Birchleigh North maths star (13) wins internationally
'Winning third place was the best I did for myself and my family,' says Ledwaba
Birchleigh North resident Mogabudi Ledwaba (13), a local maths star, went to Malaysia in December to compete in a maths competition against learners from other countries and achieved third place in his category.
Family, friends and the Kempton Park community helped him with raising funds for him to be able to travel and get accommodation.
The competition took place at Universiti Tenaga Nasional, a private university in Selangor, Malaysia.
“The competition took two days, on December 9 and 10. We were in a very big hall and we all had to write the same paper in the category I was in,” said Ledwaba.
He says he was excited to be testing his skills internationally. “This is something that will help me grow and want to do more in mathematics.”
“The experience was great. I got to see a lot of learners from around the world. From India to China and a whole lot more,” said Ledwaba.
“Winning third place was the best I did for myself and my family. I feel I really made them proud and will try to win first place this year.”
Ledwaba’s tutor Lynette Visagie said four learners from her Universal Concept of Mental Arithmetic System (UCMAS) branch were selected to participate in the competition and all four of them came back home with trophies.
“We went out for ice-cream. I gave them a treat and we celebrated this great success. This year we plan on doing even better than we did last year,” said Visagie.
