Award Ceremonies

On this very day I was invited to attend two award ceremonies, both of which I was given an award!

After I ate a filling & celebratory breakfast with my parents at good o' IHOP, we headed towards Burnaby North for the ceremony. I did not know what I received before I went, and out of surprise I was given the TOP Math 11 award! 

I am currently taking both Pre-Calculus 12 Honours as well as AP Calculus 12, and math has always been my favourite subject. I first started to have a passion for mathematics when I took a logic & problem-solving course at Stanford University during my grade 8 summer break. I discovered that math can be complex and fun at the same time, and math class then became throughly interesting! 

I was very honoured to be also nominated as "Top Female Math 11 Student" at Burnaby North by my math teachers and our math department head. Later today, my parents and I all arrived at the SFU Surrey Campus for the other ceremony. We were able to attend a seminar hosted by SFU computer science professors and alumnis, which was immensely useful for me as I am about to enter the world of university applications. I was able to learn more about how math impacts our lives and the majors in university that relate to math. I also had a chance to chat with some of the mathematics/computer science professors at SFU on the math-related career paths that I could take in the near future. 

A particular SFU alumni, Laura Antonescu, had a fascinating story to tell. As a teen, she loved video games, which led her to take computer science in her post-secondary. After she graduated and started applying for jobs, out of complete surprise she was immediately given offers from Sony and many other large corporations. The moral of her story was: being good at math is more helpful than you think; it gives you an opportunity to explore fields closely related, such as computer science, and with the technologically advanced society we have today, being good with computers gives people a great advantage. Chase after your passions, and you will find a job that can be just as well-paid as lawyers and doctors. All it takes is for you to work hard for your goals.

Nonetheless, this was an eye-opening experience and I am blessed to be given this opportunity!

I was ecstatic when I saw my elementary school friend, Katie Wai, at the ceremony! She also received the "Top Female Math 11 Student" award, representing her school, Hugh Boyd, in Richmond!

Ariel Jingjing Cao

~ muah <3 ~