The event followed the mission of presenting academic opportunities to promising students in the region. Professors from FGV EMAp were present and helped more than 50 participants.

More than 50 students from CE public schools attended the 5th Talent Selection Meeting, in Fortaleza

The Center for the Development of Mathematics and Sciences at Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV CDMC) successfully concluded, in recent days, the 5th Talent Selection Meeting, held in Fortaleza. The objective of the event was achieved: more than 50 students from the 2nd and 3rd years of high school from public schools in Ceará were presented with the possibility of studying at one of the main higher education institutions in Brazil.

The organization provided numerous activities for participants, such as interactive workshops, mini-courses, competitions, lectures and thematic tables. The objective was to offer young people from Ceará a unique experience, as in the four previous editions of the event coordinated by CDMC, in particular the opportunity to receive assistance to enroll in undergraduate and postgraduate courses at FGV in Rio de Janeiro in the future.

The lectures were given by professors from several leading institutions in Brazil. In addition to FGV, professors from the Federal University of Ceará (UFC), the Federal Institute of Ceará (IFCE) and the Regional University of Cariri (URCA) stood out.

César Camacho, Director of FGV EMAp, approved the level of CE students at the Meeting in Fortaleza

Director of the School of Applied Mathematics (FGV EMAp) and FGV CDMC, César Camacho praised the level presented by students from Ceará throughout the event and reinforced that FGV has great chances of welcoming several of them to Rio de Janeiro soon. Once approved in the entrance exam, the student receives a full scholarship to the university during graduation.

“This project is a very well-established program in Brazil and is proactive in inviting students to take the FGV entrance exam. The courses are of excellent quality and, therefore, demand is very high. For me, the students present at the event saw it as a precious opportunity to study at one of the elite schools in Brazil. The fundamental principle that guided our initiative is that students achieve their potential at the highest level”, says Camacho.  

Importance of the event

The event exposed important developments for students in the public education network. Professor and Coordinator of the Center for Excellence in Educational Policies at the Federal University of Ceará (UFC), Jorge Lira highlights the importance of students being invited to join this segment and sees the FGV organization being successful in offering a complete panel of options related to content mathematical.

Yuri Saporito, professor at FGV EMAp, and Jorge Lira, Professor at UFC, were present at an FGV event in Fortaleza

“Conferences and lectures were held with mathematics themes focused on the Olympics, mathematical problems, but with applications of the discipline in everyday life. Mathematical knowledge has contributions throughout ancient history and will follow the trend for the future in terms of the use of mathematics in the areas of Finance, Machine Learning and this entire Data Science and Artificial Intelligence revolution. All of this is fundamental for them on an intellectual level and in the development of social well-being”, he assesses.

For the Chief Scientist of Basic Education in the State of Ceará, exposing students to events such as the one organized by FGV CDMC serves to overturn the prejudice that knowledge only belongs to a few strata of society. The institution's program will enable several talents from Ceará to grow professionally and all thanks to mathematics.

“Mathematics is present in all fields of human activity. The fact that the student is exposed to this panel of mathematical knowledge reinforces that access to knowledge is complete. Obviously it involves extensive preparation, intense resilience and work capacity, but without any impediment due to being from a public school or from a less favored social class. Such labels are not obstacles to academic or professional progression. And it's good to remove this stigma that public school students cannot form a thinking elite or change the socioeconomic configuration of the country. Equity is not incompatible with the formation of an elite”, adds Lira.

Students' view

Marcos Vinicius Burdzinski, a 3rd year student at Colégio Farias Brito, discovered the FGV program last year and was fascinated by the opportunity to continue his studies and reach a high-level university in the future. Who knows, maybe moving to Rio de Janeiro and starting school.

Marcos Vinicius Burdzinski made the most of his participation in the 5th FGV Talent Selection Meeting in Fortaleza

“My desire to join FGV is growing. I aim to be a leader in the area of ​​mathematics, pass on my knowledge and, above all, influence people in a positive way. I want to help Brazil become an even stronger power in the scientific field. FGV has all the support I need to achieve my goals, which is why I intend to participate in the program and take the Applied Mathematics course. I want to continue in the academic world, carrying out scientific research and working in the field of education. My dream is to be a professor at a highly prestigious university and contribute to developing the skills of future great minds in our country”, he said.

The person who also approved the event as a spectator was Francisco Wesley Silva Rodrigues Oliveira, a 3rd year student at EEEP José Vidal Alves, in Canindé, in the interior of Ceará. It was his first participation in the FGV Talent Selection Meeting.

“That was my first contact with the program. It was great to meet people who have an appreciation for mathematics and who are determined to learn more and more. Without a doubt, I most liked the extremely high-quality teachers who, during the three days of the event, presented the lectures”, said Francisco, who is thinking about taking the entrance exam for FGV EMAp for the Applied Mathematics course.

Like Marcos Vinicius, he also plans to move up the academic career ladder and sees the teaching profession as the most impactful in training professionals and, above all, individuals of character.

“My goal is, after my training, to start teaching mathematics. Being a teacher is something that attracts my attention, I want to teach in high school, because I see on a daily basis the tremendous importance that a teacher has on the student's development. Having the chance to help someone develop is very rewarding. And, later, I want to transmit my knowledge by being a professor at a Higher Education institution”, added the student.

Talent Selection

The Center for the Development of Mathematics and Sciences was created by FGV in 2017 with the purpose of identifying, in the country's public schools, young talents for learning Mathematics in order to offer them the possibility of carrying out studies in undergraduate and postgraduate course at the institution in Rio de Janeiro.

Students are invited to take the FGV entrance exam in any undergraduate course that the institution offers: Applied Mathematics, Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, Economic Sciences, Administration, Social Sciences, Law and Digital Communication.

In the six years of the initiative, approximately 420 students with excellent performance and medalists in Mathematics competitions and Olympiads were included.