CIBC Caribbean supports math fair

For those still in school, math may not be a favourite subject. However, for the 3,000-plus secondary school-students who attended the math fair which took place recently at the University of the West Indies, St Augustine, there was an opportunity to appreciate the subject more.

The displays, including those by platinum sponsor CIBC Caribbean Trinidad Operating Company, demonstrated math could lead to many career paths including banking, a media release said.

“Not everyone will need to remember a simultaneous equation or Pythagoras’ theorem after they have left school. But a solid understanding of math will help students who are considering other fields that use numbers,” managing director of the Trinidad Operating Company Anthony Seeraj said in the release. “We hope that the math fair would inspire the students who attended or reinforce their goals for the future.”

CIBC Caribbean’s relationship with The UWI began with the Cave Hill campus in Barbados. Since CIBC Caribbean is also headquartered on that island, and through its Technology Innovation Forum (TIF), the bank was the key sponsor for Cave Hill’s Science Fair. TIF’s objective is to move beyond Cave Hill and extend its support to the other UWI campuses in Trinidad, Jamaica and Bahamas, the release said.

At the opening ceremony of the math fair, principal of the St Augustine campus Professor Rose-Marie Belle Antoine encouraged the visiting students to explore, increase, and solve.

“There is a role and place for quantitative backgrounds. There is a multi-disciplinary approach to math,” Antoine said.

Also attending the fair was Dr Peter Smith, chief education officer at the Ministry of Education. Speaking to the young audience, he told them events such like the math fair was a reminder that math was alive.

“It reinforces math in everyday life, not only as a compulsory subject but for the real world. It’s about problem solving. Find joy in problem solving. Embrace with curiosity and not fear,” Smith said.

Also sharing her own experience was Sarah Rudder-Chulhan, CIBC Caribbean’s associate director of digital client experience.

“We at CIBC Caribbean want to encourage youth to be engaged in math, not only from a financial literacy and banking perspective. I started off as a geologist and I needed math. People who work with me do math.

"Math has taken me where I need to be, understanding math and understanding logic have given me the ability to see things from a different perspective that is essential to success.”

In addition to the booths which included those from UWI’s various science departments, there was also a math feud – a math field competition. Students from different schools comprised the teams – The Real Ones and The Raqtional Thinkers. In the end, the Real Ones took home the trophy, the release said.

CIBC Caribbean said its next project on campus will be Beyond Intelligence Talk in collaboration with Dr Akhenaton Daaga, instructor in mathematics, Department of Mathematics and Statistics.