After three eliminatory phases played throughout Brazil throughout the year, the finalists of the XIX Brazilian Informatics Olympiad (OBI) were able to enjoy their prize: a week of classes at Unicamp. Since Monday (4), Olympic Week, as it is known, has brought together 74 elementary and high school students at Unicamp's Computing Institute (IC), to develop their knowledge about programming from the fundamentals, with the youngest, to advanced content, with high school classes. From the first step of this group, four students will be selected who will represent Brazil at the International Informatics Olympiad, which will take place in July, in Japan.
OIB has been held since 1999 and has grown progressively. This year, it received 50 thousand entries from all regions of the country. Even though it is not mandatory content in schools, student interest and the demands of the job market are leading more and more institutions to include computing subjects in their curriculum. As highlighted by Ricardo Anido, IC professor and Olympic Week coordinator, “the best schools in São Paulo are already offering programming classes. Not just because of the Olympics, but because of market pressure.”
The Olympiad is divided into six categories according to the students' knowledge. “The various modalities are progressions in the knowledge necessary to participate in the test. They are not divided by age”, explained Anido. The initiation levels are generally played by 6th and 7th year students, who solve logic and computing problems on paper. The objective of this modality is to awaken a taste for computing problems and detect potential talents for programming.
This year, in a partnership with the city of Pedreira, 5th year students from the city's municipal schools participated in OBI. In addition to taking the tests, 30 students were selected and attended classes on Saturdays at Unicamp's IC throughout the semester. “They did well in the tests. They passed to the second phase of the competition and some reached the National phase”, said Anido.
In the programming modality, knowledge with varying levels of difficulty is required and tasks are performed on computers. Students who participate in the last level of this modality take tests throughout the Olympic Week, which will select the four members of the team that will represent Brazil in the international competition.
This year, Beatriz Cunha Freire, 17 years old, is competing for one of these places. If she is selected, Beatriz will be the first woman to represent the country in the competition. “Since 2013, I have been coming to Olympic Week. I’m already used to the rooms being just for boys,” she commented. Born in Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, Beatriz collects medals in knowledge olympiads and is currently studying in Fortaleza with a scholarship offered by a private school, due to the merits achieved in competitions. In addition to the normal workload, Beatriz takes two to three programming classes per week, focused on the Computer Science Olympiad. As the end of the competition approaches, she stops attending traditional classes and starts taking programming classes full time. “A girl has never been to the International Computer Olympiad. I wanna go. If not this year, it will be next year,” she said determinedly.
The Olympic Week will close with an awards ceremony, on Friday (8), at 19 pm, in the auditorium of the Hotel Dan Inn, with the presence of the dean of research, Munir Salomão Skaf.
