Imagine Magazine - Johns Hopkins - November/December 2013 - (Page 14)

Left: Punting down the River Cam with friends from EGMO Right: Lining up tiles for the domino competition at CGMO Cam, and feasting on authentic fish and chips-could all be a consequence of doing math? The best part, though, is the lasting friendships-cliché, maybe, but utterly true. Lesson Learned Catching up with these friends is top priority for me in Boston at Math Prize 2013. Also high on my list are exploring Boston with other girls from TJ and meeting some new faces, which should be easy to do at Games Night, held the Friday before the competition. Of course I also expect the math itself to be enjoyable, and then, somewhere much lower on the list of importance, are the results of the competition. I know I'll enjoy the trip and return home with fond memories. I've already won without even taking the test. Compare this mindset to my prize-focused attitude in 2010. By focusing on winning, I set myself up to lose, regardless of how I placed. Even if I won the prize money, I would have missed out on interacting with other competitors, which I now know to be the most meaningful part of the experience. And if I didn't win the prize, I'd come back with nothing at all. The fear of leaving empty-handed created so much pressure that I was uncharacteristically nervous. Like many people, I don't perform well when I'm nervous. In 2009, I was one of five girls who tied for 8th place, but in 2010, I was one of eighteen tied for 18th. By the time I competed in Math Prize 2011, I'd had my first MOP and CGMO experiences, and my competition mindset had shifted. I put much less emphasis on results. And I took home the grand prize in both 2011 and 2012. At the End of the Day I can't say for sure why 2010 was the only year I didn't place in the top twelve. Maybe it was the false pressure I put on myself. Maybe I was unlucky that year; maybe I was lucky the other three. What I can say is that even had I placed the same in Math Prize 2010, 2011, and 2012, I still would've enjoyed the later two experiences astronomically more than the first. To most on the outside, a math competition is just what it sounds like: a bunch of people get together and compete by doing math. But veteran mathletes know that the competition is just the stem that supports the flowers. Each competition also presents an opportunity to make new friends, catch up with old ones, and learn from the other creative minds gathered in the same place. Ten years from now, contest results won't matter much, but the friends I've connected with certainly will. Victoria Xia first became involved with math contests when she joined her school's MATHCOUNTS team in sixth grade. Since then she's qualiﬁed for MOP, earned gold medals at both CGMO and EGMO, won Math Prize, and traveled with TJ's math team to Princeton, Duke, Harvard, and MIT for their respective high school math contests. As a senior she's serving her second term as captain of TJ's varsity math team, which allows her to give back to the math community and work with younger students. Aside from math, her interests include computer science, physics, chemistry, and tennis. Editor's Note: Victoria Xia placed 2nd in the 2013 Math Prize for Girls competition. 14 imagine Nov/Dec 2013

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Imagine Magazine - Johns Hopkins - November/December 2013

In My Own Words
Interested in Econ
The World in Numbers
Reckoning with Randomness
Elliptic Curves
A League of Our Own
More Than Math
Developing Your Numbersense
Where Math Meets Imagination
Selected Opportunities & Resources
Dancing in the Footsteps of My Ancestors
Off the Shelf
Word Wise
Exploring Career Options
Planning Ahead for College
Students Review
Mark Your Calendar
Knossos Game

Imagine Magazine - Johns Hopkins - November/December 2013