JBA NEWSLETTER #23
Let’s gossip: what are our kids doing?
Bianca at EGMO!!
“In 2024, the European Girls’ Math Olympiad (EGMO) took place in Tskaltubo, Georgia, and it brought together 150 students from over 40 countries. Tskaltubo is also known as an “abandoned playground, as it doesn’t have anything other than abandoned buildings, 3 hotels, and 2 markets. The best part was the friends I made during the competition, from Kosovo, Ukraine, Georgia, and everywhere else. We had a lot of fun during the week. At the competition, I got an honourable mention this year. Despite the challenges, EGMO 2024 was about sharing experiences and making memories. In Tskaltubo, we turned an abandoned place into our own little community, and that’s what made it special. Oh, and we had a blast solving a lot of puzzles from Jane Street!
Also brought home a ton of Jane Street merch.”
What else is there to do in this country?
deadline: April 30th
In MathILy classes, instructors provide the framework and you get to make (and prove!) the conjectures. You will encounter new ideas, improve your problem-solving skills, learn lots and lots of advanced mathematics, and hone your overall thinking skills. You'll meet others like you. (Yes, really. We promise.) Most of all, you will find serious mathematics infused with levity.
Earth.org climate crisis photography contest
deadline: April 26th
The Earth.org Photo Competition 2024 is an opportunity for photographers to showcase their work focusing on environmental themes. The competition invites photographers from around the world to submit their best images that capture the beauty of nature, highlight environmental issues, or celebrate conservation efforts. Entries can encompass a wide range of subjects, including landscapes, wildlife, climate change impacts, and human interactions with the environment. Winning photographs will be featured on Earth.org’s platform, helping to raise awareness about pressing environmental issues and inspire action for a more sustainable future.
What are the universities up to?
The University of Southern California isn’t letting their pro-palestinian valedictorian give a speech at graduation, citing “safety concerns”
Asna Tabassum, Valedictorian: “I am surprised that my own university - my home for four years - has abandoned me.”
In a statement released Monday afternoon, Asna Tabassum wrote that she had been told the University "had the resources to take appropriate safety measures" during her speech, but they were choosing not to use those resources.
The University denied this but offered no alternative version of events.
“When USC uses the rhetoric of safety to justify its decision while refusing to provide safety measures to a threatened student, we know it means the safety of USC receiving donations, not the safety of its students.
We have demanded time and time again that this University, at the very least, humanize Arab, Palestinian, Muslim and other marginalized students by acknowledging our experiences.
But rather than believing and supporting us, USC perpetuates and engages in Islamophobia and xenophobia by bowing to anonymous, violent harassment campaigns that aim to harm people's lives.
USC cares more to appease its donors and maintain its investments than to maintain any degree of a moral backbone. And now that Provost Andrew Guzman silenced one of USC's own from speaking at one of the most significant events in a student's academic career - a position that Tabassum, like all other past valedictorians, earned through four years of hard work in an extremely rigorous academic program - the University's disturbing spinelessness is irrefutable and damaging.” - Open letter to the editor of the USC newspaper, signed by Trojans for Palestine and 65 other co-signers
And in the end…
Do you have burning questions about applying to university? Want to apply for counselling for next year? Need help with your essays? All these things can now be done easily through the new JBA website! Visit juliaboca.com and let us know how we can help you!