High School and Herbert Morrison Technical High School.  
 
And while the Senior and Junior Mathematical Olympiads ended on a high note, the work continues for a select group of top performing seniors from this year’s competition. They are currently in training to secure spots on the team that will represent Jamaica at the upcoming Mathematical Olympiad of Central America and the Caribbean. This competition is scheduled to take place from July 21 to 29 in El Salvador.  
 
Meanwhile, Dr. Sam McDaniel, UWI lecturer and Olympiad Academic Coordinator, issued a public appeal for financial support to send the team to the Olympiad in July. “Presently we have a cohort of trainable persons that we are working with. They are committed, and they are here with us every Saturday since this competition ended. And I just want to say that you guys are awesome,” McDaniel added.  Scores of parents, teachers and well-wishers attended the awards ceremony, which saw speaker after speaker lauding the awardees for their outstanding performances.
 
Keynote Speaker, Former Prime Minister Bruce Golding, lauded The UWI for the initiative. "At the university they are of course focused on trying to produce university graduates who are schooled and skilled in the discipline of Mathematics, and some who will no doubt go on the earn their doctorates in that field," he remarked. He went on to commend the sponsors for recognising the importance of this endeavour and for “lending their financial support".