St Ursula’s College student Elizabeth Yevdokimov is a proud mathematician, a passion that permeates much of her school and leisure time except when she is playing, chess, solving Rubik’s cubes or playing her violin.
With her father being a mathematics lecturer and her mother a mathematics teacher, it is no wonder that Elizabeth is so involved in the discipline. This year alone Elizabeth has had great success, winning first place in the Year 9 Queensland Association of Mathematics Teachers competition, and receiving a High Distinction in the Australian Mathematical Challenge for Young Australians. Her team won their section of the Darling Downs Teams Mathematics Challenge for the third time, she has been a member of the ACER Modelling and Problem Solving Research Project run by the Australian Catholic University for the new senior syllabus, and she has been a member of the International Modelling Challenge for the past three years having submitted successful solutions each time. The highlight of 2018 so far for Elizabeth has been her selection as one of nine students for the state to go to Sydney for the Australian Selection School for the Mathematics Olympiad. She received an Honorable Mention and as a result is part of the Queensland preparation program for the senior contest of the Olympiad for 2019.
When asked what has assisted her success, Elizabeth said hard work, motivation and help from her father. Elizabeth has been nurtured to develop her gift for mathematics via its differentiated approach to learning. She hopes to study mathematics overseas after leaving school, and dreams of one day being a member of the International Olympiad team and the European Girls Olympiad Team.
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