The Georgianum is on a roll. At this year’s Emsland Mathematics Olympiad, the team from Lingen achieved a clean sweep. Among the 14 schools from the Emsland and Grafschaft regions, the Georgianum won the competitions for Years 5/6 and 7–10, thereby securing the overall title. This had never happened before in the history of the ELMO or the Georgianum.
“This is something very special. It deserves to be celebrated in a very special way,” said teacher Kathrin Heese, who, together with teacher Martin Glosemeyer, looked after the team on site. And the team was absolutely delighted, as was evident from their sparkling eyes and beaming faces. “That’s probably a one-off,” remarked Aulon Sinani. And Tjark Thönnißen replied: “No. We’ll do it again next year.” But what really mattered wasn’t the future, but the moment. And the team savoured it to the full during photo shoots, singing “We Are the Champions” and “Ein Hoch auf uns”, as well as playing “Stadt, Land, Fluss” on the bus.
Before that, all eight participants had shone. In Years 5/6, Ennie Bruns, Andrei Chelaru, Aulon Sinani and Tjark Thönnißen impressed, having correctly solved all the tasks. At the prize-giving ceremony, they were the only team alongside Haren Grammar School to have scored full marks. The jury opted for the Lingen team, who had presented their solutions in a slightly more structured and detailed manner.
And the older students? They were among the top three after the preliminary round. Together with Haren Grammar School and Marianum Meppen, they were allowed to tackle one further task in the final round and present it to the audience. All three teams performed strongly during their presentations, as they involved all team members and presented their views confidently and assuredly. It was the Georgianum that, thanks to the double Pythagorean theorem, still had the correct approach to the problem and was able to prevail in this age group as well.
The two individual victories combined to secure a triple victory. After all, the best school always receives the challenge cup, which was introduced this year. And the host school from Haren (with support from Sögel) had spared no expense here, just as in all other areas. The Georgianum was delighted to receive a huge trophy. Their eyes shone even brighter. And best of all: everyone gets to keep the trophy for a week before it goes into the school’s display cabinet, where it will be kept until the next ELMO – which will then be called GRAMO and take place in Bad Bentheim.
The grammar school in Haren, in collaboration with the school from Dörpen, had truly given the children and young people a day to remember, a day that will stay with them forever.
Text and photo: Martin Glosemeyer
