Nanaimo High School Wins Prestigious Pi Cup

Top math students in grades eight to 12 in the mid-Vancouver Island area competed in the annual BC Secondary School Math Contest held at VIU.

Two teams representing Dover Bay Secondary School in Nanaimo took home the coveted Pi Cup trophy in the 25th annual BC Secondary School Math Contest held at Vancouver Island University (VIU).

The top 83 math students: 45 juniors and 38 seniors from 11 schools, including Aspengrove, Ballenas, Dover Bay, John Barsby, Kawlikum, Ladysmith, Nanaimo Christian School, Nanaimo District Secondary, The High School at VIU, Welkin College and Wellington took part in the final round of the contest. 

The goal of the contest is to promote the field of mathematics by bringing high school students to the university for a fun day of math-related activities.  They also get to learn about different fields of mathematics during an entertaining presentation by Dr. David Bigelow, Chair VIU Math program. 

Each student had to answer 10 multiple choice questions and five written questions in two hours. 

“The questions are very challenging and different than what students would get in their everyday math homework,” says Patrick Ng, VIU Math Professor. “Imagine solving 15 difficult logic puzzles and questions in only two hours.” 

The top three students from each division received a $50 prize and the top school in each division received the Pi Cup Trophy. 

The preliminary round of this year’s contest – 15 multiple choice questions with a 45-minute time limit – was written at the high schools in early April. Close to 2,000 students participated and only the top nine students from each school were invited to participate in the final round at VIU. 

The Dover Bay Secondary School team has won the Pi Trophy for several years in a row.  

The event was sponsored by the Canadian Mathematical Society, School District 68 and Vancouver Island University. 

Here is a list of this year's winners:

JUNIOR DIVISION

1st place–Sebastian Magana (Kwalikum Secondary School)
2nd place–Barry Su (Ballenas Secondary School)
3rd place–Wesley Zhao (Dover Bay Secondary School)           

Best Overall Team

1st place–Dover Bay Secondary School
2nd place–Ballenas Secondary School

SENIOR DIVISION

1st place–Mingjie Zhao (Dover Bay Secondary School)
2nd place–Zhenmin He (Dover Bay Secondary School) 
3rd place –Freyja Wang (Nanaimo District Secondary School)

Best Overall Team

1st place–Dover Bay Secondary School
2nd place–Nanaimo District Secondary School

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MEDIA CONTACT: 

Annette Lucas, Communications Officer, Vancouver Island University

O: 250.741.2020 | C: 250.618.7296 | E: Communications@viu.ca